2 January 2022

Opening a new store

Not literally, obviously. I'm terrible with budgets and maths leaves me in a cold sweat. I'm so bad at it that if you asked me to pick a number I'd probably say "X".  I resat my GCSE Maths four times and got a solid D every time, so at least I'm consistently crap. If I ever actually opened a shop I'd be bankrupt by lunchtime on the first day. 

Anyway, this MDF masterpiece is a Christmas pressie from Alicia's awesome sister. Like my first convenience store it's made by Atomic Laser Cut Designs and is called Store Front BC200, part of their Big City Streets range. It's supposed to be one shop, but as you can see in the top photo, I've used a short length of balsa wood to split the main window so I can do each half as a separate business.

Construction was very simple and with the aid of superglue it was stuck together in no time, except the roof, which won't be glued on until I've blocked off the doors and windows with black card. The door on the right is slightly open because I have an idea for it, which 100% depends on finding one thing I need in one of my many storage boxes.

Here it is next to the convenience store. It's a bit wider but is the same height and depth so it matches up really well. I masked the doors and windows ready for spray painting.

Ignore the bits of coffee stirrer stick on the roof; they'll eventually go across the doors and windows. I also need to cut up more to cover up the inevitable gaps at the corners.

Unlike last year I'm not going the PVA-and-chinchilla-dust route as I just can't be arsed waiting for the glue to dry, let alone cleaning up the mess, even though that technique worked really well. Instead I'm going to try to save time and effort by using this textured spray paint.

I hunted through my bits box for vents and vending machines, and was not disappointed. I thought the narrow thing next to the top vending machine was an ATM, but I just remembered it's a parking meter, so never mind. The one on the bottom left is a cigarette machine... I cannot even remember the last time I saw one of those in the wild. 

The store and all the bits were taken downstairs to be spray painted.


The texture spray worked really well despite me having misgivings when spraying it on because it looked like someone had dumped wet sand on the building. But it's given a good layer of roughness over the structure which will help with highlighting and weathering. Ignore the beige/brown colour; the sides and back are going to be painted terracotta, the roof grey and the front will be different colours for each business, once I decide what they're going to be.

The accessories were all primed grey and I'm going to work on those next as the building stinks of spray paint and I've just been ordered to get it out of the kitchen. It's headed to the mudroom for the night.

Be sure to tune in for the next thrilling installment!

15 comments:

  1. Off to a great start Matt, and the spray textured paint looks to have created a great effect, (apart from the smell ! LOL) The vents and vending machines should add some great detail to.

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    1. Thanks, Dave! The spray paint worked really well but hours later it's still stinking LOL! I'm getting stuck into the vents and machines and they're looking good so far, but I can't wait to paint up the building itself.

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  2. Awesome project, Matt, and a great start to it too. The spray seems to have worked out really well, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the details being added to it.

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    1. I thought you'd like this one, Simon! I'm hoping I can do as good a job with it as I did with the convenience store. The details are being worked on :-)

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  3. Looks really good, I like the idea of splitting it into two shops (I'd have done that too). The textured paint seems to have worked out well, shame about the smell, I used to hide my figures in the loft after I'd quickshaded them as my wife has a nose like a bloodhound and always moaned about the smell!

    Cheers Roger

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    1. Thanks, Roger! Yeah, when I got it in the mail I didn't like how the main window looked, and then the idea of making the building into two stores hit me. Hopefully it'll work :-) Thankfully the smell has finally gone, so it's in the spare room ready to be painted now.

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  4. Great addition and the texture paint works really well too. Shame you couldn;thave done something with the various fttings/joins. Good idea splitting into two stores.

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    1. Thanks, Joe! The gaps on the corners are going to be hidden with coffee stirrer sticks, but that won't happen until it's all painted and the roof is glued on. I'm still trying to decide on what the two stores will be :-)

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    2. If you had left it as one "Superstore" I'd have been tempted to make if a "Cloud 9", 😁

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    3. I haven't seen Superstore in ages! I love that show, I'll have to look to see if we've got access to it :-)

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    4. I know it's on Netflix over here.

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  5. Liking where this is going mate! That spray paint looks great too; I considered trying it out years ago but felt it was too much of a risk. Lol

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    1. Thanks, Dai! I'm looking forward to getting it painted. It works very well but you have to give it a bloody good shake, and not worry too much when your model looks like it's covered in wet sand. It does take about 24 hours to completely dry though.

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  6. I was just saying how much I enjoyed your terrain projects and here comes another! I'm really excited to see this one develop and I'll be checking out Atomic Laser Cut Designs as well as it looks like they make some good kits. Looking forward to seeing more of this project, mate :)

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    1. Thanks, Jeff, and it is progressing well, albeit slower than I'd hoped. ALCD makes some decent buildings and I've heavily hinted to Alicia that I'd like a couple more for my birthday this month :-)

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