Sakura Densya "Cherry Blossom Train" by thibaultron - Book Size Diorama

[thibaultron]

Part_001

 

I decided to build the companion diorama to the previous “Sakura Travel” Book Nook book sized one. “Sakura Travel” depicted a tram coming out of the diorama, this one shows a similar tram crossing a street at the back of the scene.

 

I would rate this one as a medium skill kit, for one listed as for age 14 and above. There are the structures along the street, the two-layer pond, etc. enough detail to rate a 33-page instruction manual, rather than the two sheets of small poorly printed instruction sheets the previous kit had. Some the high skill level ones are the equivalent of a complex Card Airplane kit, with lots of printed sheets where you must cut the details out. I have one which is a library where you need to cut out the book covers.

 

This kit has a rear mirror to add depth to the scene. The finished diorama has some exterior structures at the front. Two structures are sections of roof overhang, and the two are a porch with a railing and the end of the stairway, with railing. The top features a clear “window” allowing for better overhead room lighting.

 

The river/pond has a colored bed with a clear rippled plastic water surface, raised slightly, to show some depth to the “water”.

 

This shows the back of the box, with a drawing of the interior of the kit. Sorry for the one glare spot. This kit has a recessed area at the bottom, rather than a solid piece. The overhead window is the arch shaped area at the front of the top, glazing is provided for this area.

 

 

The kit has all the plywood and cardstock pieces shrink-wrapped together.

 

 

This is the rippled water surface. The three holes are for piers that support one of the structures.

 

 

They even supply a small (about an inch and a half square) piece of sandpaper to smooth rough edges.

 

 

Here are a couple of shots of the instruction book.

 

 

This shows the mirror, a sheet of wooden railings, and window frames (etc.), textured (though you can’t tell in this photo) roofing, a sheet of painted wooden parts, and the clear glazing for the window in the top of the case.

 

 

This sheet is laser cut cardstock, with printing on both sides, where the parts are double sided. The individual blossoms are glued a various location to represent fallen blossoms.

 

 

 

Next is a plywood sheet of parts, again, painted on both sides where needed. My only real beef with this kit, is that unlike the "Sakura Travels", the people in the tram are not painted. I'll have to fix that, so the two match in appearance.

 

 

Here is another sheet of wood parts.

 

These sheets are the book cover/case parts.

 

 

This sheet has various masonry and other blue parts

 

 

The last photo is the parts tray. The parts are the LED light harness, a glue tube with a fine tip, fabric feet, some additional railings, and a handful of angle brackets, used to reinforce the case. One disappointment to me is the fact that the two kits in this series use different voltages for the LEDS. This will complicate the building of a power supply to replace the battery packs in the number of kits I have.

 

[thibaultron]

The build on this will start in a week or so, I was concentrating on finishing a set of 3D printable cannon files, a few day side job, and family business problems.

[thibaultron]

Part_002

 

Construction starts with four window assemblies. Four wooden frames are glued to printed cardboard backs. There are two sets, one with the bottom tab on the left, the other with the tabs on the right. The four panels are identical, so I picked the best side of each frame to be the front. The cardstock is printed on both sides, also, so I selected the best side of those four.

 

 

The next part is a signpost with a roof over the sign. The construction is self-evident, the only thing to be careful of is that the textured side of the roof pieces is up. I did have to trim off the locating tab between one roof panel and the post, as the peak of the roof would not close with both tabs in place. This may be a problem in the future, as I had to trim off a tab on the next assembly also. The sign post only goes in one way, as the tabs are different sizes.

 

 

The next item is the exterior compressor part of an air conditioner, that will eventually be mounted to a wall. The box is assembled with the front (outside face) panel and the four edge panels. Some care must be taken, as the parts are printed on both sides, so referencing the graphics in the instructions must be done. The bottom panel does not have different sized tabs to locate it, so I had to carefully look at the graphic. The panel that is the fan blades is glued inside the box, and two gray blocks behind that. The blocks represent the mechanical compressor parts.

 

Here is where I had to trim off another tab on the rear most block. The block has an arrow etched on it to indicate the proper direction to mount it, but the tab that locks into the side panel does not line up! I cut off the tab, installed the piece, and then glued the tab into the side panel to fill the hole. Two supports are attached before the inside blocks are glued in place. Once again, I let my mind wonder, and broke the angled bracket off one of the supports. A little glue fixed the mistake.

 

The next part is a multi-layer cherry tree. It starts with a wooden trunk, printed on one side, A printed cardstock backer is glued on the other side, to finish that side of the trunk.

 

One thing to note about the instructions, if a part is printed on only one side the instructions indicate which is the printed or unprinted side facing you, by showing a square with either a blossom (printed side) or blank face. I’ve circled two examples in the picture below.

 

 

For these parts where any excess glue would be seen, I used Canopy Glue instead of the yellow wood glue I normally use. The Canopy Glue is a high-quality white glue, specifically made to attach clear parts to other pieces, originally clear plane canopies to plastic models. It dries completely clear. I have also used it to glue parts to the bottom of clear cases. Several companies offer this type of glue, I’m using the one shown in the picture, because it was the one the local craft store carried. This is the original manufacturer of this type, but the other brands are just as good. This glue takes longer to set, though, so I leave the parts several hours to dry between layers. The glue also lasts a long time in the bottle. You may have to shake the bottle when you first start, like you would a bottle of paint.

 

Several printed cardstock blossom layers are then glued to both sides the give depth to the tree. I had to take great care in orientating the blossom pieces, as there are location marks only for one of the several pieces.

 

These pictures show both sides of the trunk. I spread the glue evenly over the entire surface of the cardstock side to ensure that there will not be any delamination in the future. I carefully scraped any excess glue off the edges, before it dried.

 

I glued a cardstock blossom piece to one side of the trunk, then left it, blossom side up, to dry for a few hours. Once again, I spread the glue over the whole surface of the trunk where the blossoms attached, and used a toothpick to get rid of as much of the excess glue, as I could.

 

Next, I glued the blossom piece to the other side. The first picture shows the glue spread on the contact surface of that side. The second shows the freshly attached part, with as much glue removed as I could. The difficulty of just getting the glue where needed, and not on other areas, is why I wanted the canopy glue for this.

 

 

 

The last piece needed for the tree is a small blossom group to go over the section in the picture below where the circled branch area is shown.

 

 

Here is the four-blossom group installed

 

[thibaultron]

Part_003

 

The diorama has a railroad crossing gate, and this is the next assembly to be built.

 

Like the tree, the main body of the crossing gate is a two-layer part. A wooden front and a printed cardstock back. I glued the two together, and the assembly is shown in the two photos below. The upper photo is the front, the other the back. The lower photo also has the rectangular stripped box glued on.

 

 

The next part needed, is also a two-part assembly. It is a sign with a directional, I assume traffic, arrow.

 

 

With a mostly black double-sided sign, the raw light-colored edges stood out glaringly. I used a black Sharpie to color the edges.

 

 

 

Next the two warning lights are attached. The part has circular outlines to aid in locating them.

 

 

Next the two-part crossing arms were glued together, then glued to the pole. There are locating marks for both the crossing arms, as well as for the sign (see arrows).

 

 

Here is a photo of the completed crossing gate. I did get the two-layer pieces a little off register, so I used a blade to trim then to match, on the edges.

 

 

Looking at the picture of an actual Japanese gate, I see that, like in the US, they have shades over the lights. I may fabricate them before I install it.

 

 

I used the Sharpie again, to extend the black stripes to the raw sides. With the large tip, it is not the cleanest, but from the distance, will look better than no stripes.

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Looking good Ron.  Loved your last one, looking forward to seeing this one come along.

[thibaultron]

I will be continuing this soon. I have been busy with some family problems, which have, finally, been resolved, so less out of town traveling.

[thibaultron]

Part_004

 

The next part to assemble is another cherry tree. This is also a multi-layer assembly. This one has a branch sticking out of it at a right angle from the main trunk.

 

The tree and branch are two layers, the printed wood side, and a printed cardstock back. The side with the hole in the trunk is the front.

 

Here are the tree and branch with the multi-layer blossoms attached. I’m not going to glue the branch on, until it is time to mount the whole tree into the scene.

 

 

Now starts the building of the tram car. Unlike the last diorama, the body of the car is made from one piece, not several. The body has several slits cut into the corners so that it can bend around the corners.

 

 

This picture shows the body suspended over a parts box, to show the slits bending in a gentle curve.

 

 

This model has clear plastic windows on the front side. I attached the window material with the canopy glue. After it grabbed, I went back with wet Q-Tip’s to clean off the excess overflow, from the “glass” surfaces.

 

 The underframe is the next part to be built. Notice in the picture below that the “Unprinted” side goes up. Both sides are colored, but the part number ID is etched on the printed side, so that goes down.

 

 

Next the frame pieces are attached.

 

 

Next the wheels are glued on.

 

 

Lastly for this section, the steps. It was only later that I noticed that they are slotted too far forward. I think this it to clear the railroad crossing arm.

 

 

The undercarriage is now flipped upright and the body assembly begone.

 

First the wall that represents the interior is glued along the mid-line. I used a Sharpie to add some color to the plain wood finish people, supplied for this. I’m not sure why they didn’t print some color unto this but, they didn’t.

 

 

[thibaultron]

Part_005

 

The next step is attaching the tram body, and the first roof layer. You have to do both at this time, in order to stabilize the body walls and insure everything is square. Once again, the unprinted side of the roof is place at the top. In the pictures you can see the slits that allow the corners to curve. The etched circle and two vertical lines on either side of the door, are location marks for details that are attached later. The rectangular cutout at the bottom right of the door, represents the door handle. I did not glue the roof to the body at this time. Later, when the next layer is installed, I glued all the roof assemblies to each other and the body.

 

 

The tram windshield is solid in this model, but is not visible from the front viewing angle of the display.

 

 

 

The next step is to install the front trim piece. This is also slotted to fit around the front corners. The rectangular outlines are where two headlights will be attached later.

 

I had to realign this piece, as when fully seated against the base, the printed strip did not lineup with the one printed on the body. The slight gap is not noticeable from a viewing distance.

 

 

 

There is a second layer of roof to be added. This part is where the substructure of the roof proper is built. Again, it is placed printed side down.

 

The subframe is now installed. The tabs on the front and back supports are extra-long to fit into matching slots in the lower section.

 

 

 

After the first part of the substructure is finished, the roof assemblies are mounted and glued to the body. In order to get the parts to mount flush, I had to clamp the assemblies, and let them sit overnight.

 

 

 

This is a picture of the tram to this point, after the clamps were removed. Also shown are the next sub frame parts to go on.

 

 

In the next section the visible roof parts will be installed, and a surprise will be revealed.

[thibaultron]

Part_006

 

Next, the exterior roof pieces are installed. First the main roof piece is installed. After gluing the center section, it is to be bent down along the slotted seams. Here is where I found a surprise! These pieces are not cardstock, but a lamination of two paper covers over some type of thin wood sheet! I went to bend the two sides down, and they resisted my gentle efforts. After I applied more pressure, the sides bent down with barely audible cracking sounds

 

I applied some glue to the angled subframe sections, and held the leaves down until it grabbed. Because of the many-colored surfaces, I’ve been using mostly the clear Canopy Glue for the construction.

 

An angled front roof piece is attached, next. This one also is bent down, once the center area is glued on. To ensure that these parts stayed in place, I ran a line of glue along the bottom edges of both parts, and a little in the seams between the main and front sections.

 

 

I sanded the edges of the two top roof subframes smooth and even, in preparation to the next step.

