I added a lot of accessories to the interior of The Aero Squadron Lounge. Some are WWI or aviation related, some are bar related and some are just plain fun. :D These are in no particular order. I’ll cover the interior construction portion in a separate post.
For the artwork, I used all WWI photographs found online and built matchstick frames for each and every one of them.
There’s even one of Snoopy in WWI France from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The public warning poster shows the difference between German and British aircraft. Thank you to Carole for the French translation on my low ceiling sign.
The door has a working latch from Olde Mountain Miniatures. You can also see the flyer reminding you to eat more eggs and milk…to save the meat for the soldiers.
The tables and chairs are made from patterns in the book Finishing Touches by Jane Harrop, though I modified the height measurements for the pub chairs and table. My backdrop is from thundafunda called Oak Tree Countryside. The lights are from miniatures.com.
The autumn Bishop Show comes to town in mid August, so I was able to pick up a few things there. Sir Thomas Thumb saved me the trouble of trying to figure out how to make binoculars. :D The image on the upper left is a print from an actual color image from WWI; they are rare but they do exist.
I was unsuccessful in finding a canteen at the show. Yes, you can buy them for about $12 online, but why do that when you can spend 4 hours making one?!!! :D It was made from two self covered buttons, leather scrapbook paper, ribbon, headpins, a wood bead and the tiniest laser cut paper buckles I’ve ever seen. Teeny, tiny buckles!!! (From Dragonfly International.)
The canteen was originally meant for the display case, but after all that work I placed it prominently on the wall over the pub table.
Yes, that’s a dog in uniform in one of the photos. :D Read the story of Sergeant Stubby the pit bull on Wikipedia here.
He’s not the only animal featured in the Lounge. I found a story on a wonderful group of photographs that were found in an old French farmhouse. They are called The Lost Diggers, and unfortunately their main site seems to be only on facebook. I’m not a member of facebook, so it’s hard to see them there. You can also find them here. They are remarkable images, some very candid.
The basket was a free door prize from the 3 Blind Mice show. I aged it with a brown paint wash and added logs from the various fire grates I’ve ordered and then used lighted coals instead. Always pays to save the odds and ends.
The fireplace screen is by Jeannetta Kendall and purchased from lacyhome4boys on eBay. Here’s the shiny new screen in place; it looks like I built the fireplace around it but that’s just coincidence. :D I bought this as a last minute addition.
I used black acrylic paint to age it and tone down the shine. Much better.
The medallion above the fireplace is a jewelry finding. The metal settee was painted and upholstered. The trunk was made from a kit by Catland (bought from bluebearcountry on eBay), though I didn’t use the artwork included. I also added brass hinges and brad detailing.
The coasters were made in Word from a biplane image from The Graphics Fairy. They were printed on Avery labels, stuck to cardstock and then cut out with scissors.
Here are the coasters in place. The rose is one of the Bonnie Lavish grandaflora roses I made.
I purchased the tiny metal plane from A Pocket Full of Wishes at the 3 Blind Mice show last April. The candlestick lamps are from Minimum World.
I’ve used two of the citronella candle tins I made awhile back – one on the bar and one on the trunk. (These are in my etsy shop as new and “burned” wick styles.)
The bar itself is a scratch build using leftover wood from Baxter Pointe Villa stained English Chestnut by Minwax.
To keep the bar removable, I wired the two lamps to a 9V battery adapter with an on/off switch from Evan Designs. Ingenious, right? Ha! There are two main issues with this idea. First, the bar is definitely removable, but it is hard to get it back into place without the wires sticking out…very fiddly. More importantly, the battery doesn’t last long and the candlesticks are very dim. I tried wiring each lamp to its own battery but the difference in brightness was negligible and it doubled the fiddly nature of trying to get the bar in place with two battery assemblies fighting for freedom. What I should have done was made a plug in the floor.
The reproduction farmhouse hutch I made serves as the back of the bar.
I purchased some of the bottles, and Keli sent me some. I made a number of the labels myself from images found online. I even replaced a few of the labels on the purchased ones with more authentic versions. The glassware is all from The Little Dollhouse Company and is by far the priciest part of the build but looks so realistic. There’s a corkscrew, bottle opener, cocktail shaker and can of peanuts, too. :] The birdhouse on top is from Celtic Juju.
I have to point out the fab paper towels from Lyssa! There’s root beer for Snoopy as well as some Schweppes for mixing. Our safety features include a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. ;]
The menu board above the front door listing the signature cocktails. I wanted it to have a chalkboard look to it.
The vintage display cabinet I bought has all WWI and aviation memorabilia. The metal, plastic and leather goods were purchased, though I added labels to the metal bottles and aged the plastic compass. All of the paper items were printed from images found online of actual period items.
On the top shelf, there’s a photo of a Sopwith Camel cockpit as well as two metal plates and a small motor.
On the second shelf, there’s a magazine page showing an illustration of American troops arriving in France, two postcards, two metal bottles of vintage remedies (I added the labels), an honorable discharge letter for an Army aviation mechanic from Dec 1918, two medals, a pocket watch and two coins. For the magazine page and letter, I crumpled the paper and straightened it back out to add to its age. The British war medal and the WWI Victory medal with aviation band were printed on paper. I dabbed metallic paint on the medal portion to give it depth and shine. The pocket watch was assembled from a tiny laser cut paper kit from Dragonfly International. The coins are laser cut brass from a fret I’ve had awhile – not sure of the vendor.
On the bottom shelf, there is a map of American air service units from Nov 1918 and a vintage medicine advertisement from a shop in London selling remedies. It states: “Remember there are no Chemists’ Shops in the Trenches.” Also on the shelf are a compass (aged with paint), a purchased leather satchel and a purchased medicine bottle (this last piece is from Wright Guide Miniatures).
On top of the display case is a blow torch from the mini shows in April (I can’t recall the vendor) and two gas cans from Wright Guide Miniatures.
There’s a metal milk can from Minimum World on the floor by the display case, too. I love the way the interior looks through the windows of the greenhouse addition.
Upstairs in the tower, there’s a small platform so visitors can see outside. There’s artwork here, too, but it is hard to photograph. The tower roof is removable so you can see inside. See that switch on the wall? I’ll tell you about that later. ;D
I have a small lantern from Hobby Lobby up here in case the lights go out. We don’t need people tumbling down the stairs in the dark. There’s the other low ceiling sign on the right.
Update: One of the drawbacks of working on a project in secret is that others can’t pipe in and say, “I have just the thing for your mini scene!” Now that The Aero Squadron Lounge has been revealed, a friend and fellow miniaturist was able to do just that.
Elga inherited two small paintings from a collection belonging to her late Mother-in-Law and offered to send me scans so that I might add these little paintings to The Aero Squadron Lounge. I was overjoyed at the thought, and I fell in love with them when I saw them. I reproduced them in miniature and moved things around in the Lounge to include even more real history. (Full post here.)
