Roundy roundy wagon wheels

The Allwood covered wagon kit I transformed into a 1:12 scale farm wagon has an ingenious method for constructing the wagon wheels. They supply dowels you cut into spokes and the shaped inner hubs.

The wheels are made from two layers of diecut plywood glued together and sanded.

The ingenious part comes in the form of the jig used to line up the spokes. It is made from two layers of plywood lined up in the middle and glued together.

The wheel assembly fits snugly onto the jig and the hub is placed in the middle. The jig has grooves in it serving as a guide for the spokes.

The instructions tell you to cut a whole bunch of dowel lengths to certain measurements, but I didn’t do it that way. Instead, I measured only the first one to the kit specified length and then measured the rest of the dowel lengths to fit. There was no way the standard measurements given with the kit instructions were going to work for all the spokes – some would be too long and others too short. That’s the nature of imprecise diecut parts.

Once the glue has dried, the wagon wheel pops off from the jig.  :D

Categories: Baslow Ranch, Model Cars, Vehicles
January 25, 2012 | 0 comments

Baslow Ranch – a pictorial review

Baslow Ranch is my first completed dollhouse. The overall feel I went for with this project was that of a late 1880s building that had been updated over time with electricity and other “modern” features of the passing times. It now sits as an open air, living museum to remind us how people lived and worked. I relied heavily on my trip to Bodie, CA – an open ghost town where you can walk around and explore – as well as other living museums I have visited.

I’ve named the Spring Fling structure Baslow Ranch, established in 1888. The name is in honor of several of my recent pets: Basil (pronounced bazzill), my beloved cat who passed away in September 2009; Clover, a sleek and beautiful Chinese dwarf hamster; and Willow, a Russian dwarf hamster who went through a lot in his long life and held on tenaciously until the very end.

There is an attic space, a room for rent and a barn. I tried to make as much as possible for this project, not only to stay on budget but to see what I could accomplish on my own. The things I didn’t make include: lights, buckets, barrels, as well as the glass, ceramic and metal minis. Of the minis I bought, however, I still changed most in some way by either painting or weathering or both.

The room for rent has the basic comforts. The wallpaper is scrapbook paper called Simple Stripes/Grandma’s Kitchen by We R Memory Keepers. It’s fantastic since it already has that worn and aged look printed in the design.

I used the base kit for the contest and the optional side room with the first dry fit on March 26, 2010. This was my first time working with a Greenleaf kit. The 1/8″ plywood walls gave me some fits with the warping, but the laser cut pieces were great to work with. Overall, I loved this kit!

The backdrop I used in some of the shots is a photograph I took in Bodie, CA. This was a great place to visit – a bit of a chore to get there but more than worth the effort (bring a hat and sunscreen!). I took over a hundred photos walking around this open museum ghost town.

Attached to the main barn is a room for rent.

Both the sign above the barn doors and this one were created in Word and printed on paper. I glued the paper to a wood backing and aged with paint washes.

The windows, door and trims were first aged by beating, cutting and otherwise marring the finish and applying a wash of brown and black paint. I applied Crackle Medium by Folk Art and then painted Sunflower yellow by Folk Art.

I made the stove from a Chrysnbon plastic kit. I found this kit to be both realistic and very easy to assemble. Although the kit came in plastic molded in the proper color, I still sprayed all of the pieces with Testors flat black. I also sprayed the chrome pieces since I wanted this to look like an old stove without any fancy accents. I added a red bulb to simulate warm coals.

To achieve the aged look, I dabbed on Mushroom acrylic paint by Folk Art and a paint by Testors appropriately called Rust.  :D

I painted the wires black and glued them to the inside of one of the back legs before feeding them through the floor. I used an X-Acto knife to shave dust from a black conte crayon and used a dry brush to dirty the wall and ceiling around the stove.

The lower interior window is removable so I can have the window partially open or closed completely. To age the glass (acrylic), I brushed on some Gloss Varnish by Delta Ceramcoat and then wiped away the excess. It took a few turns of this process to get a realistic look. The rolling shade is made from a scrap of fabric glued around a wooden dowel.

When the backdrop is in place, it really feels like you’re standing in a real life room.  :D

The dresser with the mirror was made from a pattern in Thirties & Forties Miniatures in 1:12 Scale by Jane Harrop. This project was labeled advanced, and though it was a real bear cutting all the pieces precisely, I love the way it turned out. I stained all of the pieces with IKEA antique pine stain before assembly and then aged it with Antiquing Medium by Folk Art after it was built.

The mirror is made from plastic mirror sheet by Darice. This material was great to work with. The finish was pristine when I pulled it from the package, so I had to beat it up a bit for it to blend with the old dresser. I used an X-Acto knife to scrape some of the backing away. This created spots in the reflection. Using the same process as I had for the windows, I brushed on some Gloss Varnish by Delta Ceramcoat and then wiped away the excess. I painted the wood backer black as well. Now it looks like an old weathered mirror.

The apothecary items were made from a glass bottle and an unpainted metal miniature. I used brown paint to dirty the glass and painted the metal bottle with acrylics. I then glued on tiny antique medicine labels I found online. I crinkled the label on the metal bottle before gluing it since the bottle itself seemed a bit beat up. The razor and shaving mug were unpainted metal minis that I detailed.  The shelf was made using pieces from my scrap wood bag.

