My module is scheduled to be part of an exhibit in the upcoming March, and despite being more than two months away I know my modeling time will be limited so I better get cracking on finishing the left side of my festival. I don't think I have touched it in almost a year.
Looking at where I left it, I had several packages of 3D printed parts which I had acquired from Outland Models on Ebay. There were various tents, stands, tables, food items, and figures... all attached to lots and lots of sprues. I found it very tedious to cut the castings free and many of the small, delicate support posts were broken in the process. I can fix them, but I won't enjoy it. I don't envy those people who work in N scale as their primary focus. I didn't even both to try and free the figures, as I don't like N scale figure painting.
Then, I used a blob of tacky glue to attach each of the stalls to a lollypop stick. I had to get a bit creative in holding them in position while the glue dried. The convenience of having them on a handle to paint cannot be overstated. Then, most of the items were primed with flat white paint.
Next, it was time to paint everything with craft paints. I started by using white glue to attach a lollypop craft stick in each one to give me a handle for painting them. It took a bit of creativity to get the sticks to stay in place until the glue dried.
Then, I sprayed everything with an even coat of white primer. After that, it was just painting everything with bright colors. I used photos of Japanese food vendors online for reference but didn't strive to copy them perfectly.
I then added small dots of paint along the overhangs and edges to look like flags or lights. I also added pseudo-Asian lettering with paint and markers. I found that drawing characters with white paint applied with a toothpick, and later going over the middle of them with a black fine point Sharpie marker, game me the look I was after.
Finally, some extremely small glass 11/0 seed beads from the craft store were added to look like bowls, cups, lanterns, and other details. I used green, yellow, red and white beads and they look pretty cood. Remember, some of those vendor stalls are only as big as your little pinkie nail!
I played around with how I wanted to arrange them in the space I had. Unfortunately, if I left the stalls facing away from the tracks (which seems the most prototypical from a safety standpoint) then all of the details I added would be pointing the wrong way. Plus, the backs of the stalls have mold mark dimples and other issues that I just painted over without fixing and I didn't want them visible. So, I arranged most of them away from the road and facing the tracks. Oh well.
But there is more work to do...
