APA-rama Project. The APA-looza Box

Two years ago, a bunch of modelers decided to attend the bi-annual US-Convention in Rodgau/Germany with an HOn3 layout, composed of some kind of shadow boxes with each having a different scene. The modelers should build a scene of their liking without having a direct relationship to the other scenes. The initiator of this idea, Alexander Lösch (www.frankenmodell.de) suggested that the scenes should fit into a box, manufactured by IKEA, for kids to to store their toys away. This little box (L70 x W36 x H29 cm) called APA, should frame the scene. The box is put up on the side, so we have a depth of 29 cm. How the box is modified for our purpose is described on Alex' homepage (APA-Box construction)

Above you see my partly finished southwestern scene, called APA-looza. We tried to include the word "APA" in the naming of our boxes.

An obvious drawback with boxes is their squared appearance. I've cut a large sheet of styrene to fit into the box and curved it around the two rear corners. Then I tried my first hand on painting the backdrop. It should show some "mesas" in the distance to suit my adobe buildings and to give a southwestern atmosphere. In the picture above, I fiddled around with some of my finished models to see where they would fit best. I drew the outlines of the buildings on the base and added a foundation made from strip wood. This made the application of ground and scenery material easier.

Every box has its own light fixture, with a switch to turn it on or off. The power cord exits behind the backdrop. The roadbed is lifted 10 cm to leave enough space underneath for the feeder wires and track power. I need to attach the lid to the box with two hinges. It folds down for protection between show hours and for storing it at home or during transport.

For the trees I used sea weed and pieces of tree roots. The tree roots yield many nice looking, unique shaped tree armatures.

I sprayed the tree armatures with a coat of strong hairspray and sprinkled them with green flock. The medium green flock suggests that we're in Spring.

The adobe structures are all scratchbuilt with basswood and tile grout applied for the stucco finish. The Ice House is a lasercut kit from Fos Scale Models.

The following pictures show the almost finished scene. Power and Telegraph lines are missing, as well as some more small trees. 

See this scene and another 12 in Rodgau on October 24/25, 2015