 

There is a long thin rim that needs to be glued along the length of this edge. The part is also slitted to bend around the corners, and follow the curved front of the roof. I had to carefully align the ends of the trim piece with the rear edges of the roof subframes, with the bottom edge even with the bottom of the roof subframes, and flat along the curved front edge. Quite a task to do before the glue hardened too much! Yes, you more skilled modelers are allowed to laugh, here!

 

 

 

Now the power pantograph and the, I assume, radio antenna parts are assembled on top of the roof.

 

First the pantograph base and the antenna are installed. The instructions show you the proper positioning of the horizontal parts, as well as a caution to make sure the pantograph base is in line with the roof seams.

 

 

The paragraph parts are now glued on., as well as a cherry blossom that seems to be tenaciously clinging to the roof, of the moving tram!

 

 

The headlights are installed.

 

 

The final part of the tram assembly, is to glue two trim pieces on either side of the engineer’s door, I think to represent the grab bars, and a number plate, next to them.

 

 

The track base is built next. I didn’t take any pictures of this, sorry. I got into the rhythm of putting it together, and forgot. Both lefthand ends of the rails broke off during the construction. I glued them on separately and sighted down the length of the intact rails to insure they lined up.

 

There is also some sort of retaining wall behind the rails.

 

 

The tram is attached to the base with two stand offs that are glued to the underside. The orientation of these standoffs is detailed in the instructions. If I remember the printed sides of them face the back of the scene.

 

 

In the picture, below, you can just make out one of the supports, under the headlights.

 

 

 

The next part will show the completion of this scene section, and the beginning of the base assembly, with the stream that runs from the back to the front, of the diorama.

[thibaultron]

Part_007

 

This sub-scene is completed, for now, by adding track side details. The railroad crossing guard and the second cherry tree are added. I glued the branch to the tree at this point. Another cherry blossom was also glued on the ground.

 

 

Here is a picture from the back.

 

 

The assembly of the base of the diorama is the next step in the build.

 

Construction begins with the rear support/battery box. I still plan to build a dedicated power supply for all these Book Nook dioramas, once I have finished them. This will be more difficult than first planned, as they do not all use the same voltage. The first kit used a 4.5V battery pack, and this one uses 3V. On the first kit, I did not permanently attach the pack, which was designed to be through bolted, with the nuts hidden from access when construction was completed. This kit has the pack captured in the base foot compartment, but can be removed from the bottom to install the batteries. I built it this way; I can always cut and extend the wires later.

 

The battery pack holder/rear base support, is the first piece to be built. This is a straight forward box. The only real care that must be taken, is the get the angled tops of the ends oriented correctly.

 

 

 

The other end wall is installed with the wires trapped in the slot, and the battery box placed with the On/Off switch at the bottom.

 

This photo shows the assembled rear base, an angle bracket/foot that is attached at the bottom of the base plate at the front left side, and the base plate that the stream will be built up on. The etched lines running from front to back, outline the streambed.

 

 

The rear base is glued on first

 

 

Next the angle bracket is installed.

 

 

The streambed under the clear ripple plastic water sheet, is made from three printed layers. The first layer covers the entire streambed. Two of the rear base tabs stuck up above the surface of the base plate, so I carved and sanded them flush.

 

 

I glued the bottom/main colored sheet down, spreading the glue evenly over most of the bottom of the sheet. I then used lots of clamps around the edges of the sheet.

 

 

Then I put a couple of weights in the middle. I let this sit over night to dry. The weights did warp the base plate a little, but not badly. I should have supported it from underneath.

 

 

This picture shows the pieces for the final two layers.

 

 

Here they have been glued on, and located by installing a piling.

 

 

This picture shows the rippled plastic sheet set in place. As construction continues, other pilings will lock it in place. After the rest of the pieces that install along the shore are installed, I’ll glue the rippled sheet down in a couple of hidden spots. The next step is to glue many different sized “floating” blossoms to the surface of the water. I will wait as long as possible, to glue on the blossoms, to prevent them being knocked off as building progresses. The location of each blossom is marked by a small cross etched in the stream bed. The instructions also show the locations, as well as showing the part numbers of the various sized blossoms.

 

[thibaultron]

Part_008

 

The next sections to be built are the retaining walls, with steps and railings, on the left-hand side of the diorama.

 

 

The front most/lower section is built first. This is the section in front of the cherry blossom on the railing. Construction starts with the steps.

 

 

 

In the instructions above, note part E47. It is shown with the printed side facing the page. The manufacturer helped the builder by printing a character in the tab area, to help you determine which is the printed side, after the step face is removed from the parts sheet (see picture below). They did this on all the step faces.

 

 

Construction starts with the lowest step, and its internal support. Two views are shown of the assembly below. The white piece is the support.

 

 

 

The second step is now installed. The step face and step were not sitting together, so I glued the joint, clamped it, and let it sit for a while.

 

 

The face of the next step was glued on. This face will mate with the step on the second wall section, that is detailed later. After the face piece was attached, I assembled these parts to the retaining wall face. I glued the joints between the step section and wall piece.

 

 

This picture shows the wall side of the assembly. If I could find my colored pencils, I would touch up the exposed tab.

 

 

The kit box had a bag with three railing sections in it. Two of these are used for the two retaining wall sections detailed in this and Part 009. The third is used for a small section of these walls that extend past the front edge of the diorama’s “book” covers.

 

 

The railing section in the top of this picture is the one that will be used for the wall section being built now.

 

 

The top of the wall has a two part stone sill, with the railing mounting to the sills. The sill is two layers. The first layer is shown below, showing the print mark line. This side will go down, when installed.

 

 

Here it is glued in place, with the piece for the top layer shown on the right. The top piece has a similar printed side marking, which also goes down, when installed.

 

 

This photograph shows the finished wall/step section. One mistake I made was trying to install the railing tab into the top sill piece, before gluing both into the lower sill. The pressure broke the sill piece. I pulled the sill piece off, glued it to the lower one, and then pushed the railing tab into place. The railing tab extends into the lower sill and locks the two sill pieces into alignment. Before the glue set, I made sure the sills were lined up evenly to the wall, and the railing sat in line with the sills.

