Customizing Buildings with Cliff Powers

Cliff Powers has quite a few kitbashed buildings on his Mississippi, Alabama and Gulf model railroad layout. For his commercial buildings in the courthouse and town square area, he used commonly available kits that are modified to make them well suited for the South. One thing that appears frequently in the older southern towns is metal awnings. For this, Cliff uses some regular sheet styrene, and some styrene trim and brass wire for the supports.

The sign on the awning itself is one that he made on the computer. eBay is another great place to find good signage that can be scaled down for models. He goes on to describe the other signage on his buildings. Another great structure in his town is the theater. It has a coming attractions sign on the side featuring the Three Stooges, and marquees on the front. On the top of the roof, there is a scene of roofers. He created it using cardboard and full strength Elmer’s white glue for the hot tar marks.

Allen Keller goes on to ask Cliff about the locomotives on his layout. He prefers the newer locomotives to the brass, unless there is a specific engine he wants to replicate. Allen Keller wonders about the secret behind Cliff’s expertly weathered engines. Almost all of Cliff’s weathering is done with an airbrush. A little bit of running weather is what he aims for. This applies to his structures as well, using a subtler touch instead of going over the top.