Saturday, May 30, 2009

Fly's Studio: Part 7 - Finished Product

In case you are just joining us, this series of articles chronicles my real-time adventures preparing and painting Old Glory's Fly's Studio from their OK Corral series of 25mm Western buildings. Because the entire process is an experiment, you'll get to see my successes and mistakes along the way. To see the entire series of articles, click on the Fly's Studio link.

Wow, it's been one year since I began this series! I finished the building last Autumn, but was only able to take some decent photos recently.

The Finished Product
I wanted the false-front to look maintained with a fairly fresh coat of buff paint. After all, this was the part folks saw from the street. I wanted the sides to look more worn down, with the paint wearing away. Overall, I think I achieved it. I omitted roof posts because I was afraid they would break off. I wish the roof section lifted off, not the top half of the building. In hindsight, I could have pinned and then epoxied the posts to the floor. Oh well. Next time I'll do that. I still have to add some signs and other details, which I'll do as well.

Lessons Learned
I learned a great deal with this project that I will be taking onto other projects. I've learned that I'm not a fan of interior detailed buildings, though I still have a few more of those type of buildings to do. On future buildings, I want to lighten the look, make the wood more faded than on this one. I think I'll make bases for the buildings as well.

What other Old Glory Western projects are on my table? The Harwood House is primed, and I've figured out an easy way to fix the badly molded roof so it fits level on the building. (More on that in another post.) The sheriff's building, the OK Corral horse pen, the tented roof building, and some outhouses are also primed. These are my summer projects.

Overall, this was a fun and frustrating project. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a few techniques as well--what to do and not to do based on my experiences!