Heritage interior staircase, part 4

Continuing work on the interior staircase. This was my first time putting together a stair railing. The narrow stairs kit came with balusters, but I prefer the look of rounded posts to flat ones. I purchased a miscellaneous miniatures lot awhile ago that included the windows I used for the cellar as well as several packages of posts. The ones I’m using are Real Good Toys 3013A spindles.

There’s one thing that can be counted on when working with miniatures…you will knock into something held together with nothing but glue and it will crumble back into the pieces from which it was made. :\

To help aid with this inevitability, I drilled pilot holes and added pins to the connections between the stairs and the posts. This is also helps keep things aligned when working with multiple parts that need to be glued all at the same time. It’s a tip I learned on the Greenleaf forum.

I used eyelet headpins mainly because I had an excess of them on hand. I used super glue gel to supplement the Aleene’s Quick Dry glue to insert the headpin into the drilled holes. I then cut the headpin to roughly 1/2″ (this is longer than I need but I will wait to cut them down until later).

This allowed me to stick the spindles into a scrap of builders foam for painting.

For the stair spindles, I used the kit baluster to mark the angle needed.

I then cut the top of the rounded spindle to match.

I painted the posts Vintage White to match the rest of the trim, sanded once and then painted a final time. Here are all the posts for the balcony as well as the ones for the stairs. Why do all this tedious work more than once?

Since drilling a tiny hole into the end of a round dowel doesn’t often end up right in the center, I chose to drill the corresponding holes in the stairs one at a time. After trimming the pin, I lined up the spindle with a stair and pressed the pin to make a mark.

I drilled a hole into the stair at that mark.

Using super glue gel and Aleene’s Quick Dry, I attached the spindle to the stair then repeated all the way up. I’ve left the top one off for now since I will need to make sure I am able to attach the stair railing to the balcony railing on the upper floor. That’s probably best to do once I have the stairs glued in permanently. For now, the staircase is still removable and will be until I absolutely have to glue it in place.

I tried to sand down the lifted grain during the painting process, but bumps remained or recurred near the tops of some of the spindles no matter how much I sanded. I hope these will be less noticeable once the final railing is in place.

Categories: The Haunted Heritage
September 15, 2012 | 0 comments

The Aero Squadron Lounge – structure, part 1

To build The Aero Squadron Lounge, I made only a few changes to the basic Greenleaf kit but they dramatically changed the look of the building.

I added a tower made from a 5″ diameter mailing tube which required cutting off a portion of the front and side walls to make an opening for it. I also cut a large arch in the opposite side wall that originally had a row of windows near the top and used the scraps from these cuts to add 2″ in height to the main kit. This photo was taken before I determined I needed more floor space and before adding height to the tower.

After figuring out the furniture placement, I realized the building was too small for all that I wanted to include. It’s fun looking back at the layout photos and seeing that I included everything I wanted to in the first place.

I built the floor from the base kit, adding cross support beams underneath to straighten out the warp in the floor. I didn’t get a picture of that part, unfortunately. Using a double layer of foam core board, I added 1.5″ inches to the width of the room and 2″ to the depth in the back. I also added a partial circle to serve as the tower floor.

I covered the exterior of all three walls with 1/2″ thick builders foam, taking into consideration the extra floor space. I added scrap wood to pad any excess foam showing beyond the kit walls.

I learned the process I used to make the stone from a Scenery & Terrain Making website (as of 2024, the link is defunct). On the exterior of the building, I measured a grid of stones each measuring 5/16″ by 3/4″ on the entire surface even though I planned to add stucco to most of the build. I wanted my brickwork to be consistent. As it turned out, in some portions where the stucco is thinner, you can see the texture of stone underneath. I rather like the extra push of realism it brings.

I first measured and marked lines 5/16″ apart.

I then scored the drawn lines with a special adjustable X-Acto knife that allows you to cut into a surface at a controlled depth. You turn the knob to allow more or less of the blade to sink into the material. This kept the back of the sheet whole while allowing me to carve the stonework on the front.

Here’s a close-up of the scored lines. Every once in awhile my blade wandered. It wasn’t a problem since I planned to stucco over the stone and could easily cover mistakes. Besides, broken out stone would only add to the age of the building had I left it exposed.

Using a dull wood pencil, I followed those cuts to make grout indentations.

The vertical grout lines were made with a cutting tool from a set bought at Michael’s to press and cut the vertical lines forming the individual stone blocks.

