What does a roof look like, anyway?

Whilst waiting for my next shipment of track to arrive, I have been working on a structure kit. It’s Bar Mills Model’s “Swanson’s Lunch Stand.” (See here: Bar Mills Link).

Now, I’ve built lots of plastic kits before. Both model railroad structures, and the scale model variety that nearly every boy puts together at some point in his life. And yes, some of my model efforts were better than others (that reminds me…I still have an Enterprise 1701 kit to finish painting). But this is the first “craftsman” kit that I’ve built.

Basically the word “craftsman” means “we give you a bunch of wood and you build a real house out of it.” Actually, this particular model is not very complex. The wood is laser cut, so it looks great. Many of the pieces have an adhesive backing, so it is literally peel-and-stick…no glue required.

Anyway, I would never had had the patience for something like this when I was a kid. You basically have to work on a tiny piece at a time, then set it aside to let it dry. I’ve been working for the last few days, and while I’ve made a lot of progress, I’m still only doing basically one thing a day. Glue a part, call it a night.

In reality it’s pretty satisfying, and I think this will be the first structure kit that I’m really happy with the final appearance.

But there’s one thing I am having a problem with—the roof. The manufacturer didn’t include any instructions on what you should do with the roof. As built, you can see these big slats that make up the interior details. It really looks ugly. So I got to thinking, and I realized that I had no idea what roofs for these type of buildings look like. I asked on the Atlas forum and got some great suggestions, but it brings up a good point that I’d like to discuss a bit.

The next time you are walking around the neighborhood, or your workplace, or any familiar area, try to look through the scene through a modeler’s eyes. How would you accomplish certain details? Did you notice the brickwork is done a certain way, or that the bushes are all planted at certain intervals? Or notice the weathering on the sidewalk—what color it is, how dirty it is, where the cracks are and how they are formed. Challenge yourself to do this, and you’ll notice all kinds of details that you never noticed before. You may gain a new appreciation for the locale.

I think this is one of the facets of model railroading that really draws me to the hobby—it forces you to be observant in your viewing of the outside world. To capture something in miniature, you have to know what it looks like at “1:1.” As a bonus, this kind of thing is also great as a writer, since writing requires a careful attention to detail to construct a scene on paper for the reader.

Take a careful look at the world the next time you step outside; you’ll be amazed at what you will find.