Review
Blair Line has been on the model railroad scene for over twelve years and has consistently produced interesting and well-designed buildings, billboards, and roof top signs in O, S, HO, N, and Z scales. I don't think there are many model railroad manufacturer who cover such a wide range of scales. They've now joined several other manufacturers in offering background kits, building designed to add depth to areas that are either up against a wall or spaces that are too small for a full-sized industrial building.
Blair Line's newest offering, "The Backdrop Warehouse," measures 13 inches wide by 2 inches deep and just over 7 inches tall, and is a good kit, even for the beginning modeler. The results look impressive, but the kit is quite easy and straightforward with outstanding instructions that don't need a lot of words to indicate what is to be done next. Good instructions that don't need a lot or words to indicate what is to be done next. Good instructions are also included for paint colors, which I found helpful, but you are not committed to using them. Included is a decent sized color picture of the finished structure, which was an added bonus.
Before painting the various wall and window parts, i numbered the back of the main walls so that there would be no confusion when it came time to assemble them. I followed the suggested colors and airbrushed the walls a light grey (Floquil Reefer Grey) and the trim and window pieces were done in a darker shade of grey. It really doesn't matter what colors you use as long as they appear to be appropriate for the building. I almost had a disaster on my hands when I sprayed the main section wall. It immediately warped since I had use water-based paint. I placed the piece under some weights and it finally didn't curl too badly. Bluing on the other wall sections helped straighten it out. I was just careless and picked up the wrong bottle of paint. I should have smelled the difference. All's well that ends well.
The window and door pieces appear rather delicate, but I had no trouble cutting them out of assembling the various window and door units. The instructions were very clear and everything fit perfectly. Be careful when installing the glass since the pieces are laser cut and there are no extras. I called the company to ask their advice on holding the doors and windows in place on the wall units. The doors and windows have a slight force fit into the wall sections and I felt over time the wood might shrink and the parts could fall out. Dale Rush of Blair Line recommended placing a small dot of glue on the corners of the main doors and window. This seemed to be a good suggestion and easy to do. I used Alene's Tacky Glue on all parts of the building and had no problems, although, a number of other glues would work.
The heavy-duty base went together without a problem and is the key to keeping the building square and level. There are several pices that have scribe marks to indicate part name and where certain other base pieces are to be glued. Be sure these marks are facing inward so they will not show on the finished structure. I painted the base a dirty concrete brownish color, which seemed to blend into the rest of the building. The support for the front-loading dock looks complex , but with precut laser deck support and a cross bracing sections, it went together in no time. I spray painted this whole subassembly a grimy black. The roof and awning sections were hand painted with flat aluminum paint. After the pieces were dry, I used several different pastel and dry brush techniques to weather them, using the photo as a guide, A quick spray of Dullcote sealed the chalks and pastels.
When installing the corner trim pieces. I found that they would not always stick; therefore, I applied a small amount of glue to the backs so that they wouldn't pop loose. Also, I wasn't totally sold on using the supplied laser-cut paper pieces for the roof flashing. But couldn't think of a better alternative. The supplied parts for the roof detail and other ventilation equipment were painted silver and installed following the photograph. The builder doesn't have to follow the layout exactly, which is part of the charm of this model - you can freelance it and add or modify many of the details to suit our own needs.
If you are not going to use this structure against a backdrop, I would suggest covering the back of the building so that you can't see through the windows to the area behind the building. I placed the building on an island yard, right on the edge of the bench work as can be seen in the picture.
This is the first Blair Line kit I have built, and I am looking forward to Fred and Red's café kit, which has been sitting on my "to do" shelf for some time. The attention to instructions and labeling of the various parts on the sheets certainly goes a long way in making this kit very enjoyable. If only more manufacturers took the time for the little details in the plans and would provide a large finished picture of the model, I think more people would be inclined to try laser-cut wood models instead of the "shake and bake" plastic kits or preassembled structure. The backdrop Warehouse is a welcome addition to out model world and I hope that several other variations of this type of building are under consideration. All in all, this was a fine product and a pleasure to build. I am looking forward to future releases from Blair Line.