Nooksack Structures - The Cannery

Sketch of possible cannery at Nooksack

So, I have started a new project, planning and collecting information and materials for the proposed cannery at Nooksack. Last week I started sketching some ideas during the Thursday modeling Zoom I attend, and since then I inked it in and started some mockups. Some background: Everson, Washington had a fruit and vegetable cannery called the C. S. Kale Canning Company. I am relocating it to nearby Nooksack and renaming it the Curtis Canning Company. It and other Whatcom County canneries canned beans, beets, carrots, raspberries, pears, cherries, and in the 1950s a lot of green peas. My intension is for it to be a major industry for the 4th subdivision, definitely the largest in Nooksack. 

In this snapshot from today, some mockups tentatively locate parts of the cannery. Starting from the left is a ubiquitous Walthers warehouse, the one building already constructed. Next is a paper mockup of parts from the Walthers Arrowhead Ale background kit. Without kitbashing, it is not deep enough, but by using an extra wall part included in one of the sprues I can make it work. I plan to scratchbuild a wooden loading dock instead of using the plastic one from the kit. I may also scratchbuild a water tank for the roof. Moving to the right or to the east, I have a couple of scraps of wood and my team track dock sort of suggesting the scratchbuilt section seen in the initial sketch. That section needs more planning and  a cardboard mockup.

In this photo, I have a cardboard mockup of a possible additional building located beyond the boiler house drawn in the original sketch. I have DPM modular parts for the boiler house, so it could be started at any time. I have several street view photos of the Carnation plant (that is still standing) from Everson that I may use to create a background photo flat as seen approximated here. If I do, I plan to attempt a couple of techniques from Paul Dolkos: 3D visual foils on either side and layering the photo on matboard. Testing with the NMRA gauge for clearance along the track is critical as I build mockups or buildings. I have ordered the Juniper Freight House kit from Fos Scale Models, thinking it will fit on the other side of the spur, perhaps near where the gauge is sitting in the photo. 

To move beyond some scraps of wood, cut out paper photocopies, and cardboard mockups in a reassonable amount of time, I need to modify my modeling practice. Some possibilities include:

• Focus on this project
• Daily time - a little bit every day
• Maybe more than a little bit - an hour?