Building the SSSP Base [Episode 20] Construction of the Hangar Building, Part 1

[The Hangar Building Elevator]

As I mentioned before, the Hangar Building underwent changes over time.
What changed in particular was the launch method for the Jet Beetle.
Initially, the Jet Beetle would come up on an elevator with its three landing gear legs attached and take off vertically just like that. However, starting from the episode where Alien Baltan reappears (Episode 16, "Science Patrol into Space"), the catapult installed on the elevator would tilt upward to launch the craft.

Incidentally, in the episode featuring Vanilla and Aboras (Episode 19, "The Devil Returns"), the Small Beetle launches from the Hangar Building's flight deck rather than from the wall of the inverted cone structure for some reason. Since the Small Beetle cannot perform vertical takeoffs and landings, this scene would be impossible without a catapult installed (perhaps the in-universe explanation is that the catapult was added to make launching the Small Beetle possible?).

The truss-structured steel frame surrounding the Hangar Building was also initially painted in alternating red and gray sections, but it became solid red from the time the catapult was installed. At the same time, the number and shape of the lights on the flight deck seem to have changed as well.

Since the SSSP base papercraft (*1) that served as the prototype for this scratch-built model is labeled as the "Initial Version," I will be building it in its pre-catapult state.
However, I also think the truss steel frame looks cooler in solid red (is it too much of a stretch to say the frame was repainted before the catapult was installed?). I'm torn on which way to go.

The biggest challenge in building the Hangar Building is the structure of the storage tower that houses the elevator.
For the elevator to move up and down, the storage tower should ideally be a rectangular parallelepiped, but that would interfere with the truss steel frame at ground level. On the other hand, widening the base (bottom surface) of the truss structure would ruin the proportions of the Hangar Building.

To solve this problem, the papercraft likely made the lower part of the storage tower into an inverted square pyramid that tapers inward.

While it is certainly a clever idea to avoid ruining the proportions of the Hangar Building, this shape makes it impossible to move the elevator up and down (it would be possible if the elevator's surface area were reduced to the size at ground level, but then it would be impossible to load the Jet Beetle, defeating the whole purpose). Therefore, I decided to cut out the four corners of the truss structure's base. It's a bit unsightly, but I will proceed with the work, hoping that the base of the Hangar Building will be hidden by the surrounding ramps and other structures.

(*1) Koji Nakamura, supervised by Tsuburaya Productions, "Ultraman Super Weapon Research: Includes 'Science Special Search Party Base (Initial Version)' Ultra-Precision Papercraft," Mynavi, 2013/9, page 48

[Episode 21] Construction of the Hangar Building, Part 2 continues to
[Episode 19] Selection of the Jet Beetle returns to
[Episode 1] The Secret Base Begins returns to