Hey people
I've been ridiculously slack lately in terms of being on this Forum and for that I'm sorry. I love our Bellett Forum! And further I'm glad it's tuff enough to continue rolling without my constant input.
Anyway, I've got a few minutes now when I should be sleeping to show you one thing that took up a bit of time I should have been dedicating to the Forum!
Earlier this year I had to go through my Mum's house and it was a tough time, however there were so many awesome things I found during that time and one of those things has been given an extra lease of life! Furthermore, it's Bellett-related (well, it is now) so I figured it can go in Bellett Chat.
When I was a kid, I had a garage which I used to thrash my Matchbox cars around on. A girl down the street ran into it on my bike when she couldn't find the brakes (footbrakes babe, for killer skids) and she snapped the roof. Then, being the handyman that I was, I decided to snap the other side to make it even.
Needless to say, it looked a little bit rooted, however the shed it had been stored in was water tight and it didn't have any rot or other damage:
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Toy garage - 01 - broken roof.JPG [ 80.01 KiB | Viewed 14053 times ]
It looked good otherwise:
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Toy garage - 02 - broken roof.JPG [ 74.33 KiB | Viewed 14051 times ]
.... then I thought, "That would look good with some 1:43-scale models...." which I have a few of laying around.
So then I decided to gently pry the roof off, which I did with amazing success for a guy who is not normally that handy (note previous alteration to roof....)
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Toy garage - 04 - roof off.JPG [ 75.21 KiB | Viewed 14050 times ]
So off to Bunnings it was to get some wood. I got some board that was about the original thickness and some glue. I went to Ross's and we cut it up to the right shape, then I gave it a bit of a sanding on the corners to round them off a bit...
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01 - new roof cut.JPG [ 75.78 KiB | Viewed 14050 times ]
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02 - new roof cut.JPG [ 83.06 KiB | Viewed 14048 times ]
I'd bought some undercoat for it.... but worryingly it said "for best results use undercoat before applying this product". Because the roof is a car park, I thought that it should be grey, however after some consideration I decided to restore it to the original red. Grey was just too grey!
The original undercoat and paint looked awful, but then I found some metal primer, which worked stacks better and didn't require that I undercoat it before I used it even though it was undercoat! Then gave it another splash of red:
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06 - new roof painted and drying.JPG [ 75.38 KiB | Viewed 14047 times ]
The original paint was dull and almost looked infused into the particle board. This was a finer grain wood and the paint was never going to match. Fortunately, it de-glossified itself a bit. I'd looked at the ramp up the back of the garage and realised that attempting to remove it would be utter, utter folly, so I used Sunday's finest newpaper to mask it up and give the ramp a spray to match the roof.
I admit, there was a minor amount of overspray on the footpath outside the car wash toilets... if anyone asked I'll tell them a 1:43-scale man was stabbed there. I gave this a couple of more coats and it came up better than when it was photographed.
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05 - garage masked off for painting ramp.JPG [ 95.32 KiB | Viewed 14049 times ]
Anyway, with no further ado here is the finished product with some models on it!
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07 - completed garage with cars.JPG [ 103.09 KiB | Viewed 14043 times ]
If you're wondering where the Isuzus are, they're INSIDE the garage. I figured it had a bit of a country dealership-kind of feel, so they are inside as you can see:
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08 - completed garage with cars.JPG [ 100.8 KiB | Viewed 14044 times ]
I considered getting some Isuzu dealer-style decals made up, but I don't really want to change it away from how it was when I was a kid. In some pics you can see a black and white "Bridgestone" sticker. I put that on when I was a kid; lucky it doesn't look out of place!
Here you can see the PR90 Bellett GT, Isuzu 117 Coupe and Isuzu Florian inside the garage:
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Isuzus in garage - 02 - GT, 117 and Florian.JPG [ 79.8 KiB | Viewed 14039 times ]
I decided against gluing the roof down again; I mean I'm no longer using it as a toy and the cars are stacks easier to get in and out!
As is the Snap On garage paraphernalia!
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Isuzus in garage - 03 - Isuzu Bellett GTRs with Snap-On garage.JPG [ 77.28 KiB | Viewed 14037 times ]
That's right, trendsetters - Snap-On do a 1:43-scale kit of their bestest garage gear! There's a garage crawler, x4 chassis stands, a rolling tool kit, plus a separate kit that goes on top just like real life. There's a jump starter, an air compressor and even a vacuum cleaner! Of course, the most obvious item is the hoist.
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Isuzus in garage - 04 - Isuzu Bellett GTRs with Snap-On garage.JPG [ 73.83 KiB | Viewed 14035 times ]
It took me a bit to find the right display cabinet; I eventually got one that would fit it at Harvey Norman. Plus it hasn't got the double doors, so there's no wood in the middle to foul up the epic service-stationness inside.
Speaking of, a few months ago I bought a 1990's BP service station off eBay. This one is a bit muddled when it comes to scale, but it looks OK with the 1:43's as well. To buy this one originally, you had to buy it in 6 separate pieces each week as they became available. Luckily for me, someone hoarded it then was happy to sell it for $19.00.
Here are some pics of that item:
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Display Cabinet - 08.JPG [ 61.9 KiB | Viewed 14028 times ]
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Display Cabinet - 09.JPG [ 60.23 KiB | Viewed 14027 times ]
Now all I need is another garage; if I put all the cars onto those two garages, they get a bit crowded!
Anyway, cheers for reading this far!
Dave
Certainly no need for an apology Dave. Yeah, when things get tough on ya, you need to drop off the radar from time to time. You've always cooked up something inspirational, and the garage thing 
well, that's just awsomely crazy !! What a retro auto show, almost pornographic 
And that's gotta be the Isuzu dealer ship as the central focus. Ominously looking blue, very horn GT on stands. You're putting ideas into my head !?
Mate, you make me look only half-interested. This is a very good thing should a florian crop up, or something!