"Mrs Spumoni's boarding house and washing taken in" takes shape.

I have long wanted the old Weston figures' Mrs Spumoni, baby Pistachio and washing line and Campbells have re-instated them. They are on my to buy list as I needed someone to do the laundry for those Cuspidor citizens who couldn't do their own.  As a bit of a diversion I've located her house (an old Kibri plastic kit I think) that I built years ago and reworked a tad.  I'm still working on ground cover and clutter but made a start.

How can you resist?

Location shot, can't get it to sit upright!

The front yard will house several washing lines.

The dog kennel is a bit of balsa shaped and scribed with a paper roof. 10 minutes to add a bit of character. There's even an empty bowl in front made from a piece of plastic rod with the end drilled to make the dish, silvered with my sharpie pen and dropped into a suitable hole in front of the kennel.  Now where's Fido?

Nice to see Mrs Spumomi's pomodori are getting up those sticks. She'll be hoping for a bumper crop.

Some progress

A couple of close ups

Covered wood pile

Fido arrives

Runoff pond and drainage

Although this is a wholly imaginary and somewhat fanciful little mountain town I found myself worrying about how they managed all the water that would run down the roads in a storm.  There was an empty internal corner in the road below the saloon that I've been figuring how to treat and Bingo! I could put in a drainage pond with a discharge pipe in the wall below.  Water would run via a ditch alongside the saloon and cascade down the cliff into the holding pond.  Above a certain level the water would pour into a vertical drainpipe down to the discharge pipe.  

Location

Digging the pond

Digging the pond

MDC rock wall carved a bit

Forming wall shape

Plenty of glue

In situ

I made the pond base from plaster and scenicked it in. Then I used up some left over Woodlands Scenics Easy Water granules that I had and instantly regretted it, it's bloody awful stuff, has to be melted and has a nasty yellow tinge to it and the fumes are objectionable.  When it was set I brushed on some black spirit stain to lose the colour and when dry I brushed on some Gloss medium. The geese have been lying in my scrap box for about 40 years. They were a one piece polyethylene moulding from a kid's farm set, all four set in a row.  I detached them from the base, sanded the bottoms flat and plonked them in the wet medium with a tiny bit of white acrylic "splashing" behind the mother. I might add some lily pads later. 

Water in place colour to be modified and some planting done

Geese in residence

Some painters say the most difficult thing is to know when to stop paining - I think I just got there.

Scene finished

The Pump House

Not sure what is being pumped but I created a bit of space for this old UK kit and am getting ready to scenic its location.  Maybe I'll add a water tank on the roof, it certainly needs a fuel tank.

A bit of bedding in and some details.... I've decided that it's pumping water from a spring to service the lower town.