I just lined the blade up between the horizontal lines and pressed until it broke the front surface without cutting through the back. I used the dull wood pencil to indent these lines, too. Yes, it was a lot of work but much less work than using egg carton stone.

I primed all of the exposed foam with grey gesso and then painted random areas where the stone would be fully exposed using Camel by Americana as a base coat. Here is the side wall showing the back edge cut and painted. I still wasn’t decided on whether this would be an open back or a 360° build, so I prepared the wall to have an entire edge of exposed stone. I ended up doing the bombed back and the stone along the straight edge was covered with stucco in the end.

I grouted the exposed stone areas with spackling compound and then added paint washes to perfect the coloration. I also experimented with texture medium, though much of it fell away during the paint wash application. Still, it adds a little something.

For the back edge where there would be broken walls, I used flat nosed pliers to rip pieces off at random. I then continued the previously scored grout lines around the edges to make individual stones. I grouted random portions and applied the same painting technique as I had done for the exposed stone on the other walls. I couldn’t believe just how much the foam looked like real stone.

Before attaching the foam to the front wall, I added a window using leftover parts from Baxter Pointe Villa, last year’s Spring Fling entry. I hadn’t used the short front wall from that kit, and on it were two laser cut windows. I cut around the windows and used the two pieces to make one whole window in the new build.

I cut out a recess in the foam and set one of the window pieces into it. This window piece was between the outer foam and the kit wall. For the other window piece, I cut an opening in the front kit wall and glued it in place.

I painted both window sections Clover by Folk Art. I also applied the stucco to the foam around the window opening and painted the stucco Warm White by Americana before gluing the window in place. I didn’t think I would be able to apply the stucco or paint without getting it on the green window.

From the outside, it is a deep set window. I left the glass out of all the windows in this build, because really…what sort of weather are we trying to keep out? Have you seen the condition of the roof? ;D

I used the greenhouse addition with the Spring Fling kit, though I’ve eliminated the working door. I added 2″ of builders foam to serve as a base for the greenhouse and built a new floor for it using a double layer of foam core board (floor not shown here). The paint is Clover by Folk Art.

I got ahead of myself and glued the pieces together before scoring the stone into the foam. It was a little more challenging to score the lines on a three-dimensional piece, but I managed.

Continued in part 2.

Categories: The Aero Squadron Lounge
September 15, 2012 | 0 comments

Miss Charlotte

This pretty little mouse doll comes from PamelaJunksMinis, the same artist who made Miss Kitty for the Heritage. I’ve named her Miss Charlotte.

I know my limitations when it comes to making tiny clothing and painting tiny pretty faces. I didn’t even consider making them myself from her kits. I gladly paid for completed animals.

Categories: Animals and birds
September 13, 2012 | 0 comments

The Aero Squadron Lounge – tower roof

Continuing from the tower construction part 3 for The Aero Squadron Lounge.

The tower roof was my second major foray into math after the spiral stairs. I found this forum thread on conical roof framing, which had exactly the reference photo I needed to help it click for me.

I started with a piece of octagonal trim wood from a sample pack from Manchester Woodworks. They include these packs when you order trim wood from them, and I always find uses for it. I cut two pieces of foam core board to figure out the exact length and angle for the initial support beams.

I used these as patterns to cut beams from balsa wood.

I used Aleene’s Quick Dry supplemented with super glue gel to attach the beams to the octagonal support.

I then cut cross supports for the upper portion, again gluing in place as I went. Nothing in this support structure is completely uniform or strictly measured. I kept measuring the pieces against the top of the tower, and it ended up being somewhat organic in nature.

Next came the lower beams that ran from the center cross supports to the top of the tower.

After these beams were in place, I added cross supports at the base where the roof meets the tower. These were measured individually and glued as I went along. Around this time, I discovered the best fit for the tower and drew an arrow to keep track of the direction.

Here’s how it stood for quite some time while I procrastinated…er…thought about how to finish the structure to achieve a conical surface.

After about a month, I decided to go on a leap of faith and added thin sheets of balsa to the support structure. I used balsa because it was easy to bend as well as to break for the holes I planned to include.

There’s one hole in the front and two larger holes in the back.

Here’s a fun view. :D As you can see, it’s not completely circular but it does follow the contour of the tower.

I gave the structure a quick wash of brown and black paint before shingling. It didn’t look any more rounded to me, but I forged ahead!

