Feb 2015 Hobby Day

I was lucky enough to have a HOBBY DAY for my birthday this year! :)  Everything worked out - my Mother-in-law was in town, work was slow and I had time. A whole day to focus on myself and hobbies. My wife knows just what to get me for my birthday! hehehe

First on my list was finishing up a Sankei paper kit I had started and had not made time to finish. I'm LOVING this Roket Card Glue! It's perfect for me. Granted, I have to be REALLY sure before I put piece to piece with this stuff - it's fast and strong!  However, it allows for me to move at a good pace and helps to avoid the "curled paper curse" that was happening to me when building these kits. Now, I put things where I want 'em and they STAY where I want 'em!

Case in point - I messed up ONE STEP in a process and had to pull two bits apart and...whew....not fun.

OOPS! This is on the WRONG SIDE!  :(

It was a good learning bit and I didn't make the same mistake again....on this model, at least! eheheh

Having everything laid out in order (alphabet) Makes it easy to work through what is what and where it is located. It may seem obvious, but it's a detail that I could see being overlooked.

The structure of these kits is pretty sound. While you can't apply TOO much pressure, the underlying structure of the design allows for a little.

The roof section went together well, but certain things cause a little frustration wen dealing with these kits. Like the fact that it's slot based primarily, but there are times where the slots are not visible. This roof was a perfect example of that. The center slot was really hard to navigate and you can't get to it to adjust. 

They provide a lovely tile roof. A light card stock that was relatively easy to work with.

The downside to this was the paper being printed, but very light where you cut.

I ended up coloring the edge a bit which helped. I need to do another pass.

Once I had it built, I had to do a bit of rearranging to get it to fit where I wanted. As I told "Santa-san", I want to use all of these gift buildings from them on the layout and needed to compress things a bit anyway, so it's working out at the moment. With a few tweaks, the new kit was right at home in Soyokaze Village! The creation of a base was a help. It brought it up to the level of the other buildings around it.

I jumped over to dealing Naze hashi. なぜ橋   The "Why Bridge" has been floating for a while now and it was time to lock it down. Nothing a bit of DUCCO and a paint can couldn't handle! :)

Naze hashi dealt with, I bounced back over to the paper kit base issue. Some foam core was cut to match. It turns out it's the same height as the other two buildings I was trying to match. I hit them with spray and plan to do a bit of edge detailing in the near future to avoid the foam core being visible.  I'll also add landscaping and walkway fences.

Next,  the walkway in Shizuka. This is an alleyway that will be filled with pedestrians and vending machine areas. Maybe a bike parking area as well. I'm going to dial in some small street shops in the back of some of the buildings there as well to complete the look.

I had forgotten this liitle detail I added. :) A little robot from the IDEON anime in front of TALIA'S TOY TOWN - the kitbash toyshop I did for my Daughter. :)

Sidewalks are starting to roll in as well.

Pre-painting

The temple area has fences now....

...and I finally got more time in on my subway section! Not much time, but it's a start.

I'm using pink foam for some of these parts. The escalator was working and I have a plan for that (update to follow -it's in full effect now) and it was fine, but something kept bugging me. "What about wheelchair access?" I really wanted to have both an escalator and an elevator to get down to the subway. So, I made that happen and I'm crafting an underground eatery to go into the area as well. I'll have to come up with a cute name for it. :)

I tossed in a wall section. It will be painted and detailed as well. It's there and ready.

On deck - lights and items like passenger gates, wall signage and pipe details. I think they'll make a world of difference.

I'm planning to have roof supports over the holes in the subway station flooring. That underground restaurant will be fun.  Maybe something like the GIGER or GHOST bars. Hmmmmmm...

GIGER BAR

10 Theme Restaurant & Bars in Tokyo
https://triplelights.com/blog/10-me-restaurant-barstoky-101

I came up with some fun ways of working with the foam. I'll go into some of them later. Nothing groundbreaking, but they where a big help in the foam building process. The key? Toothpicks! :) Worked like a charm.

So, more paper kits await. Sadly, work does as well. How can I work on my hobby stuff for work, I wonder? Hmmmmm.....  

Thanks again to SANTA-SAN. These paper kits are a dream and a gift that keeps on giving! :)

More soon!

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