So very rusty!

What a long time it has been since I posted!  I thought that by now we would have packed up our house, sold it and moved and unpacked and got back to normal!  But we are still here due to family issues.  Still here but mostly all packed up so I haven't had access to most of my miniatures and supplies for over 18 months and although I was able to fill in the time with an English paper-pieced, hand-appliqued queen-size quilt called The Pemberley  (one of Katrina Hadjimichael's lovely designs, I go to one of her classes once a month and am now on my second quilt called 'Lambton' http://katrinahadjimichael.blogspot.com/) I have really missed having my mini fix!  The advantages of the hand applique is that I can sit and do it at night without creating a mess (once the individual pieces are prepared anyway).  Which has been a blessing to keep me from going completely barmy!

Finally I decided that enough was enough and when my Christmas present from my son arrived, I started on it.  It's the Little Duck House and base, from Petite Properties.  With most of our days at present ranging in temperature from the 30's C up to some in the mid-forties, I have set up a table in the lounge room and started working in air-conditioned comfort rather than my studio which has piles of packed boxes everywhere.

Of course being mostly packed up meant access to my glues, tools, accessories etc was either limited or non-existent.  They are either deep in the bowels of our huge storage shed or in boxes with other boxes on top and not necessarily labelled with the particulars of the contents.  I did list some but became distracted due to the rush of packing them.  So much to my chagrin I've had to buy new paints and a lot of new bits and pieces. 

But boy am I rusty!  I found that not only did I not follow my usual method of assembling a kit but I did things that made it more difficult in some ways, such as not painting the floors until the house was assembled.  Then I decided to use a method of 'plastering' the inside walls that I usually only used for 1/12th scale, which is to mix paint with talcum powder.  This gives a nice rough surface which would have been okay for the exterior but was a bit out of scale for the interior in 1/48th scale.  But it will have to do.  I've sanded it down a bit and did a couple more coats of paint to smooth it out somewhat and pushed on.

Then I did the outside walls with some interior filler so they have a rough, plastered look to them as well.  For a change I decided to paint the house and mixed Jade green with cream to produce a nice soft green.  All the trims are done in cream and it does look quite pretty.  I forgot to take photos of the house in progress but here it is at the stage it is now, with the windows and doors installed.  The front porch isn't attached yet because I want to paint and distress its roof first.

I did take photos of progress with the base though.  Here it is when first assembled.  The lego blocks are to keep the apertures for the house lined up exactly

Next step was to pad the openings of the pond and the exterior with newspaper to fill in the gaps.

This was covered with paper strips covered in glue - like papier mache, moulded and squished until it was pretty well the shape I wanted.

And over it all I did a couple of layers of interior finish, to give it more stability and strength.

I didn't pad the opening where the house will be, because the batteries can be tucked inside there when I light the house.  They can have a bit of double-sided tape on them to hold them in position so they don't fall out when the project is handled.

Once the whole base is painted dark brown (as per Bea's instructions) it doesn't look so messy and the brown gives a base for the landscaping later on.  I took this photo a bit later on, after I'd started to landscape the bottom of the pond.

Next I assembled and painted the walkway that goes around two walls of the house.  Because it is outside I distressed it a bit.

And here it all is at the moment, roughly in place.  Still have the exterior trims to add on a couple of bits.

I have decided to be very brave and tackle my first attempt at doing water instead of using the clear plastic supplied for the purpose with the kit.  Thanks Stephanie for the encouragement!  I've ordered some so I need to wait for that to arrive.  Along with numerous flower kits from sdk miniatures and furniture from BJ Miniatures, Debbie Young (Young at Heart) and other bits and pieces. I am a bit worried that if I leave it too long it will end up yet another ufo, so I hope the orders arrive soon!

Blessings,

Sandie