Shingling a conical roof is a test of not only patience but also the strength of super glue. :D I used the same Greenleaf speed shingles I used on the main building, but I cut and applied them one at a time before staining. I used super glue gel to supplement the Aleene’s Quick Dry glue.

The first row was relatively painless.

As you work up the tower, you have to cut and shape the shingles more. Covering the shingles below in a uniform manner also becomes more challenging. When you add holes in a roof, that challenge is amplified.

Surprisingly, though, applying the shingles to this relatively flat surface still amounted to the conical shape I had hoped to achieve.

The topmost row is cut to follow the pointed tip as well as the row beneath it.

With all the layers, the roof ended up being very stable, so I’ve left it removable. I painted it with several washes of brown and black, trying to match the main roof as much as possible.

For the cone cap, I used heavy black paper cut to fit.

I had used a scrap of paper to make a template first. When I cut my final, I added a little flap to glue under the opposite edge.

After gluing the cone into shape, I applied spackling to disguise the seam.

I then painted the paper brown to match the roof. The windsock is a glued tube of orange cotton held in place with a head pin. Yes, it rotates, though it pretty much always falls back into the same place.

And, that’s the tower!  :D

A close-up of the holes in the back.

Categories: The Aero Squadron Lounge
September 13, 2012 | 0 comments

The Aero Squadron Lounge – tower, part 3

Continuing from the tower construction part 2 for The Aero Squadron Lounge.

I went ahead and cut off the bamboo skewer support at the top of the spiral stairs, which was scary but ended up being okay. I added stucco to the window and arched opening edges. I also glued the foam ring and beam assembly to the top of the tower, added the stucco and painted the final finish. This sealed off access to the inside of the tower from the top opening, but I needed it in place to install the tower light. Yes, the tower was still removable at this point. 

The most challenging light to wire in this build was this one in the tower. Even if I hadn’t made the tower roof removable in the end, I wanted exposed rafters and holes in the roof. That meant you would be able to see the wire, even if I cut a channel into the balsa beam and painted it.

I opted to hide the wire in plain sight with conduit made from 3/32″ aluminum tubing from my local hobby shop Ad-Venture Hobbies. Remember the tubing bender I posted about awhile back? This is why I bought it. Now, bending aluminum tubing didn’t work out to be as easy as bending brass tubing. The aluminum was softer and more prone to tearing. I had to make a few attempts before getting it to work properly. I ended up making 3 or 4 small bends right next to one another to stretch it out a little before doing the final bend. It’s not as clean as the brass, but it does work.

I eliminated the chain on this light and made it a ceiling fixture. This is a much later photo from when I started working on the tower roof, but it’s the best shot I have of the shortened light.

The wire goes up through the beam, through the conduit and out the side of the tower.

The wire exits the wall through the end of the tubing.

The end wire runs between the tower and side wall, eventually to be covered with stucco.

To disguise the end of the wire inside, I used a round wooden bead.

I painted the conduit on the beam brown to match the wood. I painted the conduit along the wall and the wooden bead warm white to make it blend in with the wall color. I have seen conduit done like this in real life many times.

I added a metal doorbell from Sussex Crafts to act as a vintage light switch. :D Now the illusion is complete.

With the tower wiring finished, I got ahead of myself, glued the tower in place and finished the stucco application between the tower and the main building, shown here before painting.

I had forgotten to add one important element before doing all this. Once you have a balcony, you have to keep people from tumbling over its edges. Luckily, there was good enough access through the upper arched opening so I could reach the top of the balcony. Whew!

At the edge of the staircase, I used a portion of pre-assembled wood railing and a Houseworks narrow newel post. I opted to paint it Warm White to blend in with the tower wall. It’s a small space and too much contrast wouldn’t have worked.

For the portion overlooking the main room, I bent a piece of plastic railing from The Dolls House Emporium. I also cut off the finials from the upper edge. It wasn’t easy to bend and I did snap one of the small connections which had to be super glued, but overall it worked well. The curve isn’t that severe. I later sprayed it with flat black to tone down the plastic sheen and glued it in place.

In this photo, both railings are shown as works in progress.

And, here is what they look like finished.

I added lengths cut from an 1/8″ diameter dowel to make the window bars. These were painted Bittersweet Chocolate by Americana with a wash of black to age them. I like that you can see the light switch through the window here.

Continued here. I thought the tower roof deserved its own post. :D

Categories: The Aero Squadron Lounge
September 12, 2012 | 0 comments