Book Nook Arcade

[Jim R]

I've seen a few of these Book Nook kits built and been quite impressed. Currently Pete is building the Magic Wand Shop and he's making a great job of it. That has persuaded me to have a go at one of these kits. My daughter asked what I would like for my recent birthday and this was the result.




The kit has lots of laser cut wooden parts as well as card, plastic and what look like vinyl stickers. There is also a lighting kit.


The laser cut edges have to be sanded to remove the burnt material. This is after sanding.




Painted with Vallejo Model Color


Made a start. Great fun.




One very odd thing. The books are small laser cut blocks to which a vinyl sticker is attached. If you look at the books carefully the spine of the book is on the right side of the front cover whereas it should be on the left. It is the same for all the books. Not a big deal. I didn't notice until I'd made a few books anyway.

[stillp]

Some of the books in the magic wand shop are the same Jim, the front is on the left of the spine not the right as we would expect. Not on all of them though - some are OK!
Pete

[AlexBB]

I wonder if this is because 'Rolife' is a Chinese company and many traditional Chinese books have the spine on the left as they are read back to front compared to us.

[stillp]

I was thinking that Alex, but some of the books are the normal way round.
Pete

[Jim R]

I wondered if it was simply that the viewing angle of the completed model will show the spines of the books, all nicely coloured, rather than the laser cut page edges.

[AlexBB]

I was thinking that Alex, but some of the books are the normal way round.
Pete

Hi Pete,
It seems Chinese books go both ways!...
Traditional ones read opposite to ours (back to front) and the text reads in vertical lines from top to bottom reading from right to left, and have a right side binding. This is the same with signage, calligraphy etc...

Modern Chinese books read left to right in horizontal lines same as ours and have a left side binding.

So I would imagine in Chinese book shops there would be a mix of books bound both ways..

[Jim R]

The book shop is completed. This is a really fun kit. Although the instructions say that glue is not needed I have used PVA on a lot of the joints.

Shop interior


Shop exterior


Altogether

[wotan]

great job so far Jim. I made two of these wooden kits and like you, I must say I enjoyed them a lot.

John

[stillp]

You've made much better progress than me Jim!
Looks really good.
Pete

[Richard48]

Love it.My wife said wow i like that.Saw a few for sale at Telford

[PaulinKendal]

I used to work above Kirkdale Bookshop, in Sydenham, south East London. I think its still there.

Nice job on a pretty kit!

[Jim R]

The next door shop has been completed. Still a level to go above the shops.


It's a fun kit but takes time as I'm sanding all the burned edges, from the laser cutting, and then painting all the edges that show.

[Steven000]

Looking good Jim, have fun with the rest of the kit, cheers

[Jim R]

Thanks Steven

Next step was to assemble the two cafe tables. The wooden parts were a bit multicoloured and so 1 airbrushed them to even up the finish. The table cloths were peel off stickers.


The markings on the top are to position the stuff which goes on the tables. The problem is that firstly both tables are identical as to where things go and secondly the position markings show when things are in place. Also the corners look unnatural. I took off the cloths and scrounged some thin material from the wife's 'stash'. I cut out a rectangle and painted it with dilute PVA and stuck it in place. I used metal blocks to hold the edges in place.


I ended up with this which I feel is better.


I can now put the odds and sods on the two tables in varying positions.

[wotan]

Very nice progress Jim. You inspired me to make another one so I am currently working on a viking style book nook called Voyage through the Storm. I'll maybe post something when it's done.

John

[Jim R]

I'd like to see that. Thanks for commenting.