 

 

Here is a shot of the inside of the wall assembly.

 

[thibaultron]

Part_009

 

The second wall section is built almost the same as the first one, detailed in Part 008. So, I will mostly just show the sequence, and report major any differences.

 

 

 

 

 

The first difference is gluing on another cherry blossom, to one step. Another difference between the two wall sections is that the front edge of the steps is detailed as chipped stone, rather than the straight edges of the previous wall. These edges may be more visible in the finished model.

 

 

This wall has horizontal sills at the top of the right side of the wall. They are installed like the long stills, printed side down.

 

 

These two pictures show the completed second wall.

 

 

 

Now that the walls are built, it is time to install them in the scene. I had a problem with this! Even though the stream bed pieces, were located by the piling in the foreground, the edge the walls butt up against, over lapped just a hair into the area the walls slotted into the base! The manufacturer should have had me install the walls, then the stream bed. I did not want to risk cutting the bed, and possibly leaving a gap between it and the walls, so I took a long time carefully forcing the walls into place, tightly wedged against the stream bed. As you can see below, this caused the walls to not quite line up at the seam! I spent more time forcing them in line, then holding them while the glue I spread over the seams set. In the end, it turned out all right, but it was a pain.

 

The only thing that I could not quite fix, was that the lower wall does not quite sit flat against the base at the left side, there was no way to clamp this, as between the sloped wall, the angle bracket under the base, and the railing base, there was nowhere for my clamps to hold. No matter what I tried, they all slipped off, it is only a very small gap, and is hidden by the streambed piece, and should not be visible, but it annoys me.

 

 

After, the glue was holding, I clamped the seam as best I could and set the assembly aside, to fully dry.

 

 

While waiting for the walls to dry, I started on the face of the bridge that crosses the stream. Below are the first set of parts that build this structure. The small gray tabs are used as keys to lock the larger pieces in alignment.

 

 

Here the parts are assembled and glued, I spread glue over most of the back of the white piece, to keep it from delaminating in the future.

 

 

This picture shows the back, with the locating tabs.

 

 

I then added lots of clamps, and set it aside to dry.

 

 

After the glue dried, I removed the clamps, and glued on the cherry blossoms.

 

I would like to add that I have been using both the Spell Check and Grammer Check feature of Word 2013 (mainly because I forgot to turn off the Grammer Check when I recently loaded it onto my new computer), for these latest articles. What makes me bring this up, you ask? Well, many years ago with an earlier version of Word, I wrote and article, and used the Grammer Check, and hated the results! For instance, one sentence started with “Like the Craftsmen of old,…”. The Grammer Check came back and “yelled” at me for not using a gender-neutral term like crafters, or crafts person. The whole article was torn apart with similar criticisms. Well, I used Craftsmen for a specific reason, and most of the other check marks were just nit picking, similar ‘errors” not any real errors. So, for over a decade, I’ve had Grammer Check turned off.

 

They seem to have updated the code, and all the things it now dings, are actual Grammer errors. Thank you, MS!.

[thibaultron]

Part_010

 

This Part will be a short one, as will be explained later.

 

After the glue on the walls had set, I added the cherry blossom to the top of the railing, at the joint between the two sections. As well as decoration, it serves to lock the railing sections in alignment.

 

 

Next, I glued the two blossoms to the bridge front.

 

 

As the next steps in construction will start adding sections that cover over areas of the stream, now was the time to add the floating blossoms to the stream. I started by gluing the four corners of the ripple sheet, using the Canopy Glue, then clamped the spots. I used only a small dab of glue.

 

 

Three sizes of blossoms were glued on, using cross marks etched on the streambed as reference.

 

 

Using wooden staples supplied with the kit, I secured the LED power wires to the base plate. For now, this finishes this part of the base construction. Many more areas have to be built, before we get back to this assembly.

 

 

The next task, is to do more assembly of the bridge structure. The picture below shows the beginning of adding steps from a landing at the stream, to the bridge roadway. I chose to not attach the pilings B20 and B21, at this time. Rather than risk them being misaligned when the completed bridge face is installed to the base, I’ll wait to add these when that time comes.

 

 

These pictures show the steps completed.

 

 

 

Now comes the explanation for why this section is so short. The next steps would be to add some support walls for the left side of the bridge, and assemble the bridge to the base. There is a problem, though. The next ten pages of instructions detail building both of the side walls of the diorama, after which the sides and the tram base are attached to the bridge and the base plate, in one fell swoop. Rather than getting to that point and finding the bridge does not line up, I’ll wait and install the bridge at that time.

 

So, this is as far as I’m going to go with building this section now. When I return, I will jump to the building of the two side assemblies.

[thibaultron]

Sakura Densya “Cherry Blosom Train”

 

Part_011

 

I am going to start building the lefthand wall in this section. This is the wall that will sit against the stair/retaining wall sections I built earlier. Construction starts with a frame around a wooden wall section. There are locating marks etched on the wall to locate all the pieces that will attach to it.

 

 

 

There are two signs that are attached to the wood-colored section. The wall is also etched to indicate their locations. The instructions show the proper orientation for the signs.

 

 

Here the first sign is glued on, and you can see the outline for the second one on the left.

 

 

The next part to be attached is a balcony floor, with flower blossom. Then a building roof beam, and balcony railing.

 

 

 

Next the AC unit is glued in place.

 

 

The sign built in the first part of this thread goes on next.

 

 

I was at Walmart the other day and picked up a 50 pack of Crayola colored pencils. I went through them and found the “Slate” one to come closest to the gray of the retaining wall. I colored in the locating tabs that stuck out of the wall, the front edges of the stone steps, and the edges of the wall cap stones. Below is the before and after photos. The coverage is not great, but it certainly cuts down on the stark contrast between the colored surfaces, and the laser charred edges.

 

I found the “Brown” pencil to be the best match for the wood tree trunk paint.

