Structures - O'Brien Steel Construction Co. - Exterior

The first thing I did to enhance the exterior of the building was to build and install rain gutters. I installed two of them, one each under the roofs over the decking area. The shorter of the two is shown in the photo below. I made them using 0.060" styrene channel (Evergreen part #261). I glued tiny strips of styrene to the ends and filed those down to represent the ends of the gutters. Next, I painted them using Polyscale "Flat Aluminum". I glued them such that one edge of the channel made contact with the underside of the roof. The glue I used was Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue. It held the gutters in place with little or no support. Next, I cut and trimmed a piece of stainless steel tubing to represent the down-spout. These were shaped, cut, and then attached with superglue, on the tops and bottoms; not on the parts that contacted the building, because I didn't want to risk a big glob of glue on the walls.

Here's a close-up of the down-spout on the right side of the structure. I glued it to the outside corner of the structure.

I added some details on the outside on the decking. There are several 55-gallon drums, some of their lids, and a scratchbuilt wooden crate. I also glued the building down to a piece of plywood that acts as the base. I then covered the exposed plywood with N-scale fine PRR ballast mixed with some "ground", both by Arizona Rock & Minerals (I covered the plywood with full-strength white glue first before sprinkling on the scenery material). I also worked it under the decking, which was quite time-consuming. The edge between the plywood and the track subroadbed was covered with "ground goop", which is what I used for the scenery base. Should I need access to the area under the structure, I can break away the "ground goop" and lift the plywood base up. You can see a couple of automobiles in the parking lot on the other side of the building in the photo below. The first load of structural beams manufactured by O'Brien are ready to be shipped out.

I couldn't resist including this next photo. It came out perfectly. It really shows off what can be done in larger scales, such as "S".

The structure project is now finished. I plan on adding a chain link fence around the property, and add some more exterior details.