Since this piece was cut from
the loading dock wall, I had
to fill the open area with
styrene.
The now-shortened side
wall was trimmed flush and
cemented to the new front
wall using a trusty mag-
netic jig I got from Micro-
Mark years ago
It’s almost impossible
to kitbash without some-
thing similar. The back wall
was cut down to fit the back
of the triangular space and a
big piece of styrene cemented to make the outside wall. After
scribing these big pieces of plain .040" styrene, I snap them by
putting them in a vise with the scribe just above. Works great.
Neither of these walls is visible on the layout and the back one
is where that awkward joint is. You can see the long piece of
styrene in one of the construction photos. The blank wall is
against an edge of the layout that is supposed to look, diorama-
style, like the city was sliced down the middle so you could bet-
ter see it.
Interior braces and light baffles were added, plus a flat roof
and it was done, ready for some paint. Since this is supposed
to be a concrete building it was painted with Polly-S Concrete.
10
10: The Chopper-
shortened windows.
Structures in tight places - 6
The windows were painted
separately and added later. A
few had to be cut down so I
used a Northwest Short Line
Chopper
for this.
Again the Number One rule
in kit bashing is “keep every-
thing square” so it all fits
tightly and joints are nearly
invisible. Notice how many
aids I use to accomplish
this, from painters tape and
thumbtacks to homemade
jigs and metal squares.
Mission Furniture
Next came the Merchant’s
Row III kit. Using a sec-
tion of the long back wall, I
marked off my loading bays,
then cut them out with a
hobby knife, sanding the
edges flat. Cutting kits with a
hobby knife takes time, so be
patient. I cemented strips of
.040" styrene against the cut
edges to represent the con-
crete beams and columns. I
gave the columns’ sides with
more styrene.
Have I mentioned I use Tester’s liquid Plastic Cement for most
joints because it is not too quick to set up? You can actually
11
11: Here’s the rear wall
installed with a strip of
styrene hiding an awkward
joint. The final wall faces
out from the layout, so it is
made of plain styrene and
was painted to match the
rest of the building.
MRH-Feb 2014
