Read the previous post - creating the garden - here.

Unfortunately, I have no pics of the backdrop before the city was finished. Basically, you can see the backdrop is the black core flute; with a hole in the back for access to under the floors.

Before adding the backdrop, I glued the base plate to the bottom of the box (seen at left, at the bottom). The base plate is 10cm deeper than the box, plus a short margin around the sides. The 10cm extra came in handy later.

Anyway, before gluing the backdrop onto the back of the box, I first cut a track for the moon, the elevator and the blinds, as well as gluing on some foam/gauze for the brain, and cutting holes for the tubes to run through.

Once that was done, I made the moon - just a piece of the foam, covered with gauze, and a piece of coat-hanger wire attached to the back. This was particularly frustrating, because the weight of the wire tended to tilt the moon over to one side, and I spent a while trying to get it to balance correctly.

Once the moon was installed, I could easily lift the backdrop into place and glue it onto the box. Finally, I finished the elevator, attaching the wire through the slits in the building and through the slit on the backdrop. I added a wooden bead onto the wire as a grip, and it was good to go. (Despite the fact that the elevator shouldn’t stay in the highest position of the slit, it does!)

With the backdrop attached, I could move on to attaching the buildings. A squirt of glue at the bottom of each building, slot it in place, and viola! With a few of the buildings and the house, I also glued a balsa block or small piece of core flute in between the building and the backdrop, to provide some stability.  (Just visible in this pic at the right corner of the house, near the left side of the tree)

At some point I also made my park statue; using a block of balsa, I carved out a figure that was supposed to represent Jeff, the muppet. The eyes, ears, and pointing arm were all separate pieces glued on. I then painted it, and gave it a ‘varnish’. The buildings, urban floor area, and the statue, all have a varnish - just a coat of nail polish to give it a bit of shine. The varnish on the buildings and the floor were more because I was afraid the paint would scratch during build/rehearsal/transport/performance.

Read the next post - behind the scenes of the Lego city - here.