KFC If you are looking for something interesting for your layout for under $10, Life-like has several vintage kits. Many of these kits are either still being reproduced or at least readily available. I picked up my KFC kit for about $7.00 on clearance at a little train store about 3 years ago. The kit sat under my workbench until last month.  I have been saving this kit for a rainy day so to speak.  Building the kit I wanted to make sure that this structure really stood out, so the red and white roof was a must to recreate.  With the exception of a few parts the kit came basically molded white plastic.  The red molded sections were dull and plastic looking.  I seldom ever leave anything unpainted and this candy striped roof was not going to be spared.  I knew that it would be tough to get those lines really straight and clean looking.  I was prepared to use fineline tape to mark off each stripe when it hit me.  Why paint the stripes at all?  Simply use auto pin stripe tape. I had already spray painted the entire roof and brick sections white. I will not kid you when I say it took about 2 hours to pin stripe that roof with red tape.  You need a steady hand and really sharp blade. I systematically worked around the roof leaving as few seams as possible. The pillars we painted with "sac bomber tan" by model masters.  I really like using spray paints that have a matching color that can be brushed on as well.  The side walk was sprayed with "camouflage grey" again model masters.  The concrete curbs in the parking lot along with the sign pillar bottoms were painted with "concrete" paint from floquil.  The interior floor tile was spray painted with "caboose red" made by scale coat.
	The tables and chairs were purchased from Preiser, along with the figures. Both the table sets and the figures were painted using an assortment of model master colors. The kit came with a decent set of peel and stick decals.  However the colors were pretty dull and incorrect.  A good habit to get into, is to scan your decals before using them.  Not only does this help you when you mess one up, but it also allows you to change colors and or edit them. In this case I used Paintshop Pro to make all of the reds a nice bright red versus the orangish dull red of the original decal.  You can see the color differences when you click on the decal image to the left. You can also see the original lines, which will help you cut out the decals. I slightly weathered the concrete, building, parking area with oil based caulks applied with various paint brushes. All in all this was a fun project and a fairly cheap project even after the detail additions. Kits $7 Part of a Preiser table kits $4 11 unpainted Preiser figures $2 1 Bright red Ford Comet by fresh cherry's. $3.50 1 small section of Avery label paper  $.30 1 roll of red auto pin stripe tape $2 The paints I had already and cant put a price the little bit that I used. Grand Total just under $20