Mocked-up Market

The early planning stages of my National Model Railroad Build Off diorama involve laying out the critical elements; roads, track, and major structures.  This year's mountain setting makes that even more critical as the land forms take up more room.  Realistic slopes push elements apart unless I rely on the mountain modeler's crutch, miles and miles of retaining walls.  I don't like that look personally so I need to plan for space accordingly.  

To do that I need to know the size of things ahead of time.  I've completed enough of the bridge work to know how tall and long that will be.  There will be three structures on the diorama and one is already mocked-up from a different layout a few years back.  It is small and will have no trouble fitting in the space allocated for it.  The major structure that needs the most consideration is the corner market.  I'm basing my structure on one I found in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Belmont Market.

This is clearly an old home that was once expanded then turned into a corner market.  This is just dripping with character and begs to be modeled, don't you think?  For my structure I'm starting with an RDA stone mill building and will be adding scratchbuilt elements for the extension and storefront.  Here's my mockup:

After reviewing the images I collected from Google Earth, I realized I needed to make the storefront wall extend above the roof, or rather, to keep the roof behind the wall.  This is an important element in telling the story of this structure.  The main roof also needs an eave.  The "original" house on the model is stone while the upstairs extension is wood, likely clapboard, and the storefront will be brick.  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to include the external freezer addition...that'll depend on how it looks in the scene.  

Next to the structure will be a gravel parking lot on the opposite side of the old house entry.  And next to that will be this gem:

I found this near one of our favorite restaurants down in Hopland, California.  (The Golden Pig, by the way, and if, like my wife, you need Gluten Free food, this is the place.  ALL the deserts are GF.)  Again another structure with an interesting past.  On the broad side I'll paint an advertisement of some sort, perhaps for a county fair or local event.  Slightly faded, but not a ghost sign.  Not going to mock-up this one as it is pretty easy to visualize and the size can vary as needed.  Sheds are like that.