So today I had a bit of time to do some more modelling and advance my scratchbuilding skills. I need a portakabin type structure to act as a combined office for the ferry and train staff on the quayside. Having done a bit of research on sizes of units and suitably scaled them down to n gauge I started to produce the model

(my sketch drawings and scaled dims of a standard 12155x4050mm portakabin. I initially cut the floor and roof out of thick balsa and glued together with strengtheners in the corners to give a bit of rigidity. I then cut out the windows from thin balsa sheet and scored the door which I hope the outline will come out during painting. Windows had clear plastic fixed across them as per the kiosks I showed in a previous blog. For the toilet windows I fixed an additional sliver of white paper across the top

(Initial shell construction of the portakabin) 

Having got the shell complete I used thin styrene L shaped strips to pick out the edges and generally smarten up the box structure. The final finishing touch was to build the support legs and structure over the roof again out of the L strutt. The L strutt was actually a mistaken online purchase which I expected to be another form but it has come in very handy. 

(rear view of completed structure with blanked windows for toilets) 

(and a front view) 

(Rough position for portakabin on layout with kiosks in the background located by train Linkspan to provide joint accommodation for the railway and port workers.)

I will need to create another smaller  one for the network rail workers by the train station. My next task will be creating the winding house for the linkspan. I'm currently waiting for some styrene I beams to come in the post before embarking on it. 

Thanks for reading 

Paul