"So Where's the Fire?"

The policeman asked as he walked up to the fancy sports car.

I put together this scene while I was working on a common
project. Producing a standard bed for a number of HO / 1-6x
scale scenes I had in mind. If you like flexibility it's
something that you should consider too. Here's all you need
to do.

Start with a piece of gray 1/4" Foamcore board ( like you use
as the presentation board for a Science Fair project). You can
find that at most Hobby and Craft Stores. If you can, get it surfaced
in light gray. Figure out how long you want your bed to be and then cut
the board to that length using a razor knife or x-acto knife. (I needed a
rather short scene as you can see.) After you get the board cut down to
the length you want cut it to about a 10 1/2" width. Now you should have a
piece of foamcore 10 1/2" wide by (your length). Now cut it in two lengthwise
so that you end up with two pieces that are 5 1/4" wide by ( your length).
As shown below.

Now turn the two pieces around so that the factory cut ends face each other.
Cut out a piece of black art paper that's 5 1/2" wide and as long as your scene
and then put it between the two pieces of foamcore and turn all three pieces over
and tape them together as shown below.

(Yes that is the back of the paper I'm using a piece of O Scale "Road"
and since the stripe down the road would be out of scale for HO I turned it
over).

Once you get the three pieces secured together turn it over again. And Set it
aside for now. Now get an HO Scale model building kit. Choose a building that
would be downtown. Kit bash the kit. ( that is use the pieces for something other
than the building the kit intended). Take the four walls and lay them side by side in
a row. Then tape them all to each other. Use enough tape to make them secure. Cover
any windows with black or gray paper or take some extra time and draw in drapes
on either side with white paper. Tape the paper in place as shown

You could also cut out some cardboard as shown above and paint it.

The pic above shows the kit bash from the front. Attach the kit bash
to a empty tissue box or something else stable and fairly substantial.

Fill the bed with HO scale accessories and people and 1-6x cars and you
have it. Photograph the scene from across the street and don't go off the set.
What you have created here is the equivalent of a Movie Studio back lot. A cool
urban environment that you can set up any number of different scenes in.
And the great thing is, it's flexible. If you need to glue anything down use
plain old white glue and use the tiniest amount you can. That way if you
need to change anything you can just snap it sideways and it's loose again.
Attach the foamcore and paper assembly to a larger piece of art paper. If you
want it to look like grass use green paper.

Here is everything that went into this scene.
The "road" "Mini highways" No 401 ( O guage in this case but you can get it
in HO) Made by Leisuretime Products. The tree is by Timberline Scenery.
The buildings are the "Ritz Grill" by Supply Line. The people and the bench
are "People Sitting" By Life Like Trains HO Scale #1186. The utility poles, fire
hydrant, trash can, and telephone booth are all in the "City Sidewalks" set by
Life Like Trains. The cars are: The 1969 Corvette by Johnny Lightning, The
Johnny Lightning "Andy Griffith Show" Sheriff's car. And the Matchbox 1955 Chevy
Bel Air. The policeman is Atlas Model Railroad "HO Scale People" Of course you can
use any kind of cars you want from any era or do any scene you can think of.

The pic above shows the empty bed.

So go build your bed and have fun.

© 2000