The House on the Hill

As you can guess from my lack of updates, the day job and FIRST Robotics have severely limited model railroading activities.  The other day I happened upon an interesting kit on the shelf at the Train Shop, and I decided it was time to dig in on a "quick" project to get back in the modeling saddle — the Bates House from Psycho. The kit was designed for easy assembly, but not necessarily easy decoration.  "Skill Level 2" was real a throwback to my youth with SNAP-TITE cars:

After perusing some online photos of the Universal Studios set, I decided to push myself harder than usual.  I had not built an HO Scale building in a few months and it was time to put a few evenings of effort leveraging my new skills AK Interactive paints and try