Grilles kitbashed from Walthers Al's Victory Service

Late night rooftop concert at Grilles

I was chatting with Galen about this year's Walthers 2024 NMBRO. I was surprised to see that Walthers HO scale Al's Victory Service Gas Station was one of the base kits in the Kitbashing category. I was surprised because I had used that kit for a kitbash of sorts back in 2011. I'm not eligible to enter, but if you want to, um, "borrow" the idea, go right ahead :-) Here're the instructions. Good luck!

Looks like nobody was in any shape to drive home and wisely took the streetcar instead

Three palms and four cars

[No, palm trees can’t grow outside in Ontario – not unless they were some sort of genetic hybrid that lets them survive a January -40C night! But I thought Grilles should have palm trees, so in they went. The parking lot planters are leftover tire halves from the Gran Turismo project – they seemed appropriate for a converted gas station. Also, while searching through my stash of model tires and wheels I came across some broken Hot Wheels wheels which I think should be useful in restoring some of the broken specimens I was taking pictures of last summer.]

I added a few details to Grilles as preparation for siting it on the new layout. First though the parking lot was cut back from its odd shape to a square so that it fit properly in its new location. The B/A sign is a reference to Grilles’ gas station roots (my father worked at B/A for many years so it’s also got nostalgic value to me). A Walther’s telephone booth was added to the parking lot in case Clarke Kent finds himself in town on vacation. The cars are all fairly modern and were all given license plates and a little black wash for highlighting details before being rubber cemented into place. When placed on the layout, the upper deck dining area will have a great view of the ocean, and being right next to a street car station and book store, this place should be a big money maker 

Grille's: Patio & Parking

Over the past week or so I've been working finishing the roof-top patio and the surrounding parking area.

Grille's will be located on a corner lot as were many old fashioned gas stations.

The parking lot base was cut from a piece of 0.080 inch styrene to fit the lot. It was painted with loose washes of flat black and gray paints. A fine-tipped art marker was used to line the parking spaces. The old British American Petroleum sign in the parking lot is an item from Penitentiary Products.

The roof-top patio lawns were cut from Woodland Scenics Forest Green grass mat and glued in place with thick super-glue. The Woodland Scenic grass mats are very different from the Busch ones used at Art Park. They have a much finer surface, and the backing is a plastic / vinyl type of material instead of a papery one. A set of steps was made from strips of 0.080 inch styrene to join the two patios. The railing along the back wall is a Grandt Line product. I suspect that if this was a real building a railing would be needed along the front as well, but I thought it would detract from the look.

That's about it for major construction. All that remains is to add a number of details to help bring it to life.

Grille’s: The street sign

I wanted Grille’s to have a distinctive sign facing the street. When I started this kitbash I had no idea what that sign would look like. I was rummaging through some parts looking for something for a car model conversion that I’m working on and came across a grille for a 1940’s or 1950’s car. I flashed on what the sign would look like even though I wasn’t too sure how to build it.

I think this grille is from a 1940’s Mercury kit I worked on a few years ago, but I can’t say for sure. Regardless, it had the right look, but it was chromed, so I soaked it in SuperClean to strip it.

Once the chrome was removed I washed it in warm soap and water to remove any SuperClean residue, and then glued on two styrene tubes for the wall attachments. I also glued a third tube between the two wall attachment posts, parallel to the main axis of the grille in order to provide a mounting bar for the letters.

The letters are plastic items I had left over from a plastic municipal garage / firehouse kit I bought in the late ‘70s. I think it was made by Kibri. After all these years they came in handy! I cut pieces of steel piano wire and superglued them to each letter. Holes were then drilled into the long letter mounting tube for the piano wired letters. Superglue was also used to attach the wired letters to the support tube.

The piano wire stubs were then inserted in the wall attachment tubes because I wanted a very sturdy connection between the sign and front wall of the building. Two matching holes were drilled into the front wall so the sign’s wire stubs could be inserted for a secure fit. Again, superglue was used to glue the support stubs into the wall mounting holes.

I’ve done some initial painting on the sign, but it still needs to be cleaned up and weathered a little.

Grille’s: A beginning

Grille’s is another project that became something else once I began gluing the kit together. I bought the Walthers’ Al’s Victory Service gas station kit thinking that a retro-styled gas station would look good on the layout. I assembled the walls, placed the partially finished building on the layout, and looked at it for awhile. And awhile, and awhile, and awhile more. It looked too old, and just sat around unfinished for a long time.

These days lots of gas stations are closing down around here. Most are eventually bull-dozed and then redeveloped once the site is cleaned up. Some get repurposed instead of demolished. One nearby station was converted to a used car lot. I figured I’d move the station near Art Park and repurpose it to a grille and cafe with a hot rod meets eco-friendly theme. Yeah, well, I know, hot rods and eco-friendly? It’s still a work in progress, but I think it’ll work out.

The eco-part is going to be a grass-surfaced, roof-top patio with a view along the highway, Art Park and the railroad switching action. The kit has a slightly sloped flat roof that needs to be converted to a level, flat roof. This means the molded on roof supports need to ground off and new ones - ones that are level - need to be added. A Dremel with a sanding drum and a sanding stick make quick work of grinding off the moldings. I also needed to shorten the wall between the two parts of the building so that the two flat areas that’ll comprise the roof-top dining areas can be connected via some stairs.

{These are the moulded-in roof supports.}

{This is what it looks like after they're ground off.}

{The large flat-roof is test fit to make sure everything fits well.}

Since it’s an entertainment spot, the building was given a wild paint scheme - purple, toned down a little with some thinned black wash. To prevent things from getting too bleak, the engraved panel lines on the kit were lined with white. I used a ‘galaxy marker’ I found at an art supply store. It’s basically a fine-point pen with a permanent, paint-like ink. It goes on smoothly and is very opaque. The problem I found with these pens is that the cap doesn’t have some sort of positive-action, snap-lock to click it securely to the pen body. One night I didn’t slide the cap on all the way and the pen was dried out and unusable by morning - a waste of $2.50.

The inside was painted flat black and black card-stock was used to block views since I don’t intend to detail the interior.

The roof sheets were glued on once the interior was dry and the clear plastic window glass was in place. Parts of the end walls were cut even with the roof panels, and styrene extensions were added so that the exterior staircases to the roof could be installed. Those stairs were items from Central Valley.

Still lots of work to go on this one.