The sidewalk around the terminal building consists of two pieces of .040" styrene, the bottom one is plain, the top has a pattern of tiles. Because the curb had to be rounded at the corners, I cut small "bucks" out of medium density fiberboard (MDF), taped .080"x.080" strips of styrene to the form, and used a heat gun to shape the strips to simplify gluing.

At this point, I'm not sure if I'm going to permanently affix the track or not. Each has its own benefits. It would be much easier to make any desired changes later on if the track was removable. On the other hand, I could make it look more realistic if it were permanently attached. We'll see.

Because of its position as an island surrounded by track, I decided to make the Union Terminal station section its own (removeable) module.

As it was originally intended to be placed on a shelf, my previously-built Union Station did not have a back. But now that the rear of the building would be visible, I needed to remodel.

The new rear portion wasn't going to be in a highly visible location, so I wanted to keep it simple. But I also didn't want it to look like an afterthought. To get some ideas, I looked at the real Union Station using Google Maps, and found one view that I used as a "prototype" of sorts.

I cut windows and doors into a 6" x 2.5" piece of .020" styrene, used some n-scale doors that I had, and created three large windows that are similar to those in front. Using a white paint marker, I drew the window panes onto some clear styrene and glued them on. For a bit of interest, I also added an art-deco print behind the new windows. I might decide to change the print – the back is removeable. (The front windows are transparent as there is somewhat of an interior.)

By the way, I found a glue that is ideal for affixing clear windows: Liquid PSA (Pressure Sensitive Adhesive) from Micro-Mark. PSA goes on somewhat like white glue and stays tacky after it's dry. As soon as it is, the window can be pressed into place. Since there is no liquid, there is no ooze. Also, the window can be somewhat repositioned - for a while. It's probably not as strong-bonding as other glues, but for windows, it doesn't really need to be. (The note you see on my bottle warns me that it comes out very fast. I learned the hard way. Be careful.)

To match the trim on the rest of the building, I added thin styrene strips painted in Terra Cotta.

I also got a bit of warm(ish), dry(ish) weather (it's winter in Oregon after all) and was able to sand and paint the base section primer gray. It's an interesting technique that eliminates the need to build roads. Any area left uncovered became part of the driveway or road. They are not as realistic as using Woodland Scenics Smooth-It, but in my abstract world, it works fine.

I'll be adding more detail (i.e.; foliage) when I get closer to finalizing the layout.

The Streets of Los Angeles

Moving on, I spent some time finalizing the look of the small hills. For the first time ever, I added some plaster (actually Mold -A-Scene) to the layout while it was inside of the house. I've avoided doing that in the past because of the potential mess – but I did a lot of preparation and was very careful. Then I took the removable center mountain down to the garage and covered the Los Angeles facing part with Plaster Cloth and some more Mold-A-Scene.

Now that the mountains are getting close to receiving paint and foliage, I decided to have another dress rehearsal (placing many of the structures and vehicles on the layout) to help me determine how best to cover the terrain.

With the completion of the Union Station area, and a good idea of the overall layout plan of the street, it was time to move on.

The Santa Fe Building

Watching some videos on YouTube as research, I discovered that the Santa Fe Railroad had a building in Los Angeles. (It's still there – now apartments and lofts.)

The only similar building kit I could find was a little too tall, so I cut out one of the floors and added the sign. It's a simple structure with no interior (and blacked-out windows).

The Santa Fe building in the 1950s.

I'm going to include the La Brea Tar Pits, mainly because I found some little dinosaurs at the hobby store. This area will also be the home of a little park. As with the station area I decide to put this section on piece of MDF as a base, so the first thing I did was create a cardboard template of the track shape. Then I cut and placed the MDF.

I gave the Mold-a-Scene mountains a thin, base layer of Earth Undercoat. Some foliage and perhaps some additional colors will come soon.

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I had actually designed the Observatory about eight months ago knowing I would eventually build it - but not knowing when. (That turned out to be now.) It was constructed with a couple of small pieces of wood covered with styrene. I used styrene tubes and small wood spheres for the domes. The front windows are simply tiny black squares printed on white label material. Though the building is small (about 1"x1"x2") there are at least several dozen pieces - not to mention the ones I didn't use for various reasons.

In researching the Hollywood sign, I came a sign generator and couldn't resist the opportunity to name the landmark after myself. When I added a little landscaping material and color to the mountain, I tried to match the print so the letters would appear to be separate pieces.

As you probably know by now, I enjoy dress rehearsals and evaluations, especially when I'm about to move on to another area.

But before I leave the Los Angeles area, I did a bit more planning on the canyon road as well as what will be an orange grove.

Grauman's Chinese Theater (now simply known as the Chinese Theater) is such a famous Hollywood landmark that I had to include it as well. Besides, the Super Chief was known as the "Train of the Stars" because so many Hollywood celebrities were frequent passengers. But the building's complexity left me puzzled for a long time as to how I was going to make it.

Fortunately, when working on the Chicago portion of the layout, I purchased a small restaurant from a company called Small Town 3d Models. I saw that they also had a small movie theater, and although it didn't really look like the Chinese theater, I was able to scratch build and add side sections (using wood, styrene and even a piece of PVC sprinkler pipe). Then I added some decorative elements using photos I found on-line as well as some signage. I'm very pleased with the results, and although it is not a copy of the Chinese Theater, anyone who has seen a picture should recognize it.

A special shout out to Small Town 3d Models for their excellent kits.

I'll be getting back to Los Angeles soon, but now, I'm off to do a bit of work in Chicago.

Stay tuned.

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