showing signs of rust on the storage bin, but to accurately
weather the structure, I needed to get access to some better
photos. Thanks to Mike Confalone, I was able to get access to Bill
Feindel’s photos taken in 1991. For the purposes of weathering
the structure, Bill’s photos were much more useful than those I
took in August 2012, or the single photo I found in 1983.
For the model, I wanted to recreate at least a modest amount
of weathering to highlight all the details I had incorporated,
despite the fact that the era I’m modeling is the same year
the building was constructed. Overall, I kept the weathering
to basic dry-brushing using Winton Artist oil paints including
Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, and Lamp
Black. In some areas the dry-brushing was exaggerated by
using mineral spirit washes to represent streaking that’s com-
mon from the effects of rainfall.
The other weathering technique which was used only on the
silos was charcoal pencils. These are useful when trying to high-
light details such as weld seams. The pencils are available in
several hardness grades, with the softest (#6) most useful and
forgiving. If a mistake is made, a simple pencil eraser can be used
to remove the marking. [37, 38, and 38].
Overall this was a very satisfying project and I am pleased with the
results. Now it’s on to getting a home built for the feed mill.
Agway Feed Mill - 20
Neil Schofield lives in Charlton,
MA with his wife, three
children, and the family dog.
He works in Holyoke, MA as a
Senior Project Manager for an
environmental consulting firm.
Thanks to his father, Neil has
been interested in trains since
he was 6 or 7. His childhood
memories include many railfan
trips throughout the Northeast
along with fond memories of
operating modern piggyback
cars on his father’s steam era layout.
Growing up, he was a self proclaimed rivet counter when
it came to rolling stock and locomotives. He began building
structures when he started his first layout in 2002. Since
building his layout, the rivet counting has diminished in favor
of getting trains running, building scenery, and structures.
He’s now starting on his third layout that is based on CP Rail
operations in Vermont and hopes to have plenty of room for
the Agway Feeds along with many other structures built over
the last 10 years.
When he’s not working, commuting, or modeling, he enjoys
exercising and jumping on the bandwagon during playoff
time for one of Boston’s sports teams.
MRH-Sep 2014
