New Dowse National: Backgrounds, Buildings & Gates

It has been over three months since I last reported progress on my latest model diorama and although I haven't given it vast amounts of attention progress has definitely been made. In fact it is pretty much half complete now so let's take a look at the changes.

For the first part in this series see: New Dowse National: The Sixties Reborn

I left it last time at the point where the apron and taxiways had been painted and the concrete blockwork had been marked out. Before I applied the gate markings the next thing I did was add a suitable background. This was once again made up of cut outs from a scenery background I had bought from Airport Diorama Designs for my original Dowse National airport.

With a little modification I could just about make a coherent background which fitted around three sides of the diorama in a plausible way. As you can see above I also applied the initial gate markings and some weathering to the right side pier, although I wasn't entirely happy with the finish.

I also did some work on the piers using left over printings from previous projects and some plastic I had acquired from a local model shop. On the left pier a central block gives way to the pier. I tried to use the central partition like a part of the pier making a rather Y shaped total. With a bit of imagination I think it works ok.

On the right pier I tried something similar but was able to use some extra blocks to make a thicker middle pier element. I thought I'd keep the viewing area atop the pier, which was a feature of the previous Dowse National model. I also printed and laminated some decorative edging with airline tail colours that are representative of the period teh diorama represents and attached them to the edge of the shelf.

The old pier on the right was looking a bit worse for wear after a few years in storage so the next step was to apply new printings where it was tatty and refix lighting poles and some stairs. In addition the arrival of another set of Gemini airbridges meant I had enough to get the gates all ready on this side of the field at least.

At the same time I fixed up the pair of gates at the front that I wasn't happy with. For starters I realised they were facing the wrong way - so I reversed their direction. I also found that one of them could be modified to fit in up to a 727 and this gate acquired an airbridge too. The light poles are reused from the first Dowse National and have a very 1960s feel. Along with a bit of pencil weathering on the airbridges I am quite happy with this pier, which is essentially complete now.

Work continues on the other pier but I need to acquire some more airbridges to complete it. Hopefully it won't be three more months until I report in again on progress.