What To Do With Those Extra Car Display Boxes...

While many hobbyists insist on keeping their cars in their clear plastic display boxes, it's inevitable that you'll eventually purchase a used car that doesn't come with one, or just display your cars in such a way that they're not really needed. Sometimes one will get damaged or cracked. Rather than tossing them out or just stashing them away in a closet, you can make good use of them on your layout, with a little work and ingenuity.

Some of these beer brands might be outdated, as this is almost 20 years old.

This beer stand (Bier Haus) was made with an extra display case. Made up to fit into my track's Swiss/German theme, I used some black foam board to cover part of the sides and the top, painted the roof and part of the case's lower half, and then used thin auto pin striping (available at most any auto parts store) to delineate the sections of window glass.

On top of the little building there is a seating area behind the BIER HAUS sign; a small bench has been built into the back wall and a cardboard ladder was added to the back for access.  On the inside, I didn't add a lot of detail other than creating a counter at the inside rear and some graphics for the back wall that simulated some beer taps, a microwave and some coffee urns. While I kept this one fairly simple overall, it would be easy enough to create an actual floor, add a counter at the front and drop in some 3D accessories--including some service staff.

The printed graphics above the back counter include beer taps, coffee urns, etc.

 The other building in the image below could also be created with a display case, though in this example I used an empty candy box (Ferraro-Roche) to top of this modestly-sized track control tower. The process of construction was similar; masked off and painted portions of the clear acrylic box, then marked the windows off with pin striping. That section was made to fit into a 2-story bottom section made from foam core and covered with self-adhesive paper that the windows/door had been printed upon. Some black foam core was used for the sign on the front as well as the observation deck on the top.

Both items in place on my first track. They were not installed on my last one.

While there are some incredible laser cut and plastic kits on the market, I always enjoyed the challenge of creating my own buildings. Also, many of the buildings sold today are based on 1950s or 1960s models, and seem somewhat dated for the modern era--so if you want something contemporary, you just might have to make it yourself.