Finally managed to make enough progress to post an update! OK so it’s not the most interesting one but it is as far as I’ve got for now.
If you have been following my progress you will be aware that this is the third building in my planned diorama. If you haven’t the the title of this post is a bit of a give away too! It’s also the last building as I’ve decided there will only be three. As you can see from the images below this building represents a bakery.
The building itself differs in a few ways from the other two. Firstly, being a shop it has a large front window which can easily been seen into. Secondly, bakers are up very early so I figure if this diorama is to be set around the early hours of the morning then the lights would be on. Thirdly, it has a balcony with french doors which means it may be possible to see inside. With these three points in mind I felt I needed to do a proper interior in some places.
Externally and internally I set about doing things in same way that I built the first two buildings. Chinchilla dust was used for the external render and a colour printer was used to produce floor and wall tile images which I literally cut and pasted to the MDF interior floor and walls. The counter with bread loaves and rolls was a very basic scratch build from Milliput. Far from perfect but hopefully sufficient given the final angle of view.
For consistency I once again went for individual roof tiles, about 1200 of them to be a little more precise! An LED light was fixed into place to illuminate the shop. It’s been tested and works and will hopefully continue to do so when the time comes to assemble the building on the base and configure the wiring! These things are so delicate.
Most of the painting has been done but there are still a few things to be done before I can call it completed (weathering, chimney, balcony and external brick flooring judging from a quick glance).
The time has now arrived to start thinking about painting some figures and getting my head around the base. The figures will hopefully be straight forward, there are eight in total if I decide to use them all. The base on the other hand requires a lot of thought. The positioning of the buildings will be key, there is a need to conceal wiring and I’m toying with the idea of a fountain and street lights. Some walls will also need to be constructed and each of the three houses will need a back garden. All in all a long way to go. Still, everything in good time.
Various progress photo’s below beginning with the basic MDF shell tnrough to where the build is currently.
TIM
The Imperfect Modeller 
The intricacy and detail there is really impressive, really goes to show what can be done with buildings and scenery if one is willing to put in the effort. Love the bread – that’s just excellent!
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Cheers mate, it’s the detail I enjoy but that doesn’t always mean things are accurate. Sometimes it’s appropriate to use a little Hollywood poetic license in the interest of something looking OK.
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Great stuff mate, I love posts like this – the attention to detail is a joy to see!
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Cheers Alex. Hopefully a few more updates in the weeks ahead to wet you appetite!
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Wow Dave, modelers do not live on bread alone, but the bread alone indeed is so well made and very appropriate for a French boulangerie. Tres bien!
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Cheers Mark, the devil is in the detail.
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Excellent stuff! My wife’s impressed with your bread – that’s true praise indeed, ’cause she barely casts a glance at my stuff as she says “that’s nice dear”!
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Thank you to you and your wife. She clearly has impeccable taste! 😉
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The interior details looks fantastic.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete.
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Looking awesome….or as they say in France THAT….. IS……. LOOKING…AWESOME….AWESOME…. LOOKING…points to 👀…LOOKS….AWESOME. Seriously though, as everyone else has said, the attention to detail is really great.
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Cheers mate. It’s the detailing that I enjoy as much as anything. The only trouble is I’ve never done a model that when finished I didn’t notice something I should have done!
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Love it mate. Your attention to detail and the patience you must have is very impressive. It’s all coming together really well and even though you may not be able to dedicate as much time to it as you’d like keep at it because I dare say it will be a masterpiece when complete.
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Cheers IRO. Time will tell if it’s a master piece or not but I’ve a good few hurdles to jump and a few issues to overcome but for me that’s part of what I enjoy. Completing the buildings is a significant step though. 😊
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I do like that chinchilla dust on the walls. Must try that sometime…
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It’s pretty neat stuff and can be used for ground work too. An added bonus is it’s cheap and goes a long way!
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Oh, that’s impressive! I love the details of the piece, the roofing, flooring and of course the bread. Well done.
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Thank you, much appreciated. So far so good but having diverted my attention to the base I’ve a few concerns. Hopefully I’ll get my head around them!
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Looooking good Dave ,I feel we are really going to get to see another grand one here ! . I’m just not sure about the guys in white ,they look a little like a 1970 rock band ,but if you feel comfortable with them that’s fine with me ,but the two guys creeping along the roof Dave!appear a bit small in scale ,but then again you could have modelled them on me ! .
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Haha, I had to go back and look at the photo’s to see what you getting at. All those figures as it happens aren’t anything to do with this model, in fact they are heading towards the neglected pile. Now that the buildings are done I think I need to have a tidy up! Like the Beatles roof top reference too. As for it being a grand one time will tell. A good few hurdles to jump before this one can be called finished that’s for sure!
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That last shot is just ace. Really shows off your work. In pic 2, there are some foam-core walls, and the tops of them in pic 3 are black. Are you using tape, marker…? Just curious as I’ve used foam core for different projects too (makes great game boards or tiles!). I’ve also used black foam core to make boardgame inserts for storage.
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Thanks mate. The buildings are coming along and almost complete but I am now looking forward to sorting out the base work and painting the figures. The internal wall with the black top is actually MDF and came with the kit, I just added a tile effect print to both sides. As you say the two bedroom walls are foam board, a very useful and variable material.
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Ah ok, that’s why the walls are different. It’s so nice when a project starts to come together. Here’s hoping it’s mostly smooth sailing the rest of the way!
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Without rehashing what everyone else has said (mostly) the bread is really the star of this post for me. I even got Marouda to “come check out this bread” and she didn’t realise that it was “miniature” bread until I told her what it was. So, high praise!
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Say thanks to Marouda for me, clearly a clever lady! 😉 Just hope the bread is visible enough when the whole thing is put together.
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