Bringing Layouts to Life with Detailed Modeling

It's all in the details. The people, the vehicles, the signs, and all the miscellaneous details all combine to make a really vibrant scene. Plus, it's really easy to do and fun. Here's a technique I find especially effective for city streets. It's styrene laminated to foam-core then layered up.

I use spray adhesive on the back of the styrene and adhere it to the foam-core. The next step is to adhere what is really the building foundation to the street. I use spray adhesive for this step also, because it covers a large area. I used 040 styrene for this step because it's the same thickness as the sidewalk I'm going to be adding, shortly. I'm going to score then snap the styrene sidewalk.

I use liquid cement to adhere the sidewalk to the street. The final step is to add the curbing. This is quarter-round styrene. I'll lay a bead of liquid cement then push the curb into place. I'll let that set a moment.

Now I scrape in the expansion joints. You can use a hobby knife or any sharp tool. I'm using an old dental tool. The first step in painting is to paint the street. I'll spray a little bit of yellow paint along that center line.

After the paint dries, we are going to mask that center line with some striping tape. This is eighth-inch. It's a little wide, but it seems to work pretty well. When I do streets, I use three colors. There's a lighter color for the sidewalk, a medium color for the road, and a darker for the driveway.

If I tape this right, I can leave the little apron on the street, on the curb and that's what I'm doing. I'm leaving just a little bit along there. Now I'll paint the sidewalk with the lightest of the grays. Finally, I'll tape that off and spray the darkest of the gray to represent the asphalt that the building sits upon. Now comes the fun part, peeling off the tape.

And now that the street's painted, let's weather it to really make it look realistic. The first thing I'll do is use a little steel wool to roughen up the street. I'll take some weathering chalk on my fingers. Here, I'm putting tire tracks on the street. And we soften it a little bit with the old toothbrush.

That finishes it. That was fun, easy, and very effective. Now that the streets and sidewalks are complete, the next part of detailing is the buildings. After your building is assembled, you'll need to paint it. I've painted this building in two-tone gray.

I sprayed the light gray and hand-painted the dark gray. And now I'm painting the window sills. Take your time, load up your brush, and let the paint flow into the grooves. After painting, I'll cut the floor and the roof. These buildings come with material for the roof, but I like to add floor dividers, that way, I can light one floor at a time and also add some interior building details.

The easiest way to cut your floor and roof the right size is to use the building as a template. The building doesn't always line up perfectly square so don't rely on your T-square. I've glued in some styrene supports to hold the floor in place, and I'm doing the same for the roof. Drop in the roof like so. Now hold it in place.

A little glue. The next step is to put in the windows. This kit came with clear acetate for windows. You can also buy pre-printed windows. I chose to use those on this kit.

They're pre-printed with dotted lines. Be sure to cut all the way through as the acetate tears very easily. Also be careful not to get glue on the windows. It's very visible. The pre-printed shades are nice.

I'm adding those to the upstairs. Lighting buildings adds another dimension. I don't care for the look of wires running through the middle of my buildings so I'll hide those in a cocktail straw. This light has an adhesive foam pad. I'll adhere it right to the bottom of the roof then I'll feed the wires through the straw.

I'll leave the roof removable, that way, I can add details later. Signs can be mounted on the walls, in windows, or over the door. Large, painted billboards like this are easy. I've found this old ad in a magazine. Just trim with a straight-edge and use a little spray adhesive to attach to your building.

Rooftop signs like this really add to a scene. I use the framework from a billboard kit and created this character by scanning and outputting onto adhesive back label stock. I applied that to styrene, then very carefully cut him out. Simple interior details are a worthy addition to those buildings in the foreground or buildings with large windows. Poster putty is a great way to add people to your town.

It allows you to move your people around and it's almost invisible. Group people in scenes. People chatting, people waiting for the bus together on a bus stop. When adding cars and trucks, make sure your vehicles are to the scale you're modeling. Oftentimes, the vehicles you pick up in the toy aisles are too big.

Make sure your vehicles fit the era that you're modeling. A few quality vehicles in the foreground are worth the additional cost. Now that the vehicles are in place, it's time to add the final details. I really enjoy this step because it really brings the scene to life. These streetlights come in two pieces.

Drill a hole for the base then the streetlight just pops right in. Add mailboxes, fire hydrants and the miscellaneous details that all help bring a scene to life. Adding this backdrop of building in front of your sky backdrop really adds a lot of depth to the scene of your city. The detailing of a city scene is very rewarding. It's a lot of fun, adds a lot of visual interest, and it really brings your layout to life.