Updating the back wall

In the last instalment I ended the post by mentioning that I wasn't that happy with the door arrangement on the back wall. 

I eventually realized I wasn't going to be happy with this project if I didn't go back and try to fix what was irritating me. So that's what I did.

I had glued the back wall into place and had to see if I could pry it off. After some careful work, I did eventually separate it without damage.

The plan was then to remove those door inserts on either end and replace them with brick inserts. And then when that was done, replace the brick insert in the middle with a door.

It turns out none of those three inserts could be pried loose. They were permanently stuck in place.

So, on to plan B. 

First, I cut out most of the centre brick insert with an Xacto knife. This leaves a small ridge on the side edges, but still leaves a plenty big opening for a door.

Second, some pieces of styrene brick sheet were cut to fit over the side doors and then glued in place.

The sticker on this brick sheet says it is HO scale, but also notes that the bricks are 1:100 scale, somewhat smaller than HO. Either way they are bigger than the N scale bricks moulded into the kit's walls. I can live with that. These are on the back wall, and having different bricks inserted into panels on renovated old buildings isn't unusual. Once painted, they fit into the overall look of the building.

Before moving on to finishing and detailing I thought I'd check the fit of the centre door and make sure a pickup could enter. You can see it's a tight squeeze, and if you're not careful you could lose a side-mirror.

Look, if I hadn't glued a brick panel in that opening, and then had to cut it out - leaving some edge material behind - the fit of the kit's opening would be plenty wide to accommodate a vehicle as wide as a typical pickup. 

Using some styrene tubing and thin sheet I cobbled together something that resembles an overhead door for the truck entrance. It would be great if it could open and close, but I modelled it as permanently open. 

The elevator block is built up from 0.040" styrene sheet for the main structure and doors. The corners are reinforced with 0.060" x 0.060" strip styrene.

Some 0.020" x 0.040" styrene strip is used to trim the door openings. 

You can see where the idea for the centre truck entrance came from: with it one can back a truck almost up to the lower elevator door for easy unloading. 

And there it is. Bumper strips have been added to the sides of the truck entrance and the new brick inserts have been painted.

The elevator block hasn't been glued in place, but in this test placement you can see how the elevator and truck entrance doors line up - ok, they're a little off in this photo, but I think the idea is clear.

Hmm, I also see a lot of dust on the windows :-(

With this door annoyance resolved, I can go back to working on the interior.