 

 

 

Now, back to the wall. The next parts are the rafters and sub roof that goes over the balcony area.

 

The two pictures show the installed rafter pieces, with two of them having locating tabs for attachment to the wall.

 

 

Here is the roof piece attached to the wall. I added a line of glue at the joint of the under side of the roof, and the wall to reinforce this area.

 

 

Looking at the right upper edge of the wall I noticed that the cherry branch etched in was not colored. The first tree I build will attach to the slot to the left. I have no idea if this area will be seen in the finished model. As I had the nice new pencil set, though, I colored in the blossoms and branch. The far right of this area will be behind the mirror, so I left it as is.

 

Doing this showed me one failing of the pencils, you cannot combine colors to get a different shade! Once one color is applied, the pencil “lead” of the next will not mark the first. I applied white to the flower centers, then attempted to add in pink to tone it down. No luck. The pencils have a similar problem with any glue covered surfaces.

 

 

Next the first corrugated roof covering is glued on.

 

 

In Part 012 I will continue with the wall construction.

[thibaultron]

Sakura Densya “Cherry Blosom Train”

 

Part_012

 

The second story of the building is the next section to be built. Construction is started with the floor.

 

 

The wall structure starts with the spine.

 

 

 

The back of the roof beam is attached.

 

 

Next, the side walls are glued on.

 

 

 

The front of the roof beam is glued in place.

 

 

Now it is time to install the windows, built at the start of the thread. The instructions are shown in the two photos.

 

 

 

The windows getting glued in. I ran a bead of glue down the hinge edges to better secure the windows.

 

 

The clamps are being used as wedges to hold the window edge against the mating surfaces.

 

 

Here the sub roof piece has been attached.

 

 

 

I glued the windows to the book cover/wall and clamped it down. Notice the clothespin clamp used as a sprung spacer.

 

 

 

Part 13, will finish this wall, and start the building of the righthand wall.

[Old Collingwood]

So much intricate work  in this  Ron  -  its  looking really nice.

 

OC.

[thibaultron]

Part_013

 

I decided to paint the AC unit, as the brown edges were just too stark a contrast to the light blue of the painted surfaces. I choose to paint it, rather than using pencils, because I did not have a close match in the pencil selection, and due to the tight clearances of the installed unit. I used Vallejo Sky Blue Model Color paint, it also did not closely match the existing color, but I simply painted the whole unit. It took two coats, to fully hide the laser char. I used a brush on the top, bottom, and sides, as well as the raw edges on the front. For the front I used a light load of paint on the end of a Q-Tip, to apply several light coats. I let it dry overnight, and repeated the procedure for the second coat. I used the Q-Tip to paint the front, as I did not want to risk filling in the “Rolife” etched label. I left the center of the bottom alone, as it is not visible on the completed model. In the background to the right, you can see that the first coat did not quite cover the dark laser char.

 

 

 

 

 

I let the window unit dry overnight. The next day I glued on the corrugated roof piece, as well as a cherry blossom.

 

 

This finishes this wall as far as gluing pieces to it. I still have to install the metal corner braces, but will do this when I assemble the outer book covers to the base.

 

Here are two pictures of the completed side.

 

 

 

Next, I started on the right-hand wall. This photo is of the raw wall piece.

 

 

The first step is to glue on the door frame part F14. I spent about 20 minutes searching for this on the parts sheet, then in the box I stored the loose pieces in, then the floor, in a repeating cycle, too no avail! Then I looked closer at the wall section, and there it was in the middle off a larger opening above the door! It looked like just another opening. Yes, “Brain Fart Moment”.

 

 

I used a white pencil to color the edges, then glued it and the trim piece to the right of it in place.

 

 

 

I didn’t at first realize that the trim piece was a trim piece, and it was not quite in line with the ones I added later. Luckily the glue had not fully set, and I was able to twist it the little bit needed to get it positioned correctly.

 

The next step was to glue in the door, then the clear window material. It was here that I first realized that the clear glass parts had a protective film on one side! I missed the note about it when I installed the glass on the tram car!

 

 

The lower trim piece by the bottom of the door, and the window sill parts were the next ones to go on. It was here I realized about that trim piece on the right. There is second window sill piece that goes on top of the one shown in the pictures. This has the slots to mount the windows and a white cat figure.

 

 

 

The windows were assembled, and left to dry overnight.

 

 

The next several steps I don’t have pictures for. I got lost “In The Zone” while building them, and forgot to take pictures. Below are shots of from the instructions on these steps. Part C18, is a multicolored canopy over the door.

 

 

 

In the picture below, notice the installation of the LED light over the door. In this kit, it is the only LED. The lighting for the rest of the display comes from a window in the top of the diorama.

 

 

Construction will continue in Part 14.

Edited February 23 by thibaultron

[thibaultron]

Part_014

 

The top layer of the window sill and the window frame went on next, as well as the cat figure. (Yes, the Japanese are typically Cat Crazy, I really like that about them). As it will be detailed later, I should have waited until the wall was attached to the base to install the cat. Later I managed to break the tail, while running the wiring for the LED lamp. I used a white pencil to color the edge of the cat figure. Paint would have been a better choice.

 

The windows were glued in, and an additional bead run down the hinge area at the back

 

 

 

 

This picture shows a closer view of the LED light and shade. Also, at some point previously, I glued on the door knob.

 

 

Brackets for a sign, and trim pieces are attached above the first-floor roof. I think these represent a gutter that the future drain pipe will feed.

A picture of the wall from what will be the back of the diorama.

 

 

The wiring for the LED coming out of the wall. The two holes just to the right of the wires are for a wood staple to hold, and locate the wires. These holes were overly tight, and while trying to push it in place, I broke the cat’s tail, by not watching how I was holding the wall. I left it that way, and glued it back on after I finished construction of this assembly.

 

 

Two support brackets went on next. These support the second-floor bay type window.

 

 

The bay window consists of an outer frame and a grill. The arrows indicate the direction to install the grill.