I’m a big fan of hidden elements, so while I didn’t make any actual miniature clothing, I did place some folded fabric scraps in the drawers.  :D

The horse painting is Horse with Wagon at Hitching Post by Edward Lamson Henry. I sharpened the image a bit and then printed it on Art Canvas, a specialty paper by The Crafty PC. I made the frame from strip wood. There’s no particular significance to the painting – I just liked it.  :]

Attic access is simulated with a faux trap door (I used the tutorial on the Greenleaf site). I used a brown paint wash to create water stains on the ceiling and trailed an X-Acto knife from the corners of the attic door to create cracks. I painted over the brass handle in the process. If you’ve ever seen an old house, you know painting over hardware was a common practice.  :]

The washboard was made from a pattern in Thirties & Forties Miniatures in 1:12 Scale by Jane Harrop. The parts are all fixed in place, but I love this piece. It turned out better than I had hoped. The metal is the same material I used for the roof, run through a Fiskars crimper.

The bed was made from a House of Miniatures single low post bed kit. I left off the fancy post tops for a more rustic look. The mini bedside table is also from a House of Miniatures kit, from a set of two side tables. I stained both with IKEA antique pine stain and then weathered with Antiquing Medium by Folk Art and a slight wash of black and brown paint.

The mattress was made from fabric that had an old, stained look to it, stuffed with four layers of a felt-like batting and quilted. I love the way the bed looks with the ropes exposed, but I wanted the option to show it either empty or fully dressed.

There are a few artisan-made knives with leather sheaths on the market, but I decided to give it a try myself. I started out with a kitchen knife with a red handle. I painted the handle black and then made a sheath with a belt loop out of scrapbook paper called Buckskin Brown by The Paper Company. I used a bit of black paint to age the paper once the glue was dry. The blanket is a folded piece of felt pressed into shape with an iron.

A couple of more personal details I included are the photographs of my own ancestors. The young woman on the mirror is my great grandmother Mary Jane Bartlett (nee Watson) in her graduation photo. She was born in 1900 and passed away in 2005 just shy of her 105th birthday. She was young at heart and lived on her own until a few months before she passed. She wasn’t even hard of hearing; she cooked her own meals and cleaned her own home. She was a remarkable woman with a terrific laugh, and I am lucky to have known her well into my adult life.

The second photo is that of her grandparents: Augustus Samuel Watson (1827-1901) and Mary Jane Cameron (1827-1900). That would make them my great, great, great grandparents.

A close up of the sign and light over the barn doors.

The doors and windows provided with the original kit offered some nice details but I wanted to go a step further. I found an image of a fraternity house in the ghost town of Elkhorn, Montana that had some very nice lines on the front. I used cardboard and a large circle punch to create similar arches and cut strip wood to complement the design. I used the punch to create the sign, too.

The siding application and finishing was quite a process, and I have a detailed post on that here.

I flipped the direction of the Houseworks door so it would open in to the left.

The feed and flour sacks have my own custom made designs printed on fabric. The horse and cow are rubber stamp images I found online; the sunflower is clipart. I designed the text and layout in Word.  Since water will ruin the printed images, I first ran the fabric through the printer using a tea-stain color. I then printed my images on that darkened and aged background. I left the bottom half of the fabric sheet plain so I would have excess for the backs.

I filled the bags with beads to make them easier to position. I have no idea if these are historically accurate, but I just love the way they look! I also love the knot in the plank – I just had to use that piece when I found it.

I made a ladder based on a pattern from Making Miniature Gardens by Freida Gray.

I used a scratch built board latch on the inside of the main door; the small metal latch I had used on the side door wasn’t substantial enough.

The crates are made from strip wood and skinny sticks, aged with a black and brown paint wash. I found these vintage labels online and printed them on parchment paper. They, too, have a light wash of black and brown paint to age the paper. I had planned to make more of these, but with all of the other things in the barn, I didn’t need a lot. The Blue Goose image is from thelabelman.com; I don’t recall where I got the other.

Most of the metal tools and accessories were made from unpainted pewter miniatures. I first sprayed them with a coat of Testors flat black and then used regular acrylics to detail them.

To hang the tools along the beam, I found something I never knew existed. I was looking for scale railroad spikes on the internet and found these Mini RR Spikes for 5th String Capo meant for banjos. Who knew?!

I’m not sure if they are exact to scale, but they work wonderfully and don’t look out of place. I drilled pilot holes into the beam and then pressed the spikes in place. They worked perfectly for holding tools on the wall. The rolled up fencing is actually a piece of flat metal mesh called Hannah’s Helper scour screen that I found in the cleaning aisle of Jewel. I painted it brown, cut it in half and tied the rolls with leftover rope from the bed kit.

My wagon was adapted from a covered wagon kit by Allwood (made in the 70s, I think). I changed it from a covered wagon to a farm wagon since the kit was 1:16 scale and, as a covered wagon, it would have been a bit small in relation to the barn. Here’s the box image.

The kit was partially assembled when I bought it. Three of the four wheels were already done as well as the main body. The faux wood trim didn’t look right (think wood paneling on an old station wagon), so I ended up taking the body apart altogether and cut new pieces from a scrap of plywood I already had. This allowed me to score the inner and outer surfaces of the pieces to mimic wood planks.

