Black Dog Beer Hall SBS
When I began building "Logistics", I intended to put a wedge shaped building with a cigar/cigarette/news stand as the first floor business. I actually built it to the point of 80% completion. It looked Okay, just okay. I kept walking by it and after awhile, I decided to pitch it. I could never make myself like it.
A shot from the side
So, what should I replace it with? What else, a German Brauhaus! I called it the Schwarze Hund. (Black dog). I wanted to put a floor above the street and an arch for traffic to pass. I began with my usual corrugated cardboard frame. You may note the resin brick sheet glued to the first floor of the structure. The lower half will remain as only cardboard as it will fit into the opening of the base and never be seen. I also used Grandt Line windows. Yes, they make other things besides bolts and rivets! I cut the openings to fit. These two pieces, with the arch complete the rear facade.
Next, the arch is built using the same materials. At the bottom of the picture, you will notice three sheets of matt board. The upper floors will be laminated with this material as it gives the structure much more strength and will accept the plaster which will be added later without harming the corrugated cardboard beneath.
Here we see the back and sides complete with the resin and matt board laminates in place. It has been fitted into the hole in the base for proper fitting. I used balsa strips to simulate the open beam construction of the second floor. The third floor is a mansard style roof. The shingles being cut from the 135th Construction Battalion sheets. I am not sure if they are still in production.
The dormers were another product of that company. I made wedges from plastic sheet to span the space between the dormers and the roof. The gutters were converted from some wooden doll house material, then, someone, sorry, I can no longer remember who, sculpted a dog that I casted and modified, (Two each corner and attached to the gutters.) I used thin plaster and a tiny spatula to approximate the texture of the stucco between the open timbers. I heated sheets of the resin bricks in boiling water, then slowly bent them to fit the contour of the inside of the arch.
Here is the front of the building facing the main street. I have simulated Allied bombing runs throughout the diorama and the Black Dog is no exception. The majority of the facade has been blown out. Inside, I created the three floors. I used microscope slips, not slides, (They are far too thick), for the windows. I cut them to size using a brass tube with a diamond phonograph needle soldered on. It cuts the very thin glass just like a real glass cutter. Then using tools I have found over the years at doll house shops to create the curtains, 135th Const. Bn again for the wall paper and flooring. The final picture in this SBS is only about 70 to 80% finished.
Here is a shot of the interior in progress. When complete, it will have much more of a brown or earth tone to the colors, plus some more details. The bay window was again a product of the 135th Const. Bn. The micro slips were also used in that. I usually attach them with superglue and after secure, break then with a sharp point until I achieve the look I am seeking. I made the walls thicker where exposed by using a cork sheet in between the corrugated cardboard and the matt board interior walls. Then at the edges, I used 135th Const. Bn bricks to simulate the torn walls. There will be huge amounts of rubble added to this and all the other buildings when complete.
Here is a shot of the Black Dog in it's current state of construction. The stone chimney is from, what else, 135th Const. Bn. Boy, will I miss that company. I designed it to market the materials that would make my work, and hopefully, other modelers, to scratch their model buildings. Alas, I don't think the current owner of all the old VLS lines wants to continue with them.
Another angle.
And a slightly different one.
About 80% complete, it makes a much more imposing structure for the front of the diorama, albeit the back of the building. After the 46 vehicles and the 250 plus figures are completed, I will return to the buildings and complete them one at a time. No real reason to do it that way, just always have.
Hope you like it!
