James River Branch: Gilmor Hotel

Gilmor Hotel/Emma's Cafe, Part 1 of 2:
Exterior Construction

The Gilmor Hotel was so named strictly due to the available signs from Light Works USA (the same source as the Micro Structures kit). Although I would have chosen a different name, I was more interested in having a working sign. And so the hotel is somewhat unique among the buildings of Naughtright: it's virtually unmodified—even down to the name. The only significant change I'd planned for it was a new cornice; those flat, wedge-shaped cornices found on most of the Miller Engineering kits just don't do it for me.

To imbue it with at least some originality, I considered disabling a letter in the GILMOR sign to add interest as well as suggest a bit of old age; the question was which letter, and what the result might connote... GILMO sounded like a Sesame Street character. ILMOR hinted that the hotel was hit by Legionnaire's Disease. GI MOR had military overtones. And GIL OR was very vaguely fishy-sounding. In the end, I went with GILMO because it seemed like the safest modification to make without jeopardizing other parts of the delicate sign. For a while I was tempted to add the vertical HOTEL sign on the corner of the building as well, but I determined that the required modifications to the structure would be more radical and involved than I cared to attempt.

As a consequence of quite a lot of shuffling of buildings in Naughtright, Emma's Cafe ultimately wound up in the first floor. Originally it was going to be a cafe, then a pizza parlor.

As per usual, assembly began by soldering the main walls together. The angled entrance was just a bit tricky to solder, as the adjacent parts were flimsy and allowed the joint to go off-angle easily. Even trickier was the tiny triangular part over the door; I went to great lengths to ensure all of its edges were fully soldered. This was done as much for added strength as to prevent light leaks, as I'd planned on installing a working light over the door.

This project was last updated on 28 April 2009. More as it happens.

Miller Engineering's Gilmor Hotel is the only kit that retains its original name.

As usual, construction begins by soldering the main walls together.

Getting the angle of the main entrance correct was a challenge.

This tiny part over the door is soldered along all three sides.