Édouard
My dear friend Martha sent me a lovely gift in the mail. She painted a portrait of Gustav‘s father Édouard for Watson Mill. So delightful! I can clearly see the resemblance and an inherited fashion sense!
Thank you so much, Martha! I will treasure your thoughtful gift. :]
Categories: Art and paintings, Watson Mill
August 13, 2018 | 0 commentsHalf Clocked – back wall and insert wall
Since I want to glue the roof in place and have the back open, I needed to figure out how to hinge a wall. Nothing is glued in place just yet so I can engineer on the fly. I have cut 3/8″ square basswood support beams for the back sides and new beams for the ceiling. I’ll likely be cutting the back wall as one piece, so the beams will give it something to abut when closed.
I’m also making a small room up front under the gable. I cut a 1/4″ thick plywood board to fit the space and then planned my trims and door. I’m using a Classics narrow door since other interior doors looked too big proportionally.
A blog reader asked about how I cut the skylight holes, so here is a link to an old post I did on making cuts without power tools. I still use this method a lot, and it works really well on mdf especially. Here are the cuts in process.
However, now I often finish the cut with my scroll saw to get a cleaner final cut. The scroll saw can and does wander, but these holes are fully enclosed by the door or window they house, so it’s not a huge deal.
On the other hand, if you use a component that is smaller than the existing hole, you need to fill it. I typically use strip wood.
Since I want the door to open into the main room, I needed to pad the edges of the door casing (here’s an old post on that technique). I didn’t need it to be neat since this side of the door won’t be seen. I’ll make any minor adjustments once I’m ready to install the insert wall.
I want to be able to access the front room more than the narrow door will allow, so I will be making the insert wall removable. This is a bit of hassle since I don’t want the board to have gaps all around it nor do I want to continually risk scuffing the floor and ceiling moving it around. So, I will cut the wall into two pieces – one will be a permanent part of the structure and one will be fully removable with the door acting as the handle. This will make a lot more sense once I get the trims cut and in place, but here is the plan in dry fit. The outer side panels and upper panel will be permanent, but the door and its two adjacent panels will be one removable unit.
I mulled over this design a few days, and changed it slightly for the final. After measuring multiple times to make sure I had a suitable plan for the removable wall, I marked and cut my insert board using my scroll saw. Again, I tried to get the cuts as straight as possible, but the trims will disguise any imperfections.
The trims will be cut after I have installed the frame portion and the wallpaper (on order), but this is now the plan. It seems a better balance than the initial plan.
It will be a larger opening in the end (sorry for the poor quality on this pic, but the camera kept focusing through the opening).
Should work well. :D
Categories: Half Clocked
August 5, 2018 | 0 commentsFinn
This adorable meow is Finn. He apparently wandered into Half Clocked and fell asleep when work ceased for the evening. :D
He is made by JMDS.
I won’t wake him right now, but this evening he will have to move so I can continue my work. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Categories: Animals and birds
August 2, 2018 | 0 commentsHalf Clocked – kits in progress
I’ve been working on some stash kits to fill the HC build. I have a birdhouse from Art of Mini.
And, two new old stock kits – Shenandoah Designs tiered server and House of Miniatures trestle table.
Sanding them took the most time, but I have them built and ready for finishing.
I hate assembling any three-legged stand, but they look so nice I just swear through the process to get it done. I inevitably get glue all over, so I almost always end up painting these types of bases.
I’m not sure of colors yet, though I do really like the aged military green shown on the birdhouse kit cover. I might end up going with that for this piece.
The trestle stand was a pretty clean assembly glue-wise, so I might use some stainable wood filler for the few gaps and end up staining this piece.
Categories: Furniture, Half Clocked
June 10, 2018 | 0 comments
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