Friday, February 15, 2019

The Box of Forgotten Buildings - done and dusted!

I had thought I was finished with terrain-making for the time being but apparently I was wrong. So, to satisfy my continuing penchant for buildings and to maybe... finally... get everything in the Box of Forgotten Buildings completed, I pulled out the last remnants and got to work.

First up was a piece that had originally been earmarked for my long-lost Boxer Rebellion project. This started out as a Lionel O-scale railroad building picked up on the cheap at a local model railroading show and meant to be transformed into one of the Legation buildings in Peking.

The original Lionel kit.

And the modified version. For some long-forgotten reason, I had removed the peaked roof and added a flat version and some various additions to the walls. When I pulled this out of the Box of Forgotten Buildings, it had been bashed around a bit. I added the false peak on the roof top from card and balsa, and the flower bed at the front. I had thought of plastering the walls and leaving some of the brickwork showing through but the thought of getting the plaster in amongst the wall timbers soon disabused me of that idea.

The stairs at the back were built from spare 3mm square figure bases.


Also out of the Box of Forgotten Buildings (and the last of the buildings) came another O-scale railroad building, this time from Plasticville USA. I have a vague memory of finding a box full of buildings from this range under a vendor's table at a model railroading show for $5.00(?) each. I carted these about through several moves and Captain Dan at one point tarted some up for his 28mm WWII collection in the wilds of Quebec (and now New Brunswick). Apparently some even ended up in the Trenton Gaming Emporium, where Michael reminded me of the one above and the next here. So they've been around but for the price I paid, not such a burden.

 The original Plasticville USA kit.

The finished item with various upgrades. I added the false peak to the roof with card and balsa. The front windows were given some fancy laser-cut card cornices culled from the bits box (Sarissa maybe?). The patio is simple printed stonework, cut to fit and kitted out with 4Ground tables and chairs.




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