Building the Bertram Heyn Löthain station kit

As mentioned in the last post, I recently bought a couple of Bertram Heyn kit buildings, the second of which is a model of the station building at Löthain in Saxony. It is one of a number of identical station buildings on the Wilsdruff network, in this case specifically on the Garsebach to Lommatzsch section. The Wilsdruff network was home to many of the VI K locomotives recently modelled by LGB and was connected to the Mügeln network.

The basic shell consists, as usual for Bertram Heyn’s buildings, of Komatex walls and a base. The overlays are plasticard and stick straight onto the walls. Photographs probably don't give an idea of scale or overall size, except that it's plainly "quite big" compared to many model buildings.

As with the Schönbach kit, it is up to the builder how much you decide to paint. The walls of these buildings were generally green - seemingly "Reseda Green", RAL 6011 - and a can of suitable paint was sourced.

The wooden overlays and door were painted brown in RAL 8012 in order to protect the plasticard. As with the Schönbach kit, I decided that the brickwork also needed to be picked out with yellow cement between red bricks; fiddly, but I think worthwhile and actually easier than it first seemed.

The roof is supplied in five interlocking sections. In addition, it is for the builder to cut out tile overlays to fit. There are little supports for the eaves, and although the holes in the walls are quite large enough, the ones in the façade overlay were not. A sharp blade resolved that easily enough.

I also fitted a couple of lamps; the real station may only have had one, but two give a spread of light where it's needed on my platform.

The former Dottendorf station on the H&DLR lost some of its magic for me when the new curved platform went in and the existing building could no longer sit on its base plate. I do like the building, which I've owned for over 30 years now, and it won't be discarded. But the Bertram Heyn kit sits well, and the weather (and the blackbirds) will soon ensure it gets grubby. Both the café/bar and the signal box are quite large models, so the proportions seem reasonable to my eye.

The model building has an imitation felt roof, as photos from the late 1960s/early 1970s show a rather dilapidated building with the roof in particular not in good condition and really no evidence of the diamond felt tiles many of the buildings have today. Moreover, the plastic sheet supplied with the kit as a roofing overlay didn't really convince. Anyway, it'll have to do - I've no more black masonry paint!

I think we're there. Nameboards and signs all fixed to the walls, lighting wired up, fence line amended.