service / gas station diorama

[crazyrichard]

alright i already had the idea to start a gasstation diorama in the future ..

whell that future is now because i saw the old toy gasstation i got from some guy 2 years back , it was sitting unused and battered in my sons toy box..

so when he said he didnt play with it anymore i figured why not use that roof , the shape is cool and a great base to build on ..

and in the theme of recycle and using all sorts of stuff like i usually do i desided to do a gasstation instead of a nother garage dio

Edited December 17, 2013 by crazyrichard

[slusher]

Very cool ldea ,Lookiing forward to seeing what you do with it....

[crazyrichard]

thnx and whell i just looked on google for inspiration .. the final idea is to make a base building from wood and wood panneling on the outside and use the roof from the one i showed ..

the front point roof i want to cut out the front so you can see in there and make wooden beams inside ....

[crazyrichard]

alright so all i will be using of the toy gasstation is the roof , on the pic you can see i cut open the front already , thats still rough..

so the building itself i will build from scratch and use this roof as a base to work on

[Ira]

Great Project Richard!

[Tom Geiger]

Looks fun! I'll be watching. Maybe cut out and save those 9 pane windows!

[Sixties Sam]

Great recycling project! That roof will save you a lot of work. This should be a nice diorama when it's finished.

Sam

[Joker]

I'll be watching....

No turtle pond please.......just kidding.

[crazyrichard]

thnx guys ad yes the windows might be usable for a outbuilding / shed ... and dont worry james no turtles , ponds or furniture ..

or .. hmm i could build a miniture pond beside this servicestation .........................not haha

[Tom Geiger]

What no turtles? I LOVE Turtles! Back when I was a kid I had my turtle Peter that I owned for many years. And when we'd set up our little store to sell things to the neighborhood kids, my store was always "Turtle's Trading Post". So when I sold on eBay I decided to use the name. My daughter drew up this logo when she was 10 and it appeared in every auction:

[crazyrichard]

haha thats cool

[ChrisBcritter]

Times like this I really hate Photobucket...

[Dinky]

Times like this I really hate Photobucket...

+1

[lower99]

+1

I CAN`T SEE PICTURES!!!!

[crazyrichard]

grrr whell it seems i reached the limit ... i will delete some pics there ...so these will show again ..

btw it wasnt really interesting yet ...

[Dinky]

Yeah pictures

Cool thing to start with, knowing your build this should promise something good!

[crazyrichard]

thnx

whell last night i went into my shed and found a old plate i made for the garage back then , ist already primered in base grey ..

on the garage i wanted something more stirdy but on the servicestation i think its nicer to use a thin baseplate

so this will become the dimensions , so i can put a road in front and a street lantern maybe a old road sign .. a large pole with servicestation logo ??

for now to look how high the roof needs to be i put it on a wooden box , its now 4 mm higher then with the face front that was originally under the roof ...

so all just testing and looking what to do ..

also put a van and a pick-up beside it because those are quit big in size in comparison to the smaller hotrods and i also want bigger models to match correct

[Tom Geiger]

Richard, go to Google Images and type in "Old Gas Stations". A mother lode of pictures comes up! At first I thought your roof looked too high, but after looking at the Google Images, roof heights vary greatly on old stations. The height you have now looks fine.

[crazyrichard]

thnx , and i did google them so much different styles

today i made like a facefront only .. now i'm really in doubt .. full building or facade only .... hmmzzz full building is nicer but then this roof isnt really suited ..

[crazyrichard]

whell i really started now ...

chosen to only do the face / front of the building , i want to be able to put cars in front and also want to make a road and street lantern and .. pfft so much idea's .

i will build a separate service garage next to this gassstation

after research i realised i loved the simple 1930 wooden gasstation , the charm i just loved

a example below , i will not rebuild anything from a picture but build my own version

as base for the front i used a thin piece of mdf

i had 2 broken windows left from the garage and made one new one out of that , this will be one big window where i can display some oild cans in and add some depth since i'm only doing the front instead of a whole building

as example with a wheel , its quit spaceous

on the right i will not make a window , i got other plans with that

started old looking siding , i'm using coffee stirrers fron ikea , they are ideal not one is the same shape , looks real old used as siding

just a start and i have so much cool ideas , first i will continue the siding and front ... btw i will make the building slightly weathered to be able to add more detail in paint

[charlie8575]

Wooden coffee stirrers for clapboard....that's a good idea.

This will be very nice when it's done.

Charlie Larkin

[crazyrichard]

thnx

today i continued the siding

the srews in the roof are temporary

on the sides of the building i put wood , used paint stirers from out local diy market

finished the siding and started work on the door , just made a fantasy patern from wood

this shows it better , note : i did the imperfect look on purpose , not everything level and not perfectly matching and ... i want the building to have some soul and age

[rmvw guy]

Looking good Richard! It looks like a lot of work but, nice progress so far. I love all your model cars on display here.

[crazyrichard]

thnx ron and yes its not done in a ... but thats the fun right

what about the roof my plan is to cover that in roofshingles .. would be a massive job haha

after the last update i build on and put some bondo in the wider seems on the front door

most of the time the point of the roof is closed and it has a ceiling , that takes away a lot of visibility and tends to make it look flat and again i need depth because its not a whole building ..

so i desided to combine the looks of a old barn and make wooden support beams , this also ties in with the rest of the wood work

the inside of the roof is rough from anding of all cast marks and mount brackets ..

i was thinking i could put wooden planking in there .. just have to see how much wilol remain visible

i wanted to ad 2 more supports and put one on eitch side of the center beam in a anlge put that became too ..what the word dollhouse like hahahaha

then under the roof i need to make a raised concrete piece to put the gasspumps on and make support pillars from the roof to the concrete

the sign holder on the roof will be made from wood also (or read covered in)

a test and this shows it will be cool to use as a photobooth for my models

[lower99]

Very cool Richard!

How did you do the windows?