It’s a good thing this was meant to be a rickety ol’ wagon, because the wheels are nowhere near straight. Three of the four wheels were assembled by the previous owner, but I my fourth wheel wasn’t much better. The chassis and basic structure are solid, though.

It ended up fitting perfectly in the barn space.

I made the stool using a pattern in the book Finishing Touchesby  Jane Harrop.

It, too, was aged with the black and brown paint wash.

The wagon has a removable tongue, too, though it makes the wagon too long to park inside the barn with the doors closed.

I added a removable back wall with siding identical to the other interor walls. This makes for a realistic backdrop when viewing the wagon through the open barn doors.

I used working hinges for the barn doors, dabbing black paint to cover the brass nails. I also used black paint to color in the original laser etched hinges since my working hinges didn’t cover them completely.

I especially beat up the edges of the boards and exaggerated the laser scored lines and cuts along the front edge.

This created a really nice walking wear pattern at the top of the stairs.

I kept the landscaping simple, using Woodland Scenics, ballast, foam ground cover and field grass. The Woodland Scenics materials were awesome to work with, and I highly recommend them.

I didn’t want to clutter the front of the barn too much, but I had bought a few unpainted metal miniatures that I thought would add to the overall feel. These I painted with Testors flat black and then “rusted” with various acrylics.

I aged some balsa scraps with the same paint wash as the exterior and glued the metal hitching posts on top. I glued them a bit askew to make it look like they’ve been there awhile and tugged on a bit by ornery horses. The metal tub was silver, but I beat it up to dent it and then painted it to make it look old and rusted (here is a photo before the field grass was added).

The other piece I added was the water pump. I made the base from balsa, battering the edges of the wood slats and using my awl to add nail holes before aging it with a paint wash. I glued a bit of the ground cover material to make it look as though plants were growing through the boards. The metal bucket was silver metal when I bought it.

The birds nest was made using an online tutorial as a starting point, but I used what I had on hand instead of their suggested materials.  It’s about 7/8″ in diameter, maybe a bit large for scale but pretty close for my first attempt. The bird is by Falcon Miniatures.

My initial idea for the tin roof was corrugated cardboard painted to simulate tin since I’ve seen that done before with good results, but I found two items that allowed me to go for an even more durable finish. The first was a pack of 12 metal sheets with an adhesive backing. Each sheet measured 4″ x 12″ and the pack was very reasonable in price – $5 at Hobby Lobby. I then bought a paper crimper by Fiskars to turn 4″ x 6″ pieces of the metal sheet into corrugated tin roofing. :D

After transferring the pieces onto a foil covered board, I sprayed them with a thin coat of Testors flat black spray paint. Once the black paint was dry, I started layering different colors of paint using a stencil brush.  I used Bittersweet Chocolate by Americana, Coffee Bean by Folk Art and Terra Cotta by Americana. Once I had a good base of brown and rust colors, I used a watered down wash of the Terra Cotta paint to smooth the surface.

I love the way it turned out.  :D

The chimney was made from spare bits and bobs. I glued the pieces together and then sprayed with Testors flat black. I “rusted” it with paint and glued it to the roof. (I didn’t make a connecting pipe inside the barn – I have to draw the line of sanity somewhere!!!)

The Burrowing Owl was added well after the build was completed. Kerri Pajutee has two great tutorials on CDHM: one for sculpting a bird and another on flocking and feathering. I used those as a basis to start my mini owl.

I don’t think I did half bad my first time around if I do say so myself, and he looks right at home at the Ranch!  :D

The attic was a lot of fun. I’ve seen other miniaturists’ attics with newspaper wallpaper, and I wanted to do something similar. I took images from newspapers online, resized and printed sheets on two shades of parchment paper I had in my stash from my old art school days. The subtle translucent quality and the mottled coloration added a lot of realism. Then came the task of cutting out each individual page of newsprint so I could apply the paper piece by piece.

Once the attic floor was in place, I glued beams along the walls, leaving 1 1/2″ between them. I used the individual newspaper pieces to cover the sections between the beams, mashing the paper, gluing wrinkles in place and turning some corners down. I used the same process on the ceiling portion of the attic and added some water spots with a brown paint wash.

I love it!  :D And, the great thing about this room is that the older and dustier it gets over the years, the more realistic it will look.

Update from 2012: In addition to the light coating of dust from the past two years, the barn has apparently attracted the attention of small spiders — as barns are apt to do. There is a fine covering of webs inside the top of the barn by the lights.

Quite marvelous, don’t you think? :D It’s interesting to me since the lights aren’t often on and they wouldn’t really attract insects of any sort besides, but this is exactly where spiders would congregate in a real life barn — the perfect place to catch any insects attracted to the lights.

They aren’t shown in this photo, but the webs continue under the slight lip of the roof outside this wall, too. I suppose someday I’ll have to dust the house and remove the webs when they become overwhelming, but not yet.

Categories: Baslow Ranch
April 15, 2011 | 2 comments

Baslow Ranch – Mattress construction

My mattress tutorial was featured in the June edition of the Greenleaf Gazette!  :D  There is a wealth of information in their newsletter so be sure to check out the archive as well.

———

For my Greenleaf 2010 Spring Fling entry Baslow Ranch, I made a mattress to fit the House of Miniatures single bed. I started with calico cotton fabric that had an old, stained look to it but this method can be used with newer looking fabric as well.

The inner measurements of the bed frame were approximately 3 1/4″ x 6 3/8″ so I cut two pieces of fabric measuring 3 1/2″ x 6 3/4″ (figuring in a 1/4″ seam allowance). I also cut a 19″ long strip of fabric 3/4″ wide; this gave me a mattress about 1/4″ thick.

For a different sized bed, I am afraid to say there will be math involved. If you want to cover the mattress with thick bedding, you will need to make your mattress smaller than the bed frame. You’ll also need a longer strip of fabric to make it all the way around a larger mattress. If you want a thicker (taller) mattress, you will need to cut a wider strip of fabric.

Here are the steps I used to put the mattress together. Use a small stitch so it will look more in scale when complete. With right sides together, pin the two ends of the fabric strip together and sew a 1/4″ seam. This will give you a loop of fabric. Pin one edge of this loop to the edge of one of the base pieces, clipping at the corners.

Sew all the way around using a 1/4″ seam and then clip the excess fabric across the corners. This will cut down on the bulk in the corners when the mattress is turned right side out.

Pin and sew the second base piece to the remaining edge of the long loop of fabric (again clipping at the corners), leaving about two to three inches open in the seam for stuffing the mattress.

Turn the mattress right side out. Use a pointy (but not sharp) object to make sure the corners are squared and open completely.

For the stuffing, I used thin batting that is meant for millinery (I had some left over from previous projects). It’s similar to felt and can usually be found in fabric stores. Felt would work just as well, though you may need more or less depending on the thickness of the material. I cut four pieces measuring 3″ x 5 3/4″ of the millinery batting for my mattress. I rolled them all together into a tube shape, inserted the tube into the opening and then flattened the batting out inside the mattress cover. It will take a bit of effort to get them straight and flat inside, but you won’t get the right look without it.

Once stuffed, I blind stitched the opening to close up the mattress.

I marked a grid of one inch squares on the mattress and used thread knots through all thicknesses to quilt the mattress. You can make the grid smaller or larger to suit your tastes.

Here’s the completed mattress on the bed. Though it doesn’t translate in photos, this really feels like an old, lumpy mattress. But, I bet it would feel perfect after a hard day’s work at the ranch! :D

Categories: Baslow Ranch, Furniture
July 13, 2010 | 0 comments

Baslow Ranch – Attic

The attic was a lot of fun. I’ve seen other miniaturists’ attics with newspaper wallpaper, and I wanted to do something similar. I took images from newspapers online, resized and printed sheets on two shades of parchment paper I had in my stash from my old art school days. The subtle translucent quality and the mottled coloration added a lot of realism.

Then came the task of cutting out each individual page of newsprint so I could apply the paper piece by piece.

Once the attic floor was in place (in the photo below, you can see the pieces of strip wood I used to brace the divider), I glued beams along the walls, leaving 1 1/2″ between them. I then coated the wood beams with a black and brown wash.

I used the individual newspaper pieces to cover the sections between the beams, mashing the paper, gluing wrinkles in place and turning some corners down.

I love the way this turned out!  :D

I used the same process on the ceiling portion of the attic and added some water spots with a brown paint wash.

I had these books from a lot of furniture and accessories I bought from craigslist and covered them with covers I found on printmini.com, printed on parchment paper.

I placed one book in the room below and rest into a purchased crate that I aged with paint washes. The hurricane lamp is by Clare Bell Brass aged with brown paint. Its cord is hidden under the crate. This is a tiny room, but leaving it dark meant you couldn’t see the details I added.

I love it!!!!  :D  And, the great thing about this room is that the older and dustier it gets over the years, the more realistic it will look.

Update from 2012: In addition to the light coating of dust from the past two years, the barn has apparently attracted the attention of small spiders — as barns are apt to do. There is a fine covering of webs inside the top of the barn by the lights.

Quite marvelous, don’t you think? :D It’s interesting to me since the lights aren’t often on and they wouldn’t really attract insects of any sort besides, but this is exactly where spiders would congregate in a real life barn — the perfect place to catch any insects attracted to the lights.

They aren’t shown in this photo, but the webs continue under the slight lip of the roof outside this wall, too. I suppose someday I’ll have to dust the house and remove the webs when they become overwhelming, but not yet.

Categories: Baslow Ranch
June 1, 2010 | 0 comments

Baslow Ranch – Room for Rent

The floor is made by scoring the kit’s floor piece to simulate planks. Using an X-Acto knife, I cut out pieces along some of the lines to create broken boards. I used a nail set to create the illusion of nails at the ends of the planks and then stained the wood with a paint wash.

The wallpaper is scrapbook paper called Simple Stripes/Grandma’s Kitchen by We R Memory Keepers. It’s fantastic since it already has that worn and aged look printed in the design.

Using 1/8″ mdf, I added a ceiling to the side room to create an attic, access to which is simulated with a faux trap door (I used the tutorial on the Greenleaf site). The attic floor is covered with the same siding strips I used throughout, cut in half lengthwise, and then stained with a light wash.

