Scatter Terrain

My first batch of scatter terrain. I'm still waiting for my latest group of buildings to arrive, so I've been able to finish this batch and start on another.

Scatter Terrain - 1st batch.

Cheers!

Accessories

While I'm waiting for the room extension and fence for the Wing Lee laundry to arrive, I decided to start casting up accessories for the buildings and to use for scatter terrain pieces around the camp. I used a Hirst Arts mold (#85) and dental stone. If you haven't ever tried Hirst Arts molds, I highly recommend them!

I'll be putting these on 60mm and 40mm bases for scatter terrain, along with some pieces I ordered up from Ainsty Castings in the UK.

Castings after coming out of the oven.

Cheers!

Wing Lee Laundry

My next project is the Wing Lee laundry, and I've decided that not only will this involve a little modification in addition to customization, but it will also serve as the start of a new "Chinese Section" that I can easily transport to Harmony. I'm going to add a room addition to one of the TCL kits, as well as model a back yard area. The entire piece will be 6" x 12" and will be designed to work with a larger section (12" x" 18") that will have all of the Chinese buildings mounted to it. And yes, I will be including Mr. Wu's pigs!!!!!!

I think I've made it clear that I really like the TCL building kits from Knuckleduster Miniatures, and they will again be serving as the basis for the Wing Lee laundry as well as most of the "Chinese Section" buildings. This time around, however, I will be modifying many of the buildings more extensively (at least one of the buildings in the "Chinese Section" will be two-story) so the laundry is going to be my test run.

My first mod for the laundry was cutting a door in the solid back wall of the kit. A room extension (washing and hot water heating) will be butting up against this wall. The back yard will also be fenced in and include clotheslines with laundry on them and maybe a small garden for the owners.

Former exterior wall with new door detail.

Interior view with all internal framing installed.

Cheers!

The Buck Head

Well, I finished the Buck Head saloon and its double latrine. After I finish the rest of the SCTC buildings, I'll go back and add a few tables and chairs, a stove, stock the back bar shelves and bar top, and add the all-important mounted deer head and maybe a piano. But for now I'm moving on to the next set of buildings.

I really enjoyed working on the Buck Head and love how it turned out!

Saloon Front

Saloon Back

Saloon Interior 1

Saloon Interior 2

Saloon Interior 3

Double-wide Latrine

Until next time.

A Bar for the Buck Head (Updated)

Every saloon needs a bar, right? I debated what to install in the Buck Head...just a few planks on some barrels, or a full-blown bar with mirrored back. Finally, I decided on a little compromise: since the SCTC is a camp, the owner of the Buck Head probably wouldn't have a huge bar installed, but would likely want something more than planks on barrels as well. I did some research, looked at some period photographs...but ultimately my solution came from one of my favorite TV series, "Deadwood."

The bar in the Gem (also a rough-hewn sort of place) looked like a perfect design for the Buck Head, so I shamelessly decided to copy it and got out my plastic card, rulers and X-Acto knife. Once I got going, the bar actually just sort of finished designing itself.

I definitely think I got what I was looking for: a step up from the planks and barrels, but not overly ornate and something that could be moved in a wagon. I worked out the dimensions, and this thing would measure 18' from corner to corner, or 14' long on the front side. I did a test fit in the Buck Head, and I think the size is perfect for the small saloon!

Test Fit

The bar is sanded, washed and ready for priming, and I'll do that in the morning.

A Closer View

Cheers!

UPDATE:  A little insomnia tonight, so I went ahead and built the back bar. The top portion is recessed so a mirror will go in the back. I've already test-fitted it, and it fits like a glove. A zombie wandered in from my conversion bench, so I included him for scale.

Bar with Back Bar

Interior Details

While I'm working on assembly of the latest shack arrivals, I also started doing some interior details for the saloon. Ultimately, each building will have various interior details, such as paintings, 4Ground furniture, etc. The Buck Head saloon will have various "bawdy" paintings (with frames) and a scratch-built bar and back.

What's a saloon without bawdy pics, right? Cheers!

Paintings and Frames

Saloon Interior

More work on the camp saloon, and I've finally got the interior looking the way I want it..."well-worn." I wanted to try a different look, and I think the darker wood planks on the interior walls pick up the wear on the floor. I figured the owner would probably leave the rear room "as is" so I painted it a raw wood.

Saloon Interior 1

Saloon Interior 2

Starting work on the exterior in the morning. I'm on the look-out for a suitable scale deer head I can hang over the door. If I can't find one, I saw a scale bison today that might work...but I'd have to rename the saloon! Cheers!