 

 

This photo shows the back of the window. The kit did not supply a tan colored window pane for this assembly. I guess there are regular winds behind the grill that are open, and thus do not show.

 

 

The frame was then glued and clamped in place. Three signs went on. Again, the instructions showed the correct orientation of the signs. I tried to use Google Picture Translate on the signs, but got no results.

 

 

The next day the clamps were removed, and construction of the roof over the window was started. First, the roof beam was attached, then the store sign installed in the brackets on the first story roof.

 

 

The sub roof with the rafts went on, next.

 

 

The corrugated roof, and the drain pipe were glued in place. I used the brown pencil to color the edge of the drain pipe.

 

 

 

To be continued.

Edited February 24 by thibaultron

[thibaultron]

Part_015

 

I returned to the area of the door, to continue assembly. A porch floor, with cherry blossom, is installed.

 

 

This store has a book shelf display window, that is glued to the back of the wall assembly.

 

 

This is followed by a print sheet of books.

 

 

On the outside. of the shelf, there is supposed to be a window pane. Unfortunately, in order to protect the acetate pieces, I stored them in a “Safe Place”. Once I find that place again, I will install it!

 

Here is where the poor cat lost its’ tail! The picture below shows the back of the wall and the wood staple for the LED wires.

 

 

Here it is after I finally got it installed.

 

 

A few posts back I said I was going to wait to install the bridge, until later, so I could have a little wiggle room to install the side walls. I might as well have done it then! The next section is building the bridge, and the parts lock it in so firmly, that there is no adjustment, even with none of the parts glued in!

 

Below is a photo of the two bridge piers that go in first. None of the following parts were glued in until the whole bridge was fitted. When that was done, I ran beads of glue at the joints, to fix them in place. The pier on the left has marking to indicate the correct orientation.

 

 

Here they are installed, without glue.

 

 

There is a step to attach to the left side of the bridge beam, this forms the top step of the staircase on the retaining wall. I used the slate pencil to color the edges of this step, as well as the steps on the right side of the bridge. I glued this piece.

 

 

 

The left-hand support was fitted, next. Once again, no glue at this point.

 

 

The bridge has been fitted, and glue applied to the joints.

 

 

 

It was at this point I remembered the two piers that hold up the lowest step on the right side! Much fiddling and bad words got the pieces in place!

 

 

I had to do some clamping to hold the bridge to the support, and hold the lower step down while the glue attaching the bottom of the piers to the stream bed dried.

 

 

Next, I clamped the top step in place so it lined up with the riser on the retaining wall.

 

 

 

This was then left to dry.

[thibaultron]

Part_016

 

A few pieces of the top ply on either side of the tail fell off and were lost when it broke. I glued the tail in place, and let it set overnight. I then spent a couple days building up the surface with layers of the Canopy Glue. After the glue had completely dried, I painted the damaged area and the lasered edge with white paint.

 

 

Here on the backside, you can see a slight bump of extra glue on the corner, after the paint dried, I carefully sanded this off. The cat was now whole again!

 

 

Now comes the assembly of the wall and tram assembly to the base. This picture shows the three sections ready for attachment.

 

 

The wall goes on first. No glue yet.

 

 

After ensuring that everything lined up, I applied glue to the outside edges.

 

 

In order to get the bridge surface and the front beam to sit correctly together, I had to clamp it. Sharp eyed modelers will note a problem with this picture. The cross arm on the crossing gate is missing in action! The arm broke off while I was trying to get the tram assembly in place. This made it easier to place the central clamp, but what a pain! The arm was located and will be glued on later. If you build this kit, I would recommend waiting until after the whole bridge is together to attach the crossing gate and the tree.

 

 

I also had to clamp the pier that supports the porch, as the tab would not sit properly in its slot.

 

 

Up until I repaired the cat, I have been using the colored pencils on the exposed edges, with fair results. But one of the upcoming parts to go on is the front of the case. This has long prominent edges, especially were it meets the stream bed. The pencils just are not enough for this. I decided to mix a custom paint color using my stash of Vallejo paints. The Vallejo bottles have a very small opening, even after you pull of the dispenser tip, so manually stirring them is a losing proposition. To solve this, I put a small stainless-steel ball in each bottle, the first time I use it. The ones I use, shown in the photo below, are specially made for use with water-based paint. Regular SS balls can still rust, if left in permanently. I bought mine through the Web. I have 8mm balls I put in the larger bottles of primer.

 

 

I pull off the tip drop in a ball and replace the tip. Shaking the bottle until the ball rattles around freely does the job.

 

 

I put a large black spot on the label to show that bottle already has a mixing ball, using a Sharpie.

 

 

After some experimenting, I used these three colors (Pale Blue Gray, Black, and Blue) to match the masonry color used in the kit. It is just very slightly a different shade, but on the edge it matches closely.

 

 

The proportions I used were:

 

10 Parts gray

2 parts black

2 parts blue

 

For the little I needed I just mixed them in the paint tray.  The Vallejo bottles are designed so that it is easy to dispense them a drop at a time, and that is how I measured them out., using 10 drops of the gray to start with. If I had needed a large batch, I have several empty bottles the same form factor as the Vallejo ones, I bought on line. I bought these a few years ago, and have no idea where I found them. I think a search for 17mL paint bottles would turn them up.

 

Here is a picture of the painted edge.

 

 

I went back and painted as many of the masonry edges as I could reach, at this late stage of construction. The Vallejo paints had no trouble going over the colored pencil marked surfaces.

 

The next step was to reattach the gate arm. There is not a whole lot of contact area, and the mirror will be behind the tram, so I don’t want to add a rear brace, in case it would show. I came up with this setup to hold the arm while a glob of glue dries on the joint. I used extra glue here, counting on it drying clear and sitting at the back of the diorama, to hide it. I wanted the extra to reinforce the joint. The clothes pin on the left is being used as a wedge to position the clamped tip of the arm.

