The office and residence of noted local Attorney at Law E. Pismo Clam. Esq,.

This started life as a nondescript little wooden building I threw together 20 odd years ago and which I nearly scrapped.  As it was, with a little bit of tweaking and some easy detailing I think it will be a fitting addition to the town of Cuspidor.

I chopped the back wall off to fit an angled location. I'd originally coloured it with a red Floquil stain but redid it in a gold craft acrylic and added a smokejack, some junk and a roof hatch to the roof.  Blinds and curtains were followed by a painted sign made from Clover House dry print letters on a painted black ground and a triangular shingle made from stripwood with signs cobbled up on my pc. The shingle took six goes to glue together but was worth the effort.

A rough box

Simple roof details

Getting there

Done

Cuspidor Boiler works made from an old plastic kit.

Here is my kitbashed boilerworks. Plastic can look good if you take a bit of time and care.

Problem corner attacked by mountain.....

More Plasterwork!  I thought I'd finished with it but this seems to be the best way to make a feature of this corner rather than have it irritate for years.

Foam base added

Some old plaster castings put in place

Final form of base, Overcoat of plaster bandage glued to wall with added PVA glue for resilience.

I now have to go over with rock moulds then colour etc before I add the backscene.

Rock moulds done

Shadow wash applied

First colour washes on

River on the mend

 Part 1 Redone Gloss medium ripples, finer ripples to be added when fully set. Then I'll get hold of some water effects to finish off.

Ooops! River fun continued - a setback

My experiment using PVA glue for ripples has turned into a complete disaster. At a pinch if I'd left it alone it would have been reasonably OK. However I wanted a bit more shine so tried a coat of Future acrylic polish/varnish. This sent the PVA opaque and made it brittle. The one good thing is that the PVA came off without damaging the Magic Water.  I'll get hold of some decent water effect gloop and do it properly.  Still if you don't experiment you don't move forward.

Just for a change a seasonal view from my workbench.

The fodder sweetcorn has been harvested from the field and the farmer's winter wheat is springing up as the leaves colour and get blown away.

Revamping the Atlas signal tower.

I bought an upgrade laser kit from Vector Cut in the States and here is the build log.  The kit is superbly detailed but incredibly delicate. We'll see what my ham fists can do with it..

The Roof

I started with the roof. I used Green Zap CA as recommended but it was not easy to keep the trim veneer lined up.  PVA warps the thin trim like mad so avoid it.  I'd swap to a contact adhesive or something really grabby for the roof.  The ridge trim didn't want to lie flat even with the plastic ridges shaved off. I filled some gaps with Plasticene and re-sprayed. I'm not that happy with the roof as it is, not sure if it's due to my ham-fistedness or a design/material issue with the ridge trim.  Frankly I wish I had left the roof as it was.

The Windows

Once you've figured out the window muntin/frame assembly it's relatively easy to put together, although I would suggest you build an assembly jig (see post above). 

Lovely, scale muntins and the layers mean you can paint the frames in contrasting colours very easily should you wish. I sprayed my windows white with a rattle can and when dry laid the rear frame flat. I smeared a very thin, even coat of PVA onto my steel worktop and dropped the next frame onto it right side up then picked it up and glued it to the first. Rinse and repeat as necessary.....to be continued.

Atlas Kit deconstructed 1

Atlas Kit deconstructed plus Lemsip for cold Bah!

Vector Cut kit

Roof with shaved ridges, not necessary but makes sense.

Shingles on

Bending ridge trim - careful!

Trim on

Grey primer coat

Gaps! Not sure if this is a design issue or due to my ham-fisted work.