Sunny Sunday

I've more or less completed the first two of the street of shops for the new Port Appin.  Not been an easy build mainly because I've had to research and guess the rear of the buildings.  No-one ever photographs the rears.

I got the first idea for shops from a vintage pic of Innellan but I'm afraid the old front street with the bank in it is a step too far for me at the moment.  I searched through my pics of Millport, Dunoon, Lochgilphead, and Rothesay and noticed a common design coming through.  Many had, despite their now meagre locations, grand design stonework befitting of larger towns.  The inset shop doorways are common as is the three door ground floor construction.  It seems to be a Scottish style though there may be similar styles elsewhere in the UK.

So here is my first attempt at shops.  The interiors are present in a crude form, I've printed and cut out flat scenes showing typical seating and serving areas.  The signs are of Scottish origin, fact and fiction.  For instance Gunn's fish shop is fiction but I took the name from Gunns garage at Port Appin.  Baldaseras Ice Cream is a genuine Glaswegian name.  Our local ice cream man in Shotton Colliery was Danny Baldasera and he came south from Glasgow after the war (WW1).

The rest of the scene - as I keep saying - is just loosely laid down until I finally decide on the shape of the New Port Appin.

The other buildings in the pic are some cottages copied from those seen on Easdale Island and at Cullipool.  The red roofed building - a hotel - is based on the Kilberry Inn near Tarbert.