Sheriff Office: Part 5 - Finished Model

Here are some photos of my finished model of Old Glory's 25mm Sheriff Office from their older Western building range.

Painting the Walls
The cell walls are "wet drybrushed" with Ceramcoat's Antique White, with some areas dirtied up using a grayish ink wash--you really can't see that in the photos due to the lighting. I painted the office walls with Folk Art Bayberry. This is a classic light green that I have seen in many old railroad buildings from the turn of the century, so I decided to use it here as well. The wooden trim and doors are painted Ceramcoat's Walnut. The gun rack is Americana Light Cinnamon. The posters are from my earlier post.

The Jail Cell
When I went to put the jail bars in place, I discovered that the longest section did not fit between the back wall and the interior wall. The gap was too large for my tastes. The solution is what you see here. Instead of having a large cell on the right and a smaller cell on the left, I made the one cell. Works for me. I can always use the other cell piece for something else.

I dulcoted the building before gluing in all the pieces in place, making it easier to varnish everything evenly. I think it also helps the glue adhere. As a kid I was told that glue does not like paint. Anyway, I glued the jail using Zap-a-Gap on the bottom and ends of the pieces. This left a little puddle of dried glue on the floor, but I dabbed on some Ceramcoat matte varnish and took care of it.

Oops!
After finishing the building, I realized I had made a few mistakes. Looking at Old Glory's photo, I glued the windows upside down. I tried putting them in the other way but would have had to carve out some of the stone bricks to get the window sill to fit properly. Not my idea of fun. I think the windows look fine and doubt anyone will critique them. I am disappointed that the window openings are about 1mm to 2mm too wide, causing a slight gap between the window and the wall. You can see this when looking at the building from an angle.

My biggest oops was gluing the front door on backwards. I seem to have a problem with this! The door knob really should be on the right instead of the left. Oh well. If someone asks, I'll just say a left-handed carpenter built it and that it makes it easier for the right-handed sheriff to open the door when he's rushing out of the office to a gunfight in the street. (See, we can rationalize anything!)

Not Done Yet!
Having bought some thin plywood the other day, I still want to make a permanent base for the building. When I do that, I will add posts to the front porch. The porch being in sections like it is, I just felt the posts would get snapped off as I transported the building. I still want to add some interior details like a desk, cot, and so on. I got some great suggestions from TMP to use.

So there you have it. Now the dusty streets of Gun Town can finally have a real sheriff and retire their vigilance committee. At least that's what the sheriff thinks!

Sheriff Office: Part 4 - Wanted Posters

As I am typing this, I just finished the Old Glory Sheriff Office. I glued on the doors, windows, and jail bars. I also added some wanted posters. I'm letting all the glues dry before I start snapping some photos of the building.

For now, I thought I'd show a tip for wanted posters. John Leahy kindly sent me a pdf of 25mm wanted posted he made a while back for The Rules With No Name. I printed them out and followed his instructions for making them look older. Any tan paint highly thinned will do. You can see the difference. Just slop it on and dry with a blow dryer.

Also, if you don't want to glue the posters to your buildings, a teeny bit of blue tack will hold them in place no problem. I did this for some of the posters just to get a feel for how they would look. You can then change and move the posters as needed.

Next time, finished photos of the building.

Sheriff Office: Part 3

Almost done with the basics of the sheriff's office. Snapped a couple quick pics before we watched the shuttle Atlantis take off this afternoon. Next step is to glue on the detail parts. Today, I bought a sheet of 5.2mm plywood to cut into bases for the buildings. When I do this, I will add front roof supports to the building. Sadly, the building does not come with roof supports. First, I have to borrow some power tools my my Tool Time neighbor. When done, much better photos coming.

Edit 5/15/10: I just realized I took these photos outside with the camera set to "light bulb" instead of auto--hence the odd tint to the photos. Lesson learned. Check the camera's settings every time I use it!

Colors Used:

• Rear Interior Wall: Ceramcoat Antique White heavily drybrushed on black primer
• Front Interior Wall: Folk Art Bayberry
• Interior Trim: Ceramcoat Walnut
• Jail: P3 Pig Iron
  
• Gun Rack: Americana Russet.
• Windows & Doors: Ceramcoat Tomato Spice with some Ceramcoat Toffee Brown dusty highlights
• Roof: Americana Neutral Grey, Slate Grey and Sky Grey
  

Sheriff Office: Part 2

Another shot of some of the work I did yesterday on the sheriff office. I did some more work after the photo, mainly painting the sign and touching up the black paint and the walls. The walls are Ceramcoat's Antique White, which is a great off-white. The red is Ceramcoat Tomato Spice. While doing McFly's Studio last year, I came to the conclusion that I don't like doing interiors--lots of extra work for little pay off in the long run for me. The upside with the sheriff office is that it has a jail, which can play into a scenario.

Sheriff Office & OK Corral Progress Photos

Below are some progress shots of the latest 25mm buildings I'm working on for my Western games. They are both Old Glory I bought two years ago during their big Western sale. The top is the sheriff's office, and the lower is the OK corral. I also painted some outhouses but forgot to snap them. Sorry but I forgot to write down how I painted the stone. (I used the hedges out front as a photo stand. I use free USPS boxes for painting, dulcoting, and holding models.)

Painting Wood:
Americana Burnt Umber DA064
Americana Khaki Tan DA173
Ceramcoat Sandstone 2402

I left the air bubbles in the sheriff's office instead of filling them. My explanation is that Gun Town is such a rough place, that the office has been attacked many times--even by Gatling gun. Like I said, a rough town to be a lawman.

Yesterday, I also cleaned up Old Glory's Harwood House and their wooden bridge. I found an easy and cheap solution to fixing Harwood House's poorly fitting roof and will post that asap. I cannot stress this enough: when cutting resin, always wear full safety glasses! The resin chips easily and flies everywhere. Two years ago, I learned the hard way that an Optivisor is not safety glasses!

Yesterday, I also primed the interior details for the sheriff's office and dulcoted three more Western figures I finished last week, taking advantage of a low humidity day here in Central Florida. I just have to finish their bases. That brings my total completed Western figures to 17, with a few Victorian gentlemen tossed in for measure. I promise that I will take closer photos of the Western figures and explain how I made the bases.