On the underside, I primed the ceiling with white paint and then swirled on Vintage White paint by Folk Art. I used a brown paint wash to create water stains on the ceiling and trailed an X-Acto knife from the corners of the attic door to create cracks. I painted over the brass handle in the process. If you’ve ever seen an old house, you know painting over hardware was a common practice. :]

One happy accident happened as I was measuring for something. I had the ceiling taped in place at the time and accidentally made a long pencil mark on the freshly painted surface. Instead of trying to cover it with paint, which I didn’t think would work all that well, I used my X-Acto knife to lift the paint all along the pencil mark, creating a long crack in the ceiling.

I made the stove from a Chrysnbon plastic kit. I found this kit to be both realistic and very easy to assemble. Although the kit came in plastic molded in the proper color, I still sprayed all of the pieces with Testors flat black. I also sprayed the chrome pieces since I wanted this to look like an old stove without any fancy accents.

I added a red bulb to simulate warm coals.

To achieve the aged look, I dabbed on Mushroom acrylic paint by Folk Art and a paint by Testors appropriately called Rust.  :D

I painted the wires black and glued them to the inside of one of the back legs before feeding them through the floor. I used an X-Acto knife to shave dust from a black conte crayon and used a dry brush to dirty the wall and ceiling around the stove.

The windows, door and trims were first aged by beating, cutting and otherwise marring the finish and applying a wash of brown and black paint. I applied Crackle Medium by Folk Art and then painted Sunflower yellow by Folk Art.

The lower interior window is removable so I can have the window partially open or closed completely. To age the glass (acrylic), I brushed on some Gloss Varnish by Delta Ceramcoat and then wiped away the excess. It took a few turns of this process to get a realistic look. The rolling shade is made from a scrap of fabric glued around a wooden dowel.

When the backdrop is in place, it really feels like you’re standing in a real life room.  :D

Categories: Baslow Ranch
June 1, 2010 | 0 comments

Baslow Ranch – Furnishings and Accessories

The bed was made from a House of Miniatures single low post bed kit. I left off the fancy post tops for a more rustic look. The mini bedside table is also from a House of Miniatures kit, from a set of two side tables. I stained both with IKEA antique pine stain and then weathered with Antiquing Medium by Folk Art and a slight wash of black and brown paint.

The mattress was made from fabric that had an old, stained look to it, stuffed with four layers of a felt-like batting and quilted. I love the way the bed looks with the ropes exposed, but I wanted the option to show it either empty or fully dressed.

The washboard was made from a pattern in Thirties & Forties Miniatures in 1:12 Scale by Jane Harrop. Here are the pieces, cut and weathered with a wash of black and brown paint.

The parts are all fixed in place, but I love this piece. It turned out better than I had hoped. The metal is the same material I used for the roof, run through a Fiskars crimper.

I found a lot of great images online for old time mail, bank notes, newspapers and pharmacy items. I printed the majority of my minis for this project on parchment paper. The newspapers ended up in the attic, the letter on the dresser and the bank notes in a drawer unseen.

The horse painting is Horse with Wagon at Hitching Post by Edward Lamson Henry. I sharpened the image a bit and then printed it on Art Canvas, a specialty paper by The Crafty PC. I made the frame from strip wood. There’s no particular significance to the painting – I just liked it.  :]

There are a few artisan-made knives with leather sheaths on the market, but I decided to give it a try myself.  I started out with a kitchen knife with a red handle.

I painted the handle black and then made a sheath with a belt loop out of scrapbook paper called Buckskin Brown by The Paper Company. I used a bit of black paint to age the paper once the glue was dry. The blanket is a folded piece of felt pressed into shape with an iron.

The dresser with the mirror was made from a pattern in Thirties & Forties Miniatures in 1:12 Scale by Jane Harrop. This project was labeled advanced, and though it was a real bear cutting all the pieces precisely, I love the way it turned out. I stained all of the pieces with IKEA antique pine stain before assembly and then aged it with Antiquing Medium by Folk Art after it was built.

The mirror is made from plastic mirror sheet by Darice. This material was great to work with. The finish was pristine when I pulled it from the package, so I had to beat it up a bit for it to blend with the old dresser. I used an X-Acto knife to scrape some of the backing away.

This created spots in the reflection.

Using the same process as I had for the windows, I brushed on some Gloss Varnish by Delta Ceramcoat and then wiped away the excess. I painted the wood backer black as well.  Now it looks like an old weathered mirror.

The apothecary items were made from a glass bottle and an unpainted metal miniature. I used brown paint to dirty the glass and painted the metal bottle with acrylics. I then glued on tiny antique medicine labels I found online. I crinkled the label on the metal bottle before gluing it since the bottle itself seemed a bit beat up. The razor and shaving mug were unpainted metal minis that I detailed. The shelf was made using pieces from my scrap wood bag.

I’m a big fan of hidden elements, so while I didn’t make any actual miniature clothing, I did place some folded fabric scraps in the drawers.  :D

A couple of more personal details I included are the photographs of my own ancestors. The young woman on the mirror is my great grandmother Mary Jane Bartlett (nee Watson) in her graduation photo. She was born in 1900 and passed away in 2005 just shy of her 105th birthday. She was young at heart and lived on her own until a few months before she passed. She wasn’t even hard of hearing; she cooked her own meals and cleaned her own home. She was a remarkable woman with a terrific laugh, and I am lucky to have known her well into my adult life.

The second photo is that of her grandparents: Augustus Samuel Watson (1827-1901) and Mary Jane Cameron (1827-1900). That would make them my great, great, great grandparents.

