Otaku culture buildings

[keiichi77]

Since I am planning to make a couple Otaku related buildings based on buildings in Akihabara I figured I should make a topic about them. The first one was more of a spur of the moment so I didn't take many pictures of the progress. I actually only took one photo once it was primed (below).   This building was a rather easy build using the Kato Broadcast building as a starting point, it might have the wrong dimensions but had the right look to it.  I removed the glass, cut a piece of styrene to fit, cut horizontal lines in the new piece that matched the Kato spacing (opps I forgot to place the vertical lines, good thing the banners hide most of it) then glued the piece in. I then cut the pieces for the awning, I made them bigger then the actual awning on the Sega building to kind of hide a floor on the Kato building, I then glued them in place, filled and sanded the joints. A piece of thin styrene was cut to cover the openings on the exposed staircase to try and disguise the building as I will also have another Kato Broadcast building on the layout.  I carefully cut what I call the elevator doors on the right side of the building and glued a strip of styrene behind the openings.  I added a second large entrance under the elevator doors to open up the bottom floor much like the prototype and removed most of the molded details on the ground floor as I plan to rebuild it to better match the prototype. The glass doors on the right are actually from the side of the building which will not be visible once placed on the layout so I relocated them to the front. After painting and masking I used the method in this post to print images at the sizes required. With no maid or otaku figures currently available I used the Nipako figure that comes with the truck set.

 

[keiichi77]

Well I started my second building from Akihabara, I will let those of you who have been to Akiba take guesses on what building this is.

 

I used a cheap 4 story Chinese building (here) as a starting point as I originally planned to only make it 4 stories but after finding a few pictures of the building that showed additional floors I decided to add and extra 2 floors to better match the building in question. There is still a lot of work to do to this building but I think I got the look right. Take your guesses ;)

 

 

Sorry for the blurry image, I still never found my good camera since we moved to the new house so the ipod camera is all I have at my disposal right now.

Edited October 3, 2016 by keiichi77

[Suica]

keiichi77, on 03 Oct 2016 - 02:55 AM, said:

 

Well I started my second building from Akihabara, I will let those of you who have been to Akiba take guesses on what building this is.

It's Kotobukiya! :icon_biggrin:

 

What kind of main advertising to you plan to use?

I'd vote Frame Arms Girl.

[keiichi77]

Suica that didn't take long :)

 

I also like the Frame Arms Girl banner but finding a good shot of it is proving difficult.

 

So far the only usable image I found is a Hello Kitty banner.  There is a light pole in front of the store along with the store name itself that make using complex images difficult as they are always hiding part of the banner. I am not a graphics artist so I don't have the skill/time to fix most of the cool images. :(

 

The Hello Kitty banner is very basic so it wasn't too difficult to remove the pole and name. I am still working on it but this should print fine at 1/150 scale. I removed the date from the original banner and replaced it with 8:30.

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2018 by keiichi77

[JR 500系]

Wow you guys are so good... I didn't get any close guesses! Anyway, the building and banners look nice! Looking forward to the finished product!

[Suica]

I am not a graphics artist so I don't have the skill/time to fix most of the cool images. :(

 

Aw, that's too bad. Well, I could see if I can find something.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Suica

[nah00]

If you wanted a Frame Arms Girl banner this shouldn't look too bad:

 

 

Also this would work as a poster:

 

 

There's a watermark at the bottom but in 1/150 you won't see it. 

Edited October 5, 2016 by nah00

[keiichi77]

Thanks for the offer Suica and the images nah00. They are excellent images, a much better choice then a green Hello Kitty banner on a green building. When I have enough images ready to fill a sheet I am going to include those images.  :)

 

Thanks again

[Suica]

One thing I would try would be making them exchangeable. Something like little profile rails. or hooks.

I mean they change all the time in Akihabara as well. :)

Edited October 6, 2016 by Suica

[nah00]

If robot girls aren't your thing here are some real ones, don't know how well this would scale though and the black might be a problem:

 

 

Also Pizza Hut does tie-ins, they did one with KanColle and a Love Live! one too:

 

 

 

The first one is just to give you an idea what the store looked like, googling 'kancolle pizza hut' brings up a ton of images. 

[keiichi77]

Thanks nah00, more images to fill the sheet!  :)

[keiichi77]

One thing I would try would be making them exchangeable. Something like little profile rails. or hooks.

I mean they change all the time in Akihabara as well. :)

 The larger banners on my buildings are on with rolled up masking tape, very easy to switch banners, the smaller signs are glued on with glue stick glue which is also very easy to remove and the glue cleans up with water. I was thinking about using styrene c channel to hold the banners up but I am out of it right now, I hope to rectify this next weekend when I go away for a model train show. :)

[nah00]

You could apply the banners to a cut piece of thin magnet and then glue heavier magnets to the inside of the building. Leaves no mess and lets you switch at will.

[cteno4]

Nice idea, never thought of magnets for building signs! Cool! I've used them to hold buildings in place and carry current to light the building.

 

Actually could just back the sign with thin tin then small rare earth magnets inside the building glued in place.

 

Or small magnets thin 1mm magnets on the back of the sign backed with thin cardboard or styrene and the slightly bigger magnets popped on inside the building loose. Wouldn't be as easy to reposition as easily as the tin solution.

 

Jeff