Up Next: "The Buck Head"

I've been at work on the Schitt Creek Timber Company's camp saloon, "The Blossom Buck Head" while I've been working on the other buildings. This is another of the TCL kits (called the Large Store) that I have come to like so much, but this one was a little more challenging than the others as nearly all of the wall pieces were warped. It wasn't a huge problem to correct, however, since all I had to do was thoroughly wet each piece and then press them flat under weight while they dried for two days. Certainly not a major issue, as the pluses of the kit far outweigh that issue.

I elected to use the optional peaked roof upgrade and ran into another small-ish issue: the kit includes only two triangular roof braces, and if both are attached to the roof pieces the roof isn't really secure on the building. Likewise, if the forward brace is glued to the high false front, then the roof isn't adequately braced. Again, not a huge issue, but a little annoying nevertheless. I solved this by cutting a brace for the false front from the discarded flat roof section (I think it's visible in the photos) and using both provided braces for the roof.

After I had solved both of those problems, I went ahead and gave the rear portion the exposed frame treatment and gave the whole building interior door and window detail as per usual. For the Blossum, Buck Head however, I elected to do the rest of the interior a little differently.

Since this is supposed to be a saloon instead of a store, there wasn't adequate wall space for a bar. So, I figured the owner would just plank over the windows on one wall, and I did the same...making sure to include nail holes in each board. Then, since a nicer atmosphere is synonymous with longer customer visits (and more money), I thought the owner would elect to do something about the exposed frames. To show this, I scribed plank and nail detail on each interior wall (I think it's visible in the photos). It isn't fancy flocked wallpaper, but it's a little nicer than the exposed frames in the rest of the camp buildings.

Construction is complete and the sand is drying on the exposed base now. Here's where the Blossom Buck Head stands as of now:

The Buckhead interior #1

The Buckhead interior #2

Cheers!

A Few Last Tweaks...

I think the exteriors of the first three buildings are finished to my satisfaction now. I added stove pipes to each building, then weathered the barber's a little more and added a faded barber pole sign...nothing fancy in keeping with the camp theme, simply a wooden sign painted to resemble a barber pole.

Weathered sign and new sign w/ stove pipes

Another view

Close up of weathered stove pipe

On to the saloon while I wait for more shacks to arrive. Cheers!

More Progress

I'm almost done with the 1st three buildings for the residential part of the camp: two barracks and the small barber's shack...all I have left to install are the chimney flues for the stoves. I think these first three turned out very well, and I'm working on a small saloon while I wait for the rest of the barracks to arrive.

1st Three Buildings

Close-up of the Barber/Dentist

This outhouse looks occupied...

I've done 5 total latrines so far, and I have a double-wide in progress that will go with the small camp saloon (also in progress). The exterior walls for the saloon...a TCL Large Store that I've re-purposed...were all warped to varying degrees, so I wet them thoroughly and have been drying them all day under weight. Despite this little quality issue, I still love the TCL buildings as this part of their range is exacly the "no-frills" look I envisioned.

After I mount the flues, I'll post pics of the completed buildings. Cheers!

Bridges, Latrines, and Shacks

It's been a while since my last post, but I haven't been idle and work on the Schitt Creek Timber Co. camp proceeds.

First off, I finished construction and priming on what will be the wagon bridge into the main camp area. Like the foot bridge, it's 100% scratch-built out of basswood (I hate balsa and hardly ever use it!). I was going to finish painting and weathering it, but I got a little distracted...more on that in just a bit. Here is the wagon bridge as it stands now:

Wagon Bridge build finished and primed

Now, as for my distraction, well, I started receiving my orders from Knuckleduster Miniatures. I decided to go with their "Shack" (manufactured by TriCity Laser) for the living quarters for my camp crew. Each shack will sleep 6 to 8 men and will have an outhouse behind it. Upon a little more exploring of the site, I discovered the "Ghost Town" range of shacks and buildings that looked like exactly what I needed for my rough-and-tumble, no-frills logging camp.

So...I've been working on the buildings for the camp living area lately. Now, I'll go into more detail on these kits when I do a formal review, but suffice it to say for now that they are really stunning when they are done! Unlike other laser-cut mdf building kits, these actually have wood grain detail photo-etched into the wood, which really looks outstanding when dry brushed. Here are three of the 6 total latrines...errr...outhouses that I've completed so far:

The detail on  these kits made it a snap to achieve the weathered, bleached wood look I was after and have seen so many times in the American Southwest. I was so thrilled with how these buildings started coming out, that I elected to expand the SCTC living area to include a barber/dentist and a small saloon. So, I went with the Shack II and Large Store kits as well, and got a dual outhouse for the saloon as well (either for high traffic times, or to provide a separate facility for the "floosies" to use). 

