"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.

Town Planning

I laid out the buildings I have for Cuspidor town and think this will be close to the final configuration.  Hill Street leading up to the bluff will be narrow and the road will be hemmed in by the buildings and walkways.  I will play around with the levels to create a bit of vertical interest.

A shed made from bits.

A few days ago I was rummaging through my box of wall bits and found a couple of broken pieces of plaster brick wall, a few inches square.  I felt it was too good to waste but would only make a small structure so with a bit of wood, glue and  an old Woodland Scenics metal casting and some gash doors, this is what I came up with. If I say so meself I reckon it came out pretty natty.

Now named for USA modeller and friend on Trainlife  forum Neal Multz who lives under a massive operating layout wiring miles of track.

Cuspidor City Hall and Courthouse

A relic of the town's glory days  of gold, silver and other precious metals now too rambling for its purpose.  This was cobbled together from a Kibri schoolhouse kit and Americanised with a flat roof and the appropriate flag for the time. 

I widened the side walls as the first incarnation was just a narrow flat.

Quiet lunch break,

What happened in court dear?

Miss Anna's Gentleman's Pleasure Palace

My niece is an effervescent young lady who likes to have a good time so what better "proprietress" to choose for this salubrious addition to Cuspidor's social life?  The basis for this background flat was an old Lytler and Lytler styrene and metal kit. I built the front as per the kit but the downstairs frontage consisted of a template and nothing else.  Poo!  So I cut out a styrene wall and inserted MDC windows and L&L front entrance.  I wanted a stucco wall and used a spray of 3m adhesive followed with a fine sifting of talc. I dabbed on cream acrylic when it was dry then scraped away a small spot which I scribed for brick then painted red. MDC shutters sprayed white covered with Sharpie gold gave a faded glory appearance. After all this is the depression and even the "entertainment" business isn't proof against that.  I need to get a red micro LED for a door lamp to complete the ambiance.