Walls Up at the Repair Shop

I finally got around to finishing the inserts for the large end openings and 'glassing' the windows with clear plastic.

I used thin strips of 3M Transfer Tape to attach all the second storey windows to the frames, and the frames of the street level doors to the clear plastic windows. This went well, but some of exposed tape edges have attracted dust and grit that I'll need to carefully scrape out. All the other windows were attached to their frames with Weld Bond glue.

As I've said many times before: the digital camera is a harsh mistress and I see many areas that need touch-up before the building takes up residence on the Way Out Layout.

I've made the end door inserts so the entrance doors line up with each other, implying that the inserts are mirror images of each other. So, it's possible to walk straight through the building.

Up there is the base supplied with the kit. As you can see, a pair of plastic rails run right through the building, and they are HO gauge. I checked :-) But, they're plastic, so can't be powered. They just contribute to the odd overall design of this structure. I've done some cursory investigating into the origin story and possible prototype for this model, but have found nothing yet. I'm sure there's something out there.

Anyway, I replaced the base with a suitably dimensioned and painted piece of 0.060" styrene sheet. 

Next up is constructing a removable roof from the kit's roof and adding lighting. 

I'm still not sure what business will live here, or what will be inside. Interiors are a weak point with me as I have many buildings with clean, serviceable, well lit interiors, but are empty. Clearly some soul searching is required. Maybe AWB can help me out: