The Toyhunter's Gazette: Route 66

i bought these toy soldiers-all 350 of them fro just 130pesos Cheesy

and they are in 1:60ish in scale.

they have lots of poses although all of them are male
but that can be arranged later-just add dried elmers glue
for skirts and handbags Grin

anyways, i tried 3 of them this morning in preparation
for the diorama.

just use a knife to cut off the unwanted bits like the guns
grenades and body kits.... Cheesy

go to any hobby shops and purchase ACRYLIC COLORS
RED YELLOW BLUE WHITE AND BLACK-they're all you need
since you may mix to get limitless number of colors-
make sure you choose the XF ones since you will be applying
FLAT COLORED paints (although for leather jackets use
the X ones for GLOSSY COLORS.)

if anyone remembers the HAPPY DAYS 70's sitcom about the 50's ( where the then regular
sitcom actor turned director RON HOWARD starred ),
the classic "cool FONZ" outfit for those days is the pair of jeans white shirt
leather jacket and glenmore shoes Huh

from the left, a filling station attendant, a "cool" dude and..... some guy Undecided

will do a number of them including some ballooned skirted females

i started with the filling station structure.

most hobby shops have balsa
and some thin wood with tongue and groove
line patterns.

the smallest being 1.5 mm panels or approximately
100 mm width in 1:1 .

cut the balsa using a very sharp knife. just glide through
and it's easy as cutting casava cake without the sticky bit Cheesy

glue the beams and posts according to your design.

draw the lines of the door and windows at the back of the
tongue and groove wood pattern-these walls will be painted later.

notice the slanting column? it hasn't been glued to its base yet.
and the corners of the walls will be covered by 4 mm-width plain wood later on.

the wall corners of the filling station structure
which will house a mini grocer and store,
needed wood angles to cover
the tongue and groove joints.

use 12mmwidth x 2 mm thick balsa wood.
cut in two panels one would be 2 mm wider ( 7mm and 5mm=12mm )

glue on the corners and when set,
the width of 7 mm will be the same on both sides.

for the roof, i cut strips of 8 mm x 2 mm of plain balsa
to serve as rafters. i don't need to do full trusses since
i won't see them in all their supposed glorious detail
-although if you want a stronger structure a full truss is recommended-

for this one, i decided to have 5 rafters to support the roof.
the base of the roof is of 3 mm balsa.

notice that i positioned the rafter strip on the cutting mat
and adjusting the inclination, i determined how much length i should cut it.

glue the cut rafter strips together to form a triangle.

glue these rafters onto the roof panels

and you will have something that looks like this

until yesterday, i wasn't able to decide
which 1950s gas company should i use
for this diorama.

i chose SHELL

the gas pump in those days had a regular rectangular body
that we see today although they are smaller.

they only had one pump hose for each machine
so they are slimmer.

i bought 2 stamp blocks and removed the rubber negative
and carved away until i got the desired dimensions at roughly
1.8 M or 3 cms in 1:60.

then i got these thumb tax with a rubber covering which was
perfect for the company logo installed on the top of the machine.

print prepared ads decals logos stuff on a sticker paper
or in my case on a piece of paper since strangely enough,
HK stationery shops do not have them Undecided

cut off the spike and file until the underside is flattened.
stick with super glue but you have to press really hard and longer
than usual because the glue doesn't stick fast with metal on metal.
well...it DOES on skin on skin Undecided

paint the wood block with TAMIYA ENAMEL paint based from the gas pump
design you have researched from the net.

trying it out on the station...

while the station walls were drying,
i did the roof details.

shingles are a basic roofing tile for most american
homes.

they are made of wood ceramic asphalt, etc.

in this age of modern technology, construction has seen
new and revolutionary roofing materials some of which
are made of several compounds battling the fiercest
climate anywhere in the world where they are installed.

in this diorama, i'm using a 1mm board that has been cut
in 1 cm by 1 cm square and glued on the balsa wood panel
one by one.

start from the bottom part going up overlapping
succeeding layer 1-2mm on the preceding one.
make sure you mark the roof panel with lines to keep your track

you'll end up with something like this

mix the following paint colors: for this one a dark green grey is chosen

TAMIYA XF-8 FLAT BLUE 30%
TAMIYA XF-3 FLAT YELLOW30%
TAMIYA X-1 GLOSS BLACK 35%
and a bit of TAMIYA thinner 5%

paint over the glued (dried) "shingles" and let it dry for an hour or so

now, if i want the effect to be asphalt, i would have sprinkled over fine sand(available in NB )
on saturated glue then painted over.

i did some detailing on the station.

did some advertising bills
and some oil cans

cut a 5 mm x 3.5mm x 2mm from a piece of hard wood
and sand the corners.
with an image of SHELL MOTOR OIL face printed on
a piece of paper-can't find a sticker paper here yet-
cut them all out and stick on the cut out wood blocks
with ELMER's Glue.
apply with a BLACK PERMANENT MARKER
and your OIL CANS are ready

the long nozzle is the metal spike from a thumbtack

use the spare balsa wood used from the structure-always save bits and pieces
of stuff in a bin for future use

cut out strips measuring 3 cm x 5 mm for the rack shelf
and 2 cm x 5 mm for the support.

here's what you will have

i have this acrylic display case measuring 25 cm x 10 cm x 12.

it has a black plastic base and i thought, the curved corners
are perfect for the diner

after cutting the strips of metallic blind
i glued them wrapped around the acrylic
case and...

the interior of a typical 1950s diner
is usually in the art deco concept.

a black and white checkered floor
and some bright colors add to the
excitement of having your burger and fries
and a chocolate shake or ice cream soda
in an upbeat ambience-and later regretting
having to munch on those cooking oil-soaked
potato things-but that was half a century ago
when no one knew about fat and cholosterol Cheesy

anyways, just surf the net and you'll find loads
of 50s diner stuff and print them on a sticker paper
-again, i can't find any- so i just use glue to stick the
stuff on white cardboards

make sure you place the "right era people" photographs
on the wall for authenticity unless you're back from the future
and hang framed images of Britney Spears or Weird Al Yankovic
to the inevitable culture shock of the customers Shocked

the unmistakable tail of the 1957 Chevy
a 55 FORD Fairlane being filled with fuel
a 55 PONTIAC engine check
at the other gas pump lane is a 55 Chrysler deSoto Firelite