RGS logic...Rico depot repairs

I apologize up front if my posts are too model railroad-oriented...but I'm really trying to do justice to the RGS by modeling from the real RGS versus other modelers' interpretations thereof.

Anyway, I've been building the Rico depot in HO from the old IHC/AHM/Tyco kit. I've added proper RGS eve and gable brackets, extra trim, changed the platforms, and shingled over the second story (and the horrendous plastic roof!). I'm building the depot as it appeared in the 1940s, so after the 1936 fire that destroyed the iconic tower. I know the baggage section on the kit is short but that's OK...I'll be compressing the yard a bit overall anyway.

Rico_Depot_1

Rico_Depot_2

This means making the second-floor west dormer shingles a weathered brown, and some of the south end shingles the same weathered brown. I look at the south side of the depot and am perplexed. The B&B folks meticulously replaced the shingles that were damaged in the fire, but I'm stumped that the replacement shingles look so weatherbeaten and dark after such a short time. And were two or three gallons of buff colored paint too much for the RGS, even in the Miller years when so much else was relatively well cared for? It's easy enough to model what I see in pictures, but it's just strange to think about the thought process on "Hey, rather than slap some cheap siding up there, let's carefully replace all the shingles...but we won't paint them. And get the dirtiest, brownest shingles you can find for maximum contrast! You know some day hundreds guys are gonna build models of this thing and we want to keep it interesting!"

Dave



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2017 08:50PM by Dave Vollmer.