Thursday, December 18, 2003
I am cleaning house today. Or, more correctly, I am cleaning my house today. That isn't unusual, I vacumn and dust almost every day. But last night, I completed the construction of the Kinkade village, a more permanent home for those lovely collectible villages. I realized when I was getting them in the mail every couple of months that I needed to stop at some point, or they would have overtaken the house. So, it is eight buildings and a tiny municipal skating rink.
With the experience I've had building model train scenery, I thought this would be a snap. A messy snap, I might add. The easy part was cutting the plywood base and correctly judging the angles (using real man tools!) and gluing on the felt. Except that I probably shouldn't have glued the felt on so soon because there were some wires that had to stick out of the bottom. Error # 1.
I laid out the village in a triangle, with the church at the pinnacle of the triangle, a road that wound around middle of the triangle and one parallel across the front. It was my intention to use plaster cloth to simulate snowbanks and make little hills from which the houses would stand upon. Using out of scale Styrofoam sheets, I glued the styrofoam to every place that didn't have a street profile, then painted the street black. Error # 2, this village should have had rutted dirt roads.
I added more Styrofoam to build up the places for the houses, but put the gift shop and train station on grade in the front of the village. The town common is in the middle of the triangle and that's where the skating rink would land. Error # 3, I should have installed the streetlights around the common before I glued the base down.
Next, I took the plaster cloth and, with a tray of water and some (un-)strategically placed newspaper, I began to drape the rise between the street and the top of the styrofoam where the houses and church will sit. I realized early on that I needed to place some sort of filler under the plaster cloth to make a realistic looking hill, or some of these two-inch high Kincaide characters will have a steep fall when taking that last step. Error # 4.
I used some of the plaster cloth in scrunched-up (technical term) balls and made little snow banks. Then, I took longer strips and laid them next to all the roads, to simulate plowed snow banks. Pretty soon I ran out of the plaster cloth, and much later wished I had made a tiny snowman with some of the cloth. Error # 5.
Looking back at the black streets, they were now covered with water and plaster, looking more like some of the streets around the blog house when the city does their half-hearted snow plowing. Error # 6.
I painted all the Styrofoam surfaces and the plastered pieces white, as the plaster looked a little gray. Error # 7, I should have left some of the snowbanks gray, as that is the color of snow around here after some traffic goes by.
I then took the Buffalo snow (so called because its made in Buffalo, and when you use it, even a little looks like winter in Buffalo) and sprinkled it liberally (even though I am a conservative) over the wet paint, causing some of it to stick to the paint. But of course, much more of it didn't stick. Error # 8.
I realized that the edge of the village would let the snow fly out if someone brushed up against it, so I got some scrap pine and made a railing to attach to the front and sides of the village. But nailing the rail caused a lot of the snow to fly off the village. Error # 9.
I was doing all this in the kitchen, and the village was going to be on display in the living room, so I had to move it, loose Buffalo Snow and all. Error # 10.
I put the village over the table (the reason for the felt on the bottom was that this was a gate-legged black walnut table, an antique in amazing condition) and slid it into place. Error # 11. The speaker hung on the wall was in the way of the church in the corner.
I finally put the buildings over the lights that I installed in holes cut in the Styrofoam, and added the rest of the Buffalo Snow. The trees, people and accessories went out next, and I was done.
So, today is the day I clean up all the Buffalo Snow, the plaster, the paint, the sawdust, the tools, the boxes and the cellar.
See the completed Kinkade village here.
The Christmas tree is next...
|
With the experience I've had building model train scenery, I thought this would be a snap. A messy snap, I might add. The easy part was cutting the plywood base and correctly judging the angles (using real man tools!) and gluing on the felt. Except that I probably shouldn't have glued the felt on so soon because there were some wires that had to stick out of the bottom. Error # 1.
I laid out the village in a triangle, with the church at the pinnacle of the triangle, a road that wound around middle of the triangle and one parallel across the front. It was my intention to use plaster cloth to simulate snowbanks and make little hills from which the houses would stand upon. Using out of scale Styrofoam sheets, I glued the styrofoam to every place that didn't have a street profile, then painted the street black. Error # 2, this village should have had rutted dirt roads.
I added more Styrofoam to build up the places for the houses, but put the gift shop and train station on grade in the front of the village. The town common is in the middle of the triangle and that's where the skating rink would land. Error # 3, I should have installed the streetlights around the common before I glued the base down.
Next, I took the plaster cloth and, with a tray of water and some (un-)strategically placed newspaper, I began to drape the rise between the street and the top of the styrofoam where the houses and church will sit. I realized early on that I needed to place some sort of filler under the plaster cloth to make a realistic looking hill, or some of these two-inch high Kincaide characters will have a steep fall when taking that last step. Error # 4.
I used some of the plaster cloth in scrunched-up (technical term) balls and made little snow banks. Then, I took longer strips and laid them next to all the roads, to simulate plowed snow banks. Pretty soon I ran out of the plaster cloth, and much later wished I had made a tiny snowman with some of the cloth. Error # 5.
Looking back at the black streets, they were now covered with water and plaster, looking more like some of the streets around the blog house when the city does their half-hearted snow plowing. Error # 6.
I painted all the Styrofoam surfaces and the plastered pieces white, as the plaster looked a little gray. Error # 7, I should have left some of the snowbanks gray, as that is the color of snow around here after some traffic goes by.
I then took the Buffalo snow (so called because its made in Buffalo, and when you use it, even a little looks like winter in Buffalo) and sprinkled it liberally (even though I am a conservative) over the wet paint, causing some of it to stick to the paint. But of course, much more of it didn't stick. Error # 8.
I realized that the edge of the village would let the snow fly out if someone brushed up against it, so I got some scrap pine and made a railing to attach to the front and sides of the village. But nailing the rail caused a lot of the snow to fly off the village. Error # 9.
I was doing all this in the kitchen, and the village was going to be on display in the living room, so I had to move it, loose Buffalo Snow and all. Error # 10.
I put the village over the table (the reason for the felt on the bottom was that this was a gate-legged black walnut table, an antique in amazing condition) and slid it into place. Error # 11. The speaker hung on the wall was in the way of the church in the corner.
I finally put the buildings over the lights that I installed in holes cut in the Styrofoam, and added the rest of the Buffalo Snow. The trees, people and accessories went out next, and I was done.
So, today is the day I clean up all the Buffalo Snow, the plaster, the paint, the sawdust, the tools, the boxes and the cellar.
See the completed Kinkade village here.
The Christmas tree is next...
|
