Two Kiosks for my 28mm Cityscape

Smith's Smoke Shack, my latest 28mm MDF building...and there's Mr. Smith in his Notre Dame shirt behind the counter

I often like to modify my 28m MDF Sarissa Precision buildings, but on my latest two constructions, I took that to extremes. I had purchased two of Sarissa's Victorian Newstand/Market Stalls awhile back, and finally got around to building them. One of them I planned to keep as a newstand or bookseller. But what to do with the other one, to add variety? Why not a tobacconist (or as we'd say in modern day America, a "Smoke Shack"?). I liked the idea -- it seemed like something you'd see on the streets of an inner city.

The Morning Crower and its newspapers and magazines (weighted down with resin bricks, of course!)

The buildings went together fairly easily, as most Sarissa products do. Unlike most of its buildings, though, it does not come with a base that the walls slot into. That actually made it a bit trickier, but I managed with no significant difficulties. Later, I would add a styrene base of my own, but not right away. I wanted to keep the bottom open to make it easier to add inside decoration.

Smith's Smoke Shack is a popular stop for inner city denizens, as Ramona of the Santanas eyes the candy jar

Before any decoration, though, was painting. I have to admit, I do dislike Sarissa's tendency to put incised lines as decoration on its products. As I get older, my eyes and hands get less dependable. I often have a hard time painting all those straight lines! I've decided to go back to using my magnifier attached to my painting desk, and took my tiniest brush and snapped off half of its length (it kept banging into the magnifier). My golf pencil sized brush is SO much easier to use with the magnifier, now. And, I am happier with my straight lines now that I am using the magnifier.

The Morning Crower's tacky 3-D 1970s sign features a rooster reading a giant book

I went with a dark red and cream for the smoke shack (thinking Marlboro colors), and for a change, an orange and green for the newstand. After my usual spray priming with Krylon black, and going over it with 50/50 acrylic black paint and water, I painted the two colors on each of the buildings. At this stage, I decided to replace the boring roofs Sarissa provides, and use some corrugated bass wood. On top of that, literally, I decided to do a 3-dimensional sign. These were big in the 70s and 80s (think the Frisch's Big Boy statue). For the Smoke Shack, obviously, it would be a pack of cigarettes emblazoned with the logo. For the newstand, I searched through my plastic, wood, and bead bits, but nothing jumped out at me. I decided since people read newspapers in the morning, and roosters are the symbols of mornings, I would put a rooster on the roof.

Margarita of the Santanas hangs out next to the side door...eyeing the large cans of cola to quench her thirst

Ah, you say, the modifications to the newstands have begun! I also decided that I wanted counters for my newstands. Actually, I added these before I began painting. I used triangular wooden molding as the support for the counters. I'd have a long one in front and two smaller ones at each side window. The counters themselves would be leftover bits of MDF from previous constructions (I always save leftover, "popped out" bits, no matter how small). I trimmed the counters with an X-acto knife to make them angled on each end. With the fancy roofs and the scratch-build counters, I was pretty happy with how the kiosks were looking.

Cruz is a little upset that the Crower doesn't show his favorite comic books in its list of items for sale

But was I satisfied? Of course not! I needed things to put ON the counters! So, I headed off to Hobby Lobby one afternoon. I knew their dollhouse accessories had sodas and various other things, so hopefully some would size out all right. The main thing I was looking for was something small and rectangular for packs of cigarettes to be placed on the Smoke Shop counter. I can wander the aisles of Hobby Lobby for hours, and I threaded my way through the building gathering things and wishing I had snagged one of the plastic baskets. After more than $30 worth of purchases, I had stuff to use as my accessories for the kiosks (and other ideas I had for my 28mm modern city).

 

In addition to the Hobby Lobby accessories, I went online and downloaded images of newspaper front pages and magazine covers from the 1970s. I resized them in Photoshop and printed them off at my local Office Max. I also made several signs for the kiosks themselves. I decided to call the newstand "The Morning Crower" and the tobbaconist "Smith's Smoke Shack." I have been naming my buildings after gaming friends of mine, so it was a no-brainer to name the tobacconist after my longtime (smoker) friend, Steve Smith.

El Lobo is feeling lucky and is planning on picking up some lottery tickets from Smith's Smoke Shack

The newspaper front pages were folded in half, and 4-5 copies of each were stacked up on the counters. Most of the magazine covers were glued directly to walls of the structure (including four on the interior back wall), but I glued copies of Rolling Stone and Time on one of the side counters. As a final touch, I glued a resin brick from a pack I'd purchased at a hobby store atop each pile of newspapers or magazines to keep them from "blowing away." One of my Hobby Lobby purchases was a pack of books from their doll house line. Pretty much everything in the line was oversized, but I glued a row of them to a scratch-built bench and attached it against the far wall.

 

Which reminds me, prior to placing all of these accessories, I wall papered the interior walls. Another of my purchases was half a dozen styles of patterned paper to use as either wall paper or floors for my buildings. I measured and cut each to size, then traced through the outline of the windows while holding them in place inside. This made them very easy to attach by simply painting the inside wall with white glue and placing the trimmed and sized patterned paper in place.

Another of my purchases were tiny glass jars with cork stoppers. I thought they'd make great candy jars. I found a bottle of incredibly tiny, colorful pareils -- used to decorate cupcakes, but looking for all the world like colorful gumballs or jaw breaker candies. I filled two jars up with these, sealing them with a blob of white glue. Another couple jars were filled with the tiniest pop-outs of laser-cut MDF that I had saved. Their dark brown color and rectangular shape made them look like chocolates, in my opinion. See! Don't throw anything away...haha!

Jeffe asks for a copy of the Columbus Dispatch to see if his gang, the Santanas, is mentioned in its pages

While sorting through my MDF pieces, I found lots of slightly larger rectangles that were perfect for packs of cigarettes. That meant I didn't need the beads I'd bought, but oh well. I placed the rectangles in rows on "trays" (also MDF) and then painted them in white and green and red  to resemble cigarette packs. At this point, I decided to add a kiosk patron. I have a handful of 1/72 white plastic civilians used (I think) for architectural models. I took two of the seated ones and created a chair or stool for each using wood or MDF bits. I couldn't resist painting the tobacconist to look like my friend Steve -- down to his dark blue shirt with "ND" Notre Dame logo. Yes, in addition to his bad habit of smoking, he is also a Fighting Irish fan. Tusk-tusk!

Bit by bit, I began gluing down the accessories with white glue. Once I had my miniature Steve sitting inside his kiosk, looking out over his packs of cigarettes, candy, and soda cans, I decided he looked a little lonely in the interior. I put an MDF shelf I had constructed and primed, but never used in a store model, up against the back wall. On the shelves were cigarette cartons -- once again, rectangular MDF pieces painted and covered with printed images I'd downloaded.

Cruz agrees that Smith is one of the smoothest kiosk operators he's run into in Columbus

I am really happy with how these kiosks turned out! I probably spent more than twice as much time on the accessories to trick them out and make them more colorful, but these are the kind of details I think my players really enjoy. Although these buildings won't cover much space on the tabletop (as you can see by the 28mm figures for scale, they will go a long way towards bringing my cityscape to life!