Flashback: Barlow's Smokehouse by FOS

I finished Barlow's in January of 2011. I was going to start working on a diorama but I wanted to add a smokehouse. I designed it after one in the area but never got around building it. It has been on my To Do list ever since...

Finishing FOS Canal & Third diorama Pt.1

Back in August of 2015 I was asked to finish up FOS Canal & Third diorama. Some five months later I am just getting into it. The pictures I have are old. I haven't progressed much since March of 2011 anyway.

Building Gibley's Furniture Co by Bar Mills Pt.1

I have never been completely satisfied with the way white laser cut shingles turn out using streaking method. Yes, it is better than painting in single color but still I've been wanting something even better. Then perhaps some couple of years ago I came up with an idea of printing of the wood texture on white shingles but since then I haven't had proper test subject to try it on. The kits I built either had Campbell shingles or Bar Mill premium. About two or three months ago I received Gibley's for custom building. Even though it is limited run kit it comes with white shingles making it perfect test subject. Here it is how they have turned out.

Building Duffy's Coal by FSM Pt. 3

TGIF. It may be icy one though. However, freeze is not supposed to start until later at night so I won't have an excuse for skipping work and building models instead. It is not a problem. We still have entire month of February ahead of us. Over the past decade I remember only one winter when we didn't have snow/ice.
A snow day would be nice for getting Duffy's further ahead. In fact I would be nearly done. I have a number of sub assemblies that simply need to be installed, I have all wood stained, and almost all castings painted. For time being I'll have to nibble on it whenever I get a chance.

Building Utility boat by Maritime Art Pt.2

Few years back every time I sent a completed model to Ohio using USPS Priority Mail service it used to take two days. Then at some point they started printing 2-day and 3-day on the shipping label. Since then two day delivery to Ohio became thing of the past. It seems even three day service may be going away as well. Yesterday I mailed out both boats. I checked the status earlier today and saw that expected delivery date was set to Saturday. I hope that it is temporary situation caused by number of holiday packages.

Miniature Christmas trees from Walmart

At some time before last Christmas while at Walmart I came across miniature Christmas trees. 6" ones were $1 each. 9" were $2 and smaller 74 cents. Some of them were covered in snow, others in glitter. I bought few smaller covered in snow. I figured I could possibly get off most of the snow with a wire brush or similar tool. Then I would spray paint them green and after paint dried sprinkle on some scenic grass. This is something I have yet to try.

It is no secret that majority of Christmas merchandise goes on sale next day. I didn't get out until the second day so my selection wasn't as big as it possibly could have been. All it was left was several
9" tall Christmas trees in glitter and some ornamental stuff.

I decided to give it a try and see if I can cover up all that glitter. This is where I am at with this experiment. After spraying with green paint some of the glitter is still showing through. I am hoping that after I sprinkle the trees with ground foam and hit with the dulcote the sparkles will disappear.

Building Trawler by Maritime Art Pt.3

Finally I will be able to get back to building what I like most. It was educational to do something else other than structures for a change but I won't be switching hobbies. I don't exclude possibility of building more boats in the future though. I would like to construct a layout with a waterfront so a boat or two will be must. For the time being I am going back to working on the structures.