My reproductions might be a bit large for proper 1:12 scale, but I wanted them to show well in the room.

Categories: Baslow Ranch
June 1, 2010 | 0 comments

Baslow Ranch – Barn interior details

I covered the interior roof panels with the 3/4″ siding used for the walls, only cut in half lengthwise. Here are the pieces after the wash, just before putting weights on them to dry. You can see how the siding would lift and create gaps. Once pressed and dry, however, they were perfectly flat.

I scored the kit floor piece to simulate plank flooring. Using an X-Acto blade, I cut out some sections along the lines to create broken and worn boards. I then used a paint wash on them to bring out the grain.

I added some strip wood at regular intervals to simulate support beams; these were cut and pounded to weather them. Most of my wiring ran from on top of the garage roof to the underside of the side room.

I used channel molding to hide the wires. It has a drop of glue holding it flat against the boards, but it can be easily removed for access to the wires. The power strip resides under the room addition.

The light fixtures are frosted bare bulbs. Though the bases were molded in white plastic, I painted them with Tapioca paint by Folk Art to give them a more opaque finish.

The feed and flour sacks have my own custom made designs printed on fabric. The horse and cow are rubber stamp images I found online; the sunflower is clipart. I designed the text and layout in Word. Since water will ruin the printed images, I first ran the fabric through the printer using a tea-stain color. I then printed my images on that darkened and aged background. I left the bottom half of the fabric sheet plain so I would have excess for the backs.

I filled the bags with beads to make them easier to position. I have no idea if these are historically accurate, but I just love the way they look! I also love the knot in the plank – I just had to use that piece when I found it.

I made a ladder based on a pattern from Making Miniature Gardens by Freida Gray.

I used a scratch built board latch on the inside of the main door; the small metal latch I had used on the side door wasn’t substantial enough.

The crates are made from strip wood and skinny sticks, aged with a black and brown paint wash. I found these vintage labels online and printed them on parchment paper. They, too, have a light wash of black and brown paint to age the paper. I had planned to make more of these, but with all of the other things in the barn, I didn’t need a lot. The Blue Goose image is from thelabelman.com; I don’t recall where I got the other.

Most of the metal tools and accessories were made from unpainted pewter miniatures. I first sprayed them with a coat of Testors flat black and then used regular acrylics to detail them. To hang the tools along the beam, I found something I never knew existed. I was looking for scale railroad spikes on the internet and found these Mini RR Spikes for 5th String Capo meant for banjos. Who knew?!

I’m not sure if they are exact to scale, but they work wonderfully and don’t look out of place. I drilled pilot holes into the beam and then pressed the spikes in place. They worked perfectly for holding tools on the wall. The rolled up fencing is actually a piece of flat metal mesh called Hannah’s Helper scour screen that I found in the cleaning aisle of Jewel. I painted it brown, cut it in half and tied the rolls with leftover rope from the bed kit.

These tools were originally shiny silver with red metal accents.

The table was based on a pattern in the book Finishing Touches by Jane Harrop, though I made mine a bit larger to fit the space in the barn better. The shelf above it was made from pieces in my scrap wood bag.

I made a false back wall from black foam core board and applied the same aged birch siding used throughout the build to this board. When propped up behind the open back, the structure looks whole when the front doors are open.

Categories: Baslow Ranch
May 31, 2010 | 0 comments

Baslow Ranch – Landscaping

I mounted the structure on a 20″ x 28″ piece of 1/2″ plywood and sealed it with a base coat of beige house paint I had on hand.

I did a test patch of landscaping on a piece of scrap plywood since it was my first time working with Woodland Scenics materials. I used Aleene’s clear gel tacky glue, brushing it on thickly and pouring the ballast over the wet glue. I then tipped the board to remove the excess. I used the same process on the ground cover. The natural field grass was glued on in clumps afterwards. The grass wasn’t the easiest to work with, so I planned to try a few more methods of adhering it before working on the actual base board.

The landscaping process was quicker and easier than I thought it would be. I loosely taped the bottom edges of the structure to keep from getting glue on the outer walls. I poured on the glue and then used a large brush to spread it around, keeping it thick and uneven for a more realistic ground texture.

I used a spoon to generously apply the ballast, letting it set a bit before brushing off the excess back into the bowl. Here it is after application but before removing the excess.

Once completely dry, I vacuumed the excess from the board. Wherever there were blank spaces, I brushed on glue and applied the ground cover. After it dried completely, I brushed what excess I could from the board into a bowl and then vacuumed the remaining loose pieces just as I had done with the ballast.

The last part of the landscaping was the field grass. I did a bit of sleuthing online and found that many people prepared the grass material by securing small clumps of it with a bead of glue at the end.

I did a test sample this way.  Once dry, I drilled a small hole in the base board and glued the clump in place, adding ballast and ground cover around the bottom to disguise the hole.  Much easier, faster process and better results.

After adding the forty or so tufts of field grass I had made the first time around, I decided I liked it so much I made seventy more – using up the rest of the package. After the glue dried, I vacuumed again and then I glued more ground cover at the bases of the grass tufts to hide the holes. The Woodland Scenics materials were awesome to work with, and I highly recommend them.

I didn’t want to clutter the front of the barn too much, but I had bought a few unpainted metal miniatures that I thought would add to the overall feel. These I painted with Testors flat black and then “rusted” with various acrylics.

