Finishing the Green Max stores

One of the mini-projects that has been going on for a long time is the block of Green Max stores just to the left of the arcade entrance.

When I left off on this project more than a year ago the Dry Cleaners with interior details and lighting was done and I had started a Book Store that would also be detailed and lighted.

For the Book Store interior I printed a floor similar to how I had done with the dry cleaners then added a couple of book cases, a counter with cash register, and a couple of figures.  I also printed some book cases on the interior walls and added lighting similar to the Dry Cleaners.

The tall building I am using is from Green Max kit 46-6.  I gave it a base coat of Floquil Oxide Red with an airbrush then hand painted all the details.  With all the windows that this building has that took a while.

The store fronts on these taller Green Max building kits are the same size and interchangeable with the ones in the set of small shops.  I used one that had two doors so one could be the lobby of the upper floors and the other for a celluar phone store on the ground floor.

Here is the completed block of Green Max stores,mounted on their styrene base.  I have put labels under each one showing what they are.  Some of them may be familiar from other posts. This scene is now ready to be added to the module.



This is only one of several long uncompleted projects related to these modules which I hope to complete in the near future.

First attempt at inside store details

There have been some great looking interior building details done on a few of the blogs that I follow and I wanted to try this myself.  While I had done some interior details before on such buildings as a interlocking tower or a gas station, this would be the first time I have attempted this on some sort of retail store.  I am currently working to finish the block of Green Max stores and selected a dry cleaning store to try it out on.

The first step was to create a believable floor so I used Microsoft Visio to make a simple pattern and printed that on white paper and glued to the base.  The tiles scale out to about 16 inches.




Next I needed just enough detail parts to make it look right.  I made a pair of counters from scraps of styrene with one having a cash register and the other having a pole / rail to hang finished cleaning.  This was made of .010 brass rod.

I only had to detail the front half of the building as the back half, the actual dry cleaning plant will be hidden by an interior
wall.



I then went back to the computer and created what I thought would be the appropriate wall features again using Microsoft Visio.  A photo of a dry cleaning trolley system was found then reduced and added to the wall to simulate the room beyond the wall.  As I  don't yet know how to incorporate Japanese characters into a sign I could print, the price list is just gibberish that will be too small for anyone to actually see.  This was then glued to the inside walls of the front of the building.


Interior details won't be seen if they are not lighted. I added 2 bright LED light boards from Atlas engines with the LED bent down from the ceiling.


Here is the finished dry cleaning store with the LED's on.  To make working with the interior easier I did not install the front window & door part until just prior to mounting the building on the base and had selected one that is mostly clear.

The next store to receive this treatment will be a book store in the same block.

A Green Max block of stores

Just to the left of the arcade entrance is a row of small shops.

I used 4 of the 6 shop buildings that come in Green Max kit # 33.  The taller building is from Green Max kit #46-6.  The buildings are attached to a styrene base that is removable from the module.




As this group of buildings is exclusively Green Max, I call it the Green Max block.  Just As I have done with the Musashi-Koyama station and the arcade entrance, the assembled basic structures will be set aside and I'll move on the the next block of buildings.  Later I will paint and detail each block.


Green Max kits have been around for a long time.  While they are models of Japanese buildings, American modelers have used these to model American buildings back when there were not so many choices for buildings in N scale. 

There was a time when it hard to find Green Max kits in the US, but thanks ebay it is much easier now.  There are a couple of good sellers in Japan who regularly carry them.





One can get very creative with these kits.  As these buildings will only be seen from the front, I used blank styrene for the back and side walls.  The walls from the kit will be used to make more buildings.