This page shows the elements that finally came together as details to tell the story. As I progressed with painting the walls, I knew I wanted some kid of graphic elements to add some color and interest. I also needed a way to reinforce the identity of the shop as a "banana stand". I decided to paint an image of bananas with an arrow that would take up some space and look like it was guiding people to the stand. That left some other blank spaces on the walls and I thought the shop would be something more than just a place for bananas. I had very little reference for the look of rural Afghanistan despite the events taking place today, so I made some guesses and definitely took artistic license to convey the story. The photo reference I was able to find depicting scenes from 1040's-1960's showed facades much shabbier, dirtier and duller than my construction. The walls were very cluttered looking so I decided to add words all around the shop doors, identifying items available inside. I have an acquaintance who speaks and writes farsi and I asked him if he would write the equivalent of a list of words I had compiled. He did so and even added some more as I explained what the project was about. I planned to hand paint the words on the wall but I had some good luck with timing. Another project I was working on needed to have some dry transfers made and there was space on the sheet to fit the words for this project. I was then able to place and apply each word very easily on the wall. The exception was the word for "wood" I drew on the door with colored pencil. The photo shows the partial list with "bananas" very clear. At some point, I decided on the story for the vignette and the next photo shows the figures I modified. The shopkeeper was actually a later addition and I'm surprised that I didn't think of him earlier. I had cut out the doorway for the shop with the idea of making a shallow, black opening behind the screen doors. I didn't want to make any kind of interior and thought there should be something up against the door to block the view. That's when I decided to add the shopkeeper, peering at the people making noise outside. The man and woman were created by mixing parts from a Masterbox kit and some Airfix multipose figures. I modified their clothes with Milliput. This is a good time to show what I made the melons and bananas from. The vehicle was decided upon when I remembered a Volkswagen kit I had by ARII. It is labeled as 1950 but doing some research on the internet to figure out details leaves some question as to exactly what combination of years it really is. In any case, it was easy to build and the only real modification I made was to replace the rear wheel with a resin casting I had from a Kubelwagen, showing the wheel without a hubcap. The mismatched body panel is a familiar element of most bugs. The luggage rack was scratchbuilt as was the suitcase and hat box. There's a toolbox from our "New Paint" kit and some folding chairs from our "Bistro Tables" kit. I neglected to take any in-progress shots of the car. I got caught up with the building and painting. Go to page 4.

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