Due to an issue with a method of securing a building I tried I knocked the dock off of the Champion Packing Co. model.  I decided that it would be easier to ballast it into place before reattaching the building.  I used the template to make sure that the dock was positioned properly before using a bit of caulking to secure the dock into place.

I first dry-brushed the ties to weather them a little.  I then set the building in place (I didn’t glue it to the dock as I have a bit more work to do on the building, such as lighting) and spread the ballast with a brush.  I found that a soft brush had the best results for me, though a foam brush did help with the rough in.

Following tips from multiple sources I soaked the ballast by the ties with rubbing alcohol before using the landscape cement.  I found that, as promised, it helped to “suck” the glue into the spaces between the ties and help with the spreading of the glue.  I found out the hard way that you need to make sure that the shape is exactly as you want it before applying either the alcohol or glue, although it was fairly easy to repair those spots with a light sprinkle of more ballast and more glue.

Waiting for the glue to dry before starting to add bushes was annoying (overnight – had to wait).

I added on the lettering using dry transfer decals.  After adding the small lettering I decided to redo it in another location.  I find that is one of the nice things about dry transfer is that they are relatively easy to remove if you decide against them.  I did this by using the tip of a hobby knife to scratch them off.

I then added all of the final details, using grab-irons from a detail upgrade kit available for this model.  I decided that buying the upgrade kit would produce better results than trying to make them myself.  For the next kit I will think twice about them, because while they certainly were convenient it would be easy to make them.  Included in this detail kit was an etched metal kit for the end ladders.  This would have been a very good looking upgrade, however I found that my soldering skills were not up to the task – they will make good additions to a scrap pile some where on the layout.

After final touch-up, I sprayed the model with dull-cote.  I didn’t bother masking the windows as I did not put an interior in it.  I then used chalk to weather the caboose.

I have to thank my wife for the beautiful picture of the completed project taken on my “work in progress” layout.