Like my last update, I’m working on getting buildings in place on the diorama. The big progress was getting the transfer terminal building painted, assembled and in place.
The original building was a rectangle of 3x2 sections. However I a) wanted to hide the cutout for the hutch top where this will be displayed, and b) leave maximum room for the, frankly gigantic, 1/64 semis & trailers. So I ended up at this shape, with the other 3-section wall being on the opposite side facing the diner off the to the right.
The wall sections are hot-glued to pieces of aluminum secured to the base, which makes it very stable.
One last thing I have to do is fill in this 3/4" gap, as the depth of the cutout to fit the hutch top is just this much longer than the wall sections. I’ll use some pieces of another building to make this, and skipping the windows on this part.
I also did the windows in the little building covering the other hutch support. The store windows are all frosted, and the other windows are clear with paper “windowshades”
This was then lined with black paper and glued to a bit of aluminum like the other building.
I also assembled the gas station, though it may get another paint job as I’m not quite happy with it. You can also see this 1/87 building it is a bit small for 164 vehicles.
I also painted and assembled the diner, but it still needs some detail painting and a black ink wash to dirty it up a bit. This building definitely still feels too small to me, despite painting the “foundation” part silver to make it look like part of the building. I will probably add a 1/4" foundation of mdf to raise it up, and make new stairs.
