9.28.2012

La Taverna - A Background Building

One of the buildings I've wanted to try and create for my city was one of those type of cafe's that extend out onto the sidewalk.  They are most often associated with cafe's in Paris, but you can find them in major cities. The photo below shows the victim on the right and the real cafe I followed for this idea:
My approach was as follows:
  • Kit-bash an old, unused, and unloved Model Power/Pola building facade
  • Scratch-build the sidewalk cafe section with clear acrylic
  • Create an awning from paper (printed on my printer)
  • Add lighting, etc....
Below is the scratch-built sidewalk cafe section with strips of Tamiya masking tape applied and then cut at identical intervals to give the effect of square windows.
After coating with several VERY LIGHT coarts of paint, the masking tape is carefully removed (the coats of spray paint can peel off with the tape, so care is required when removing the tape)
There are then several efforts to fit the new 'cafe front', the signage above the awning, and the awning itself to the building.
Once assembled, I think I was getting pretty close to my goal:
Light, of course, makes everything better!  Next up....this building with some of my other 'background building' facades on the layout!

4 comments:

  1. This is a great idea, and you made a really good looking model version. I tend to like structures that create relief in the wall of facades. Since this kind of stuff is very common over here, in Belgium, and in most other european countries I have been to as well.
    (I have never been outside Europe since I was 3)

    The place you find those one next to the other is on western european coastlines where the weather does not make a huge terrace interesting.
    Like on this picture of the seafront of the small coastal town Wimereux sur mer(France):
    http://preview.tinyurl.com/d3deor7

    Great station too, I just caught up with your progress, I had to redo some of my university exams in the beginning of this month so I had little time for modeling, or following blogs.
    This is another tiny but important step forward for quinntopia,

    Greetings,

    Marius,
    Brussels, Belgium

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  2. I really like the way you remodelled the building to incorporate a cafe. It reminded me of a restaurant in Prague I used to frequent. It was called Kaverna Velryba. The entrance was at street level, but you descended down 10 steps into the restaurant. It was a hang out for students and locals and not in an area where you would find tourists. Mmm... I can just imagine people ordering confit and chevre with a nice salad in your cafe!

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  3. As always, great job!!! Right now I'm modifying an old Vollmer building, also with a commerce in the ground floor, this post helped me a lot with some ideas that i'll use.

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  4. Hello Jerry,

    This is really a great job, I believe at a restaurant in Paris!

    I still have not assimilated this technique with the tape to represent windows.

    The building is black, the tecnique you use to paint the progressively to give it more depth, as military model?

    Pascal raises many questions and admire the result!

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