As promised some photos of the development of the Egyptian Theater. The right hand tower above the foyer and entrance is starting to take shape,the figure is a 1/12 6inch tall man to give some idea of the size of this thing. His name is William, but only answers to Bill and he represents someone who never got to see what I have ended up doing in life.

 Behind the amazing top windows is the original managers office, 18ft high, which later had a dropped ceiling at 8ft. I am still researching how it was decorated but will base it on a period office if I am unable to find out more detail. I am trying to find who was the theater manager in the 70s because he fought to keep the auditorium from being vandalised by an interior decorator who painted the building white and wanted to do the same to the proscenium. If anyone knows anyone or has any info about the early days of the theater, particularly photos or descriptions of the interior, I would love to hear from you.

At present Bill is not happy with the work completed and is taking notes of my lack of work done today, but in my defense, going out with my wife to catch up with friends is worth more brownie points, and I can make up the schedule over the weekend. In the lower photo is the entrance to the foyer with the 2 sets of double doors behind leading into the main hallway. The cutouts to left and right will be spacers for some of  the poster box's, these will be made from timber and glass, and will be hinged to allow the ability to change the posters to suit any mood. Above Bill's head will be the marquee that comes out 12inchs from the building in 2 directions and has lots of lovely lights, I'll just grin and bear how to organise getting modern Led's to create hundreds of bulbs, have had some thoughts of how to accomplish it, so will be doing some testing. The exterior of the building was stuccoed and scored to resemble stone slabs, the etches on the walls are to give me guidance for the stonework layout.

Yours in miniatures

W

Another week, another posting.
The week has been busy, still working on the Assembly manual as well as the Italianate Painted Lady, but also have pulled out of storage one of my own larger projects. I've decided that I need to put my Craftsman house aside for a while, I really want something special to show for next years Sydney dollhouse and miniatures show, and the way life is getting in the way the Craftsman would still be 2 or 3 years away.
So after a lot of thinking and discussions with my wife, I've restarted an Art Deco Egyptian movie palace, I had originally drawn up and assembled the entire structure in 1/24th but it just didn't feel right and because of where I was living at the time I didn't have enough space to build it larger so it was dismantled and put into storage. Almost 3 years ago we bought our current home where I have a large workshop out the back, I've been lucky to have made props for a couple of feature films as well as some TV series and commercials working from my workshop at home. At the moment being between any other jobs I've been busy doing the dollhouses that I've previously posted about but there never being enough hours in a day, I went crazy and picked a BIG project.

This is part of the only photo I currently have of the Egyptian Theater in Boise,Idaho as it originally was when it opened in 1927. I have copies of the architects plans from The Library of Congress which are just amazing as well that the building still exists and has been beautifully restored. 

googlemaps. Egyptian theater  is a walk through of the Theater.

I am only building at this stage the part of the building as seen in the above image, mind you the footprint for this is 2362mm x 900mm (approx 8 x 3 foot) plus another 300mm in front and to this end to allow the marquee over the footpath. (finished size 9 x 4 foot)

The model will include the exterior as shown, 4 shops along the front, the original ticket booth in the foyer and hallway across the building with as close to original Egyptian hieroglyphics as research will allow. The description of the opening from the 1927 newspaper article describes more hieroglyphics, as well as a 1936 photo of the exterior showing the foyer paintings. I will also be building the rear section of the auditorium with approximately 388 seats including the Loges and rear circle as well as the projection box and auditorium ceiling  The existing building has had some modification over the years, for example turning the shops into the ticket and concession areas. I love what they have done with this building but I want to show how it was because that's different to how it is. I can also put up that amazing Marquee sign which will make the model almost 1500mm high (5 foot).

I am contacting various organizations in Idaho to try and find more period information but if you have any early photo's or info I would love to hear from you. I would rather get the same info multiple times than miss an important detail. Until next time........

Yours in Miniatures (bigatures)

Warren