The impetus for this build was that I wanted a classic car dealership for all the Mopar scale cars I had collected. After looking at a few options I landed on the Blairline A-to-Z Used Cars kit. This ticked the primary checkbox of allowing me to customize the signs. With that in mind, I also ordered the HO- and N-Scale Billboard sign kits to have a variety of letters to customize the signs. I also use the Inter-Action Hobbies Small Office Interior Detail Kit for the interior. Finally, I found some old Mopar dealership posters and reduced them to an appropriate size for the interior.
Overall, I would give this kit a 4 out of 5 stars. The kit went together really well fitment-wise, and the ability to modify the footprint make for a great kit. That said, I have two nits:
- The amount of holes provide in the curbing exceed the number of signs available. It feels like Blairline expected most people building this kit are going to fit it into a smaller space, thereby reducing the number of signs needed. However, for my build I was able to use all the curbing, necessitating the use of all the posts. The signage wasn’t enough, so I ordered some single- and double-lamp street lights from Atlas Model Railroad Company, which worked out as I also lit the interior.
- The strip wood used for the signage stripping from post to post (OK’d Cars, Fine Cars..) does not take paint very well. This was my first time working with this material, which created a challenge. I recommend lightly sanding both sides of the sign material to assure better paint adhesion.
All that said, I’m really happy with how this turned out. Finding figures that look like they were looking at cars was the last challenge to be overcome. So, on to the pictures:
