Growing weeds on the depot

As the tower would be completely covered with weeds I only carved the dome and bell tower from a chunk of balsa wood, just enough for the shape.

Then I covered the roof with Plastruct Spanich Tiles using the kit templates

I painted the roof with a red brick color

After the paint had dried I started to cover a part of the roof with Woodland Scenics medium green weeds/turf, held in place with a coat of white glue.

The white glue proves to take too long to set, so I continued with Woodland Scenics Hob-E-Tac sticky glue. That's the same glue for attaching the leaves to tree armatures. It sticks instantly upon contact.

To cover the tower and dome I chose Woodland Scenics bushes (Clump Foliage)

I started from bottom to top, adding "bushes" in several layers until it looked like on the photographs of the 1940's.

The arches of the tower were almost completely overgrown and the dome looked like some kind of mushroom head.

I applied weathering powders on the remaining roof and the walls.

Here are some views of the finished depot .

 The b/w picture above at right was my reference to recreate the track side of the depot. (San Juan Capistrano Historical Society photo)

And the Demorro photo above served to model the Verdugo street side of the depot

 After all this project pleases me as much as the like-new look of the depot.I guess it is some kind of a unique looking depot and really fun to build.