One SLIGHT drawback to the TCL kits (to someone as OCD as me, that is) is the total lack of interior detail on the walls. While the floors are beautifully etched, the walls are absolutely bare even to the extent of lacking any door detail on the interior side of the door that's etched on the exterior. It seemed a shame to let all that beautiful floor detail go to waste, so I decided to detail the interiors to show the basic nature of the construction. I added interior wall framing and window frames out of bass wood, and fabricated a duplicate of the interior doors from plastic card and strip:

Shack interiors in progress

If you are going to try something similar (I highly encourage it!) just go slow, check your measurements several times, and test fit, test fit, test fit! I had no issues whatsoever in construction, and have gotten into a groove of sorts now with cutting, fitting, and assembly. By the way, the interior framing is 1/16" x 1/8" basswood strip.

So far, I've done two Shacks and one Shack II (the barber's). I just received the camp saloon and dual outhouse, and am waiting on the rest of the Shacks. All three of the buildings are now primed, interior painted and washed, and exterior washed (not all of that is in the pics below). All that's left now is to dry brush interior highlights and do the exterior weathering. Note that I added a scratch-built sign for the barber's and have a few more goodies to add once it's finished. Personally, I think all the kits have turned out great so far! Note how the interior doors and framing look in these shots of the assembled kits:

In some of the pics above, you can see the big pole barn for lumber storage in the main camp that I've also been working on. Unlike the living area, most of the main camp buildings and structures will have at least a modicum of paint on them.

Well, that's it for now. I hope to have both Shacks, the Shack II, and the next two outhouses done by the end of the weekend, and I'll post pics when they are.

Cheers!

Table Panel Frames and the Foot Bridge

My plan for the SCTC established, I made some initial orders of some structures to evaluate their quality (I'll discuss these in an upcoming post). I also bought the lumber for the table sections at my local Lowe's. The design for the table panel sections is pretty straightforward: thin plywood as the sub-base over a pine frame with 2" foam sheet on top so I can carve in terrain features (like Schitt Creek). I went with a 2' x 4' panel for the main camp and a 2' x 2' side extension panel for the camp living area.

I like doing 2' x 4' table panel sections like this as I can expand as far as I want in any direction with additional sections, and this size panel is easily transported and stored. Harmony and it's environs will also be done on 2' x 4' panels.

Table Panel

After looking over several structure manufacturers, I couldn't find any bridges that were even close to what I was trying to show; namely, utilitarian bridges that were built on-site with a minimum of frills. So, I decided to scratch-build both the footbridge at the living area and the wider, wagon bridge leading into the main camp. While I was at it, I also decided that I would go ahead and scratch-build the simple pole barn for lumber drying and storage as well...but that's for another post. I use basswood for all scratch-built structures, btw.

Here are some progress pics of the footbridge and a pic of the finished piece. I'll weather it some more after it's installed:

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I decided to add some water discoloration on the pilings to show that Schitt Creek has variable levels.

Next time, I'll show the completed wagon bridge, but here's where it stands right now:

Cheers!

Harmony, AZ and the SCTC.

A Little Background on Harmony, Arizona and Environs

I decided to locate the town of Harmony west of Williams and what is now the Kaibab National Forest, in the vicinity of the town of Ash Fork. History buffs will appreciate that Harmony is close to the modern Route 66 (so get your kicks!) and BNSF (ex-ATSF) trackage.

I chose this location because it's my favorite part of Arizona, the terrain is varied, and early on I decided I wanted to model a mining camp of some kind as well as a more standard western town. A little research and a peek at the beautiful Sarissa Precision Sawmill kit, and voila! I knew the mining camp would actually be a timber company logging camp.

And so was born the Schitt Creek Timber Company...which is located 10 -15 miles east of Harmony. The area has abundant Ponderosa pine trees and running water to power the sawmill, and is close enough to both the Williams and Harmony railheads to facilitate the transport of cut timber. Since Harmony is relatively close to the SCTC, the town is an attractive weekend destination for thirsty (and horny) loggers.

The fictitious Schitt Creek flows in a southerly direction and feeds into the Verde River in the vicinity of Perkinsville. It's a spring creek that is supplemented by winter snow melt, so flow is year-round and can be quite fast.

Since the terrain around Harmony is relatively flat and the SCTC is located in higher elevations, building separate boards for Harmony and the SCTC allows me to model varying terrain. After all, you can never have too many game boards, right?

With the above in mind, and a wealth of kits and terrain material available I decided to start with the SCTC and I drew up a basic plan for a modular board in two sections, one for the camp proper, and one for the living area:

The Schitt Creek Timber Co.

In my next post, I'll go into more detail on the board construction and the buildings and scenery I'm using. Cheers!

Happy Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to All! And Happy Birthday to "A Town Called Harmony!" To see what's going on here, check out the ABOUT page.