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Monday, March 22, 2010

Balustrade

Worked on the chimneys and the roof balustrade. There are four chimneys and they will each get a crown molding around their tops. But that will have to wait for another trip to the local dollhouse shop. I also am waiting on a replacement balustrade because I accidentally destroyed one in a foolhardy attempt to hurry the project along. Pardon my blooper! It should be coming any day now from England along with miniature urns that will rest on top of the little paneled pedestals. The urns were manufactured in Scotland. I think the paneled pedestals are way nicer than the old plain ones, don't you think?

The chimney pots are new, too. They are wooden and came painted as you see them --I'll probably end up repainting them. I started priming all seventeen windows and if I thought making the mullions was a pain in the ass, let me tell you how boring this task is! All the windows have to be taken apart and all the separate pieces painted, then sanded, reassembled (there are so many little pieces I am afraid of loosing some). Then I get to do it all again when it comes time to paint the topcoat. WEEEEEEE!!!

3 comments:

Karin Corbin said...[Reply]

Advice from a model making shop:

Tape some wide masking tape sticky side up on a board. Push the small pieces onto that sticky surface.

A spray can or an airbrush is a huge help for quick painting of quantities of small parts. The sticky masking tape makes sure the parts don't fly away from the spray paint blowing on them.

Thin automotive spray primer won't raise the grain and there will be far less sanding to do.

I like the white Duplicolor brand spray primer from automotive stores for undercoating light colors or the light gray for stone tones. Krylon spray primer is a waste of time and money.

If you really need to hide wood grain get the high build sanding primer from Duplicolor, it will fill the voids with paint and you can sand things smooth with little effort and fewer coats of paint. The tubes of automotive spot putty work great for small void or scratch filling.

John said...[Reply]

Thanks, Karin! Unfortunately, most of my windows don't allow for removing the plexi pane. I guess I could mask the plexi with tape, but I HATE masking even more than repetitive painting! But maybe it would be worth it...thanks again for the advice!

Cassandra said...[Reply]

The picture for this entry is somehow hauntingly beautiful, I have no idea why but it is.