 

 

Here is the arm the next day. I may pull it a little forward and glue it to the back of the railing. I don’t know how well the glue will support the arm as time goes on. Yes, the trolley pole also broke off, I glued it back on today.

 

[thibaultron]

Sakura Densya “Cherry Blosom Train”

 

Part_017

 

Before the front masonry piece is installed, the LED power switch circuit board has to be screwed on.

 

 

 

Here is the part installed. I had to use one of my regular sized clamps to hold the streambed edge of the part flush with the stream, until the glue dried. The front to back length was too long for my modeling clamps.

 

 

This shows the progress so far.

 

 

As I have had ant problems in the shop, I glued the plastic water piece down along the front and back, to make sure they don’t get under there if they show up in the future. I used the clothespins to spread the weight of the glue bottle, to hold the edge down while the glue dried. The weight of the clothespin on the far right was enough to hold down that section.

 

 

It turns out I was wrong in an earlier post; the model does have a second LED. It goes at the top of the model, in a dedicated holder.

 

 

Construction starts with a base that spans between the left wall and the inner right-hand wall. The base has two wood staples that align the three center standoffs that the LED lamp globe attaches to. This shows the base with one of the staples installed.

 

 

The photo shows the base and three standoffs glued together. The top standoff is shown being installed with the colored side facing toward the base, but I decided to leave the colored face exposed. The part is symmetrical, side to side, so the parts still line up.

 

 

Next two more staples are installed to hold the wires that go to the LED.

 

 

The LED globe is designed as a press fit, but I added glue between the globe and standoff, on the inside, to make sure it stays in place.

 

 

To hide the LED support, there is a faceplate installed

 

 

I had to clamp it in place while the glue set. I used the clothespin clamp for the section that had the slit for the wires. Hard clamping this across the slit risks breaking one of the arms off. I broke an Atlas lathe belt tensioner assembly a couple of decades ago, making that type of mistake. Luckily, I was dealing with a used machine tool dealer, back then, that sold me a whole newer, better designed, belt tensioner assembly for a reasonable price.

 

 

After the pieces set, I panted the colored areas and the staples white, to hide all the raw edges, just in case any of it is visible in the finished model.

 

There are two support pieces for the LED assembly that need to be glued to the right-hand inner wall.

 

 

I had glued and clamped these in place, then found much further back in the instructions, that there was a trim piece that locked into this support! The glue had set already, and the clamps had distorted the support slightly up at the back. I had to break the glue joint and then install the trim piece, then reglue everything. In my defense that trim piece was rather hidden in the instructions, still I should have checked. The piece is the lattice work part on the right of the pictures.

 

 

I painted the raw edges of the upper front face piece white to match the color of the part. It took three coats to fully hide the edges, on this majorly visible area.

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Excellent work Ron.

 

OC.

[thibaultron]

Part_018

 

 The next operation is to install the left-hand side/book cover. When I test fit the wall, I found the gray wood trim strips interfered with the “stone” steps of the retaining wall mounted on the base. If you build this kit, temporarily install the wall and base with the retaining wall/steps attached, and then glue in these strips, so that they will not interfere later. After that continue with installing the other pieces, as per the instructions. There is room to move these and the brown wall trim up a little.

 

I used the ruler to guide the hobby knife when I trimmed the bottoms off the strips. This picture shows the trimmed parts.

 

 

I mixed another batch of the gray color paint, and painted the exposed edges.

 

 

Next, I glued the front cover onto the right-hand inner wall, and the base, camping the parts to give a good fit.

 

 

 

 

I then, fit the left wall, and also glued it to the front cover only, at this time. Once again clamps were used until the glue dried.

 

 

After the glue dried, I connected the other tabs into the associated slots, and clamped the side until the glue dried. Here are pictures of the installed side.

 

 

 

The wiring for the LEDs has to be connected, before the right-hand cover can be installed. First the wires for the LED in the top of the diorama are fed down through holes in the horizontal base of the LED support assembly. I decided to glue the wires into the slot, to prevent them from getting caught between the support and the top cover, when installing it. I glued them in place, then clamped them down, using scrap pieces of wood. I also used clamps as weights to keep the wires taut during the gluing and to help hold that end of the wires down in the slot.

 

 

I installed the screw that secured the top corner bracket, between the left upper corner and front covers, while I was waiting for the glue to dry.

 

 

The next step was to glue in another wire guide staple, and run the wires down through it.

 

 

The instructions say to twist the wires together, then use the supplied tape sections to insulate the exposed ends. I soldered the wire ends, to make a good lasting connection, before adding the tape.

 

 

This shows the taped ends.

 

To make sure that the ends never touch, and keep the wires from interfering with the right-hand cover installation, I glued the ends to the inside of the inner wall. I added weights to hold them in place, and let it dry overnight.

 

 

Here is a photo the next day.

 

 

[thibaultron]

Part_019

 

This picture shows the upper LED wires in the slot, after the Canopy Glue dried.

 

 

I installed batteries and tested the LEDs, before continuing.

 

 

I still can’t find the acetate glazing sheet, so I fabricated a new window for the bookstore window, using plastic from a tool package. I wish I had thought of the plastic I used later for the window in the top cover, but I had already glued in and trapped this window. My fear is that the cheap plastic used in the tool cover will yellow over time. Oh well, time will tell.

 

 

First, I glued the acetate to the back of the front cover, like in a real building. This looked good, but caused problems later, as will be detailed below. I used scrap wood to wedge it in place until the glue dried.

 

 

While waiting on the window glue, I installed the rear diorama mirror.

 

 

After removing the protective film from the “glass” side of the mirror, I slid it into place, and glued it.

 

 

Here you can barely see the effect of the mirror. If you look behind the railroad cross arms, you can see the reflection, making it look like there is another one on the other side of the tram. It also looks like there are more buildings going down the street. There is also a reflection that looks like there is another tram behind the first one. This would be weird, but the second one is mostly hidden by the tree branch, and the second tram would be hidden if the diorama was above eye level, anyway.

