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

Flipping the opening direction of a door

Houseworks has some of the best dollhouse components on the market, and their doors are fabulous in that they are premade and hung in frames. All you have to do is slide them into place. But, sometimes you want the door to open the other direction. As they are currently made, if the premade door is facing you, the door opens in to the right.

Here’s how I flipped one to open in to the left. First, I used masking tape to indicate the “up” direction and sides 1 and 2.

Since you are always keeping the “up” side in the right direction, this will work with other paneled doors where there is an obvious up direction. It’s less important with this type of door where the style is uniform up and down.

I removed the hinge pin on the bottom but left the pin at the top in the door.

I then measured where the original holes were and marked that same measurement on the opposite side. These need to be precise. I then used a pinvise to make the new holes. I slid my drill bit into the original hole to make sure I had the right size before drilling on the opposite side.

I installed the original door with side 2 facing me. The door now opens in to the left. The original holes can be filled or left in case you change your mind again.

Categories: Baslow Ranch, Miniatures
April 2, 2010 | 0 comments