I aged some balsa scraps with the same paint wash as the exterior and glued the metal hitching posts on top. I glued them a bit askew to make it look like they’ve been there awhile and tugged on a bit by ornery horses. The metal tub was silver, but I beat it up to dent it and then painted it to make it look old and rusted (here is a photo before the field grass was added).

The other piece I added was the water pump. I made the base from balsa, battering the edges of the wood slats and using my awl to add nail holes before aging it with a paint wash. I glued a bit of the ground cover material to make it look as though plants were growing through the boards. The metal bucket was silver metal when I bought it.

This was my first time landscaping, and I had a lot of fun with it.

Categories: Baslow Ranch
May 31, 2010 | 0 comments

Baslow Ranch – Exterior details

The doors and windows provided with the original kit offered some nice details but I wanted to go a step further. I found an image of a fraternity house in the ghost town of Elkhorn, Montana that had some very nice lines on the front. I used cardboard and a large circle punch to create similar arches and cut strip wood to complement the design. I used the punch to create the sign, too.

Once I had the layout I wanted, I used the cardboard pieces as patterns to cut pieces from bass wood. In the end, it turned out just as I had hoped.

The siding application was an involved process. I first primed all the plywood pieces with black acrylic paint, pressing the pieces under weights to keep them flat. I glued on 3/4″ birch siding strips by Corona Concepts, leaving a little give between the planks. I pressed the boards again as the glue dried. I used Aleene’s quick dry tacky glue and was careful not to get any on the faces of the boards since I planned to stain them.

For the exterior walls, I used a wash of black, brown and grey paint – heavy on the black. For the interior, I used a wash of black and brown – heavy on the brown. I wanted the exterior to look more weathered. I had to press the walls each time I added a wash.

For the main facade, I cut the 3/4″ strips in half lengthwise to better accent the arch trim I had made.

It might not be the way to normally assemble a kit, but I prepared all of the walls first and then assembled the structure. I kept dry fitting during the siding and staining process to make sure I had the siding adhered in a way that wouldn’t interfere with the tab and slot assembly. I also had to prepare the walls in groups since I had limited space for pressing.

I tried the siding/painting process start to finish on the side room first, figuring if it ended up being a disaster, I could still use and assemble the garage kit on its own.

Here are some of the pieces during the siding process:

I replaced the two side windows with Houseworks dormer windows and used a Houseworks five panel interior door for the front door. All required very little adjustment to the size of the openings, but they had too much depth for the 1/8″ thick plywood walls. For the front door, I used the outer trim that came with the kit to line the doorway, cutting away the excess to sit flush along the edges of the Houseworks door. I also flipped the opening direction of the door (see my earlier blog entry). For both windows, I created a frame using 1/8″ strip wood under the outer frame.

To create the aged front door and window trim, I kept washing on Slate Grey paint by Americana, wiping it off, using crackle medium and repeating until it looked the way I wanted.

The doorknob is an unfinished pewter piece that I painted to match the door.

For the garage main doors and side door, I did an extensive amount of cutting, scoring and general beating the tar out of the wood with whatever tools I had within reach. I even put in a wide gap between the mock boards of the left door. Forgive the dirty nails – that’s what spending a week using black and brown paint washes will do to your hands!

Though only the exteriors of the doors were laser scored in the original kit, I measured and carried that pattern over to the reverse sides.

I used working hinges for the garage doors, dabbing black paint to cover the brass nails. I also used black paint to color in the original laser etched hinges since my working hinges didn’t cover them completely.

I attached the metal hinges before the walls were assembled so I could lay them flat and get the proper fit. I had to do some altering of the lower edges of the doors and the front edges of the floor after assembling the structure, but it worked out better in the long run.

To get a firm fit when attaching the room addition to the main structure, I glued strip wood to act as a brace under the floor and to support the ceiling board to create an attic. I left space between the boards to run wiring (you can see the channel I made with my rotary tool).

The porch construction was exceptionally easy and might be one of my favorite parts of the kit. I again cut and pounded the boards to create an aged look.

I used an awl to puncture nail holes along the boards and a tiny drill to simulate bolts on the lower support beams.

I especially beat up the edges of the boards and exaggerated the laser scored lines and cuts along the front edge.

This created a really nice walking wear pattern at the top of the stairs.

I made the stool using a pattern in the book Finishing Touches by Jane Harrop. It, too, was aged with the black and brown paint wash.

Categories: Baslow Ranch
May 31, 2010 | 0 comments

Baslow Ranch – Tin Roof

My initial idea for the roof was corrugated cardboard painted to simulate tin since I’ve seen that done before with good results, but I found two items that allowed me to go for an even more durable finish. The first was a pack of 12 metal sheets with an adhesive backing. Each sheet measured 4″ x 12″ and the pack was very reasonable in price – $5 at Hobby Lobby. I then bought a paper crimper by Fiskars to turn 4″ x 6″ pieces of the metal sheet into corrugated tin roofing. :D

I taped the layout onto the roof with masking tape to figure out what would look best.

After transferring the pieces onto a foil covered board, I sprayed them with a thin coat of Testors flat black spray paint.

Once the black paint was dry, I started layering different colors of paint using a stencil brush. I used Bittersweet Chocolate by Americana, Coffee Bean by Folk Art and Terra Cotta by Americana. Once I had a good base of brown and rust colors, I used a watered down wash of the Terra Cotta paint to smooth the surface.  Here is the final look.

The metal had an adhesive backing, but I added some tacky glue after peeling away the backing to affix the pieces to the roof.

Some of the edges lifted as the glue dried, but that only added to the worn effect.

The chimney was made from spare bits and bobs. I glued the pieces together and then sprayed with Testors flat black. I “rusted” it with paint and glued it to the roof. (I didn’t make a connecting pipe inside the barn due to lack of time.)

The birds nest was made using an online tutorial as a starting point, but I used what I had on hand: jute twine and some leftover Woodland Scenics ground cover. It made sense to me that a bird would make use of the materials growing in the environment, so I wanted it to match the plants I had put around the building.

I placed one bird in the nest below the eave of the upper roof and the other bird on the top of the facade. The birds are by Falcon Miniatures.

Categories: Baslow Ranch
May 31, 2010 | 0 comments

Baslow Ranch – Farm wagon

This was one of the initial things I built for Baslow Ranch. As an integral part of my idea, I had to figure out from the start if it would even work the way I wanted.

My wagon was adapted from a covered wagon kit by Allwood (made in the 70s, I think). I changed it from a covered wagon to a farm wagon since the kit was 1:16 scale and, as a covered wagon, it would have been a bit small in relation to the barn. Here’s the box image.

The kit was partially assembled when I bought it. Three of the four wheels were already done as well as the main body. The faux wood trim didn’t look right (think wood paneling on an old station wagon), so I ended up taking the body apart altogether and cut new pieces from a scrap of plywood I already had. This allowed me to score the inner and outer surfaces of the pieces to mimic wood planks.

I painted the outer body Black Cherry by Folk Art. I painted the rest of the pieces with a wash of black and brown paint and used some of this wash to age the Black Cherry paint.

The trim is made from 1/8″ wide Instant Lead Lines by Plaid. This is a self-adhesive material used for faux stained glass. Once in place, I pressed a nail set into the lines to create rivets. A little rust paint added here and there aged the look a bit.

I added some ballast by Woodland Scenics to dirty up the inside.

It’s a good thing this was meant to be a rickety ol’ wagon, because the wheels are nowhere near straight. Three of the four wheels were assembled by the previous owner, but I my fourth wheel wasn’t much better. The chassis and basic structure are solid, though.

It ended up fitting perfectly in the barn space.

I applied multiple paint washes to some unfinished wood barrels I purchased and put them in the back of the wagon.

I made the stool using a pattern in the book Finishing Touches by Jane Harrop. It, too, was aged with a black and brown paint wash.

The wagon has a removable tongue, too, though it makes the wagon too long to park inside the barn with the doors closed.

Categories: Baslow Ranch, Model Cars, Vehicles
May 30, 2010 | 0 comments

Greenleaf 2010 Spring Fling – Baslow Ranch

This was my first time working with a Greenleaf kit. The 1/8″ plywood walls gave me some fits with the warping, but the laser cut pieces were great to work with. Overall, I loved this kit!

The overall feel I went for with this project was that of a late 1880s building that had been updated over time with electricity and other “modern” features of the passing times. It now sits as an open air, living museum to remind us how people lived and worked. I relied heavily on my trip to Bodie, CA – an open ghost town where you can walk around and explore – as well as other living museums I have visited.

I’ve named the Spring Fling structure Baslow Ranch, established in 1888. The name is in honor of several of my recent pets: Basil (pronounced bazzill), my beloved cat who passed away in September 2009; Clover, a sleek and beautiful Chinese dwarf hamster; and Willow, a Russian dwarf hamster who went through a lot in his long life and held on tenaciously until the very end.

And, the back:

A close up of the sign and light over the barn doors.

Attached to the main barn is a room for rent. Both the above sign and this one were created in Word and printed on paper. I glued the paper to a wood backing and aged with paint washes.

The backdrop I used in some of the shots is a photograph I took in Bodie, CA. This was a great place to visit – a bit of a chore to get there but more than worth the effort (bring a hat and sunscreen!). I took over a hundred photos walking around this open museum ghost town.

I tried to make as much as possible for this project, not only to stay on budget but to see what I could accomplish on my own. The things I didn’t make include: lights, buckets, barrels, as well as the glass, ceramic and metal minis. Of the minis I bought, however, I still changed most in some way by either painting or weathering or both. The blog entries for this build might jump around a bit in the actual chronology of assembly, but I’ve tried to group portions together in a way that makes sense.

Even though I mostly relied on my own photos from my Bodie, CA ghost town visit, I did do some minor research through the library on wagons and rural life of the late 1800s/early 1900s. I highly recommend the book I See by Your Outfit: Historic Cowboy Gear of the Northern Plains by Tom Lindmier and Steve Mount. It has an amazing collection of old photographs that are an excellent source of study as well as being just plain interesting to look at. Some of the photographs are so clear you can see the texture of the fabrics and the individual hairs of the horses.

Some other notable books I looked at had schematic drawings of wagons and carts. I reduced a couple of the vintage advertisements in one of the books and printed them for inclusion in the barn. I don’t recall which book exactly, but all of the ones I viewed were by John Thompson.

Categories: Baslow Ranch
May 28, 2010 | 0 comments