 

 

This is a picture of the mirror, from the side.

 

 

The next day, I took this photo of the first installation of the window.

 

 

These are pictures of the right-hand cover. I don’t know if I showed a picture of the corner brackets, they are shown for this wall in the second picture.

 

 

 

I damaged the lower tab on the left cover when I installed it. I used three rounds of building up layers of Canopy Glue, to fill it in.

 

 

When I went to install the right cover, I found that the bookstore window glassing interfered with the joint. I carefully pried it away from the wall, using a steel ruler. I first tried trimming it narrower, and reinstalling it. There was no room on the right side of the window opening left to glue that edge down. The inside surface of the right cover fits flush with the inner edge of the window opening! I retrimmed it to fit over the inner book wall, which does have a lip on the right, as per the instructions and glued it to that wall. Once again, scrap wood was used to wedge it in place. I cleaned the canopy glue off the glazing using isopropyl alcohol, before gluing it in the second time.

 

 

As I did on the left cover, I glued the front edge of the right cover to the right side of the front cover first, and clamped it. Notice that the cover is angled, slightly, away from the rest of the assembly, to clear the other mounting tabs.

 

 

Once that had dried, I dry fitted (not glued) the rear/book spine cover in place, and clamped the back edge of the right cover to it. I then made sure all the connecting tabs between the base and right cover were inserted, and ran a bead of glue along that joint.

 

 

 

 

[thibaultron]

Part_020

 

The spine was glued and clamped on next. I dry fit the top to make sure that the case was square.

 

 

There is still a distinct lack of window for the top, but there are a few details that need to be finished first.

 

 

 

The first thing that needs to be worked on, is the joint between the two edges of the book store roof, where they meet at the front right corner. The two pieces were not level with each other. I applied a thick bead of glue, and held the pieces until the glue had set sufficiently. After the glue fully dried, I applied another bead to the underside. Because this area is on the outside of the case, I wanted to protect it from damage, if any impacts occurred. Though the bead does look like it is too large, when dried it shrinks considerably, and is transparent. This is also a small area.

 

 

The stairway extension at the lowered left corner, are the next parts to install. A picture of the instructions for this is shown below.

 

 

This shows the assembled wall and railing.

 

 

This picture is of the corner bracket/lowest step, installed.

 

 

I then glued the wall to the brace.

 

 

 

After the glue dried, I added a bead of glue to the inside of the joints.

 

I had still not found the acetate glazing piece for the top window. I was just going to leave the top dry fit, and leave it like that, until some point in the future, when I found the piece. I spotted a perfect piece of acetate, lying around my shop though! Back in the big bad COVID days, they made a lot of disposable face shields, unfortunately non were available in my area. However, afterwards, one of my pharmacies had a few spare ones they gave me, for use in my shop. Well, there was one open and sitting in a corner! After checking it was the right thickness for the holding slots in the case. So, I used it to fabricate a new window.

 

Being a disposable shield, it was packaged flat, with a foam forehead cushion glued along the top, and an elastic band to hold it to your head. After the elastic and foam cushion were cut away, the sheet laid flat.

 

The instructions showed an overhead view of the placement of the window, so I had a guide as to the correct shape.

 

 

I traced the opening onto a sheet of paper.

 

 

Then after measuring the various tab locations, etc. I drew a new pattern using my CAD program. Below is a picture of the finished pattern. The innermost lines are the opening outline. The two ears lock into slots in the side plates, and the tab at the bottom fits in a slot in the front piece that sits just below the edge of the front plate. This slot is hidden from the front by the roof overhang. The side ears were left overlong so I had handles to maneuver the window, without leaving fingerprints.

 

 

I taped the pattern to the face shield, and cut it out. Though hard to see, naturally as it is clear, this is a picture of the finished part.

 

 

After a little trimming in the area of the ears, it fit into place, one problem of measuring a metric model with an imperial ruler. Again, still hard to see.

 

 

I put glue along several areas of the top of the side, back, and front plates, and using the ears to hold the window in place installed the top. I also put a few small drops of glue at the window to top joints. I don’t want it to shift in the future.

 

 

After the glue dried overnight, I trimmed the exposed parts of the ears off, with a new blade.

 

The construction on the diorama is finished, but there are still some painting details that need to be done. These and pictures of the finished model will be shown in the final part.

[thibaultron]

Part_021

 

This is a picture of the diorama with the LEDs on and an overhead light shining through the top window.

 

 

The final steps to finish the model are painting the raw edges of the case.

 

This picture shows some of the edges that need to be painted. I need two colors for this. The first is my blend for the masonry areas at the front. I decided to paint the outside edges the masonry color in the area the masonry was present. The other areas that needed painting were all the spots the “white” panels met. On the front plate I used pure white paint, but after looking at the finished model, I noticed that the panel color was an off-white color.

 

 

I had three different “white” shades in my Vallejo collection, So I painted swatches of each on a sprue area the parts had come from. The results are shown in the picture below.

 

The three areas I painted are marked by the red circles. At the top, labeled “I”, is “Ivory”. In the middle marked with what was supposed to be a “W”, is the standard white. At the bottom, marked ”OW”, is Vallejo's “Off White”. The Off White matched almost exactly.

 

PS, yes, I failed in writing clearly in small areas with a sharpie. Sue me! LOL!

 

 

The following few pictures show the finished paint job.

 

 

 

 

I only saw the bad spot in the above picture, while writing this section. I plan to leave it as is. The area is not visible from the front at normal viewing angles, and I don’t want to mix a whole batch of paint for this one spot

 

 

Another shot of the fully painted, and finished model from the front.

 

 

The rest of these pictures are more shots of the finish diorama.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will shortly be starting another thread on a ship themed Book Nook diorama, called “Sailing Memory”. It shows a room with various nautical “stuff” on the table and walls, several books that need to be made, and a large backlit fancy window with an ocean scene behind it. The kit is simpler than the previous two, but has some interesting new building challenges. So, stay tuned, if it sounds interesting.