At the beginning of March 2020 Covid 19 lock-downs were being put in place here in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, so I decided I would need a project to keep me busy. I own quite a collection of 1/18th scale diecast cars from the 50’s era, so I decided to have a go at building a 1950's American style diner to display them.
Originally, I was just going to display them in cabinets in my "Man Cave" which I share with my wife Joanne’s 1/12th scale Miniatures. However, I had seen some 1/12th scale Room Box Diners at shows we had been to, and knew I would need something bigger to show "some" of my car collection. Thus, the plan to build one big enough to display a lot of cars, came to life. All I needed was a spare Dining Room table.
So, I began to build my “Endless Summer Diner”. The name came to me from a love of all things to do with going to the Beach, right back to the 1950's as a child camping with the family in tents at the beach. We have lots of beautiful beaches here in Australia, and surfing, swimming, my favourite rock and roll band from the USA - The Beach Boys, and old cars are still things I enjoy greatly, so the name was an easy task.
The building itself wasn’t that hard to construct using MDF as my main material, and being a home handy man, it was good fun. Painting was also easy enough; I have done plenty of that. The challenges came quickly though, having to build bench style seats, tables, the kitchen area, and finding materials to use to make the items I needed. I found it very challenging, there were times where, after spending hours on a particular item it was thrown in the bin and I walked away in frustration, not knowing what to do. But I pushed through, trying things for this and that hoping I had it right this time. The bench style seats are made from "Mint Tins". The Bar Stools were built using golf tees with key rings to go around the edge of the cushions.
I want to say a big thank you to the Ipswich Mini Crafters club, where Joanne is a member, for their help and encouragement, sharing ideas, tips and tricks for my Diner project. Special thanks go to Vanessa Williams, Sally Hetherington, Allan "The Master Miniature Builder" Lindup, and my wife Joanne Walkden for their passion and wisdom in all things miniature #legends. Extra special thanks to our Daughter Rachel Lane nee Walkden for drawing the Diner Girl for the wall near the Juke Box.
As you can see many of my display items are purchased, not made by me. That's OK, I was never planning on getting into this miniature craft my wife enjoys. I hope you like what you see.
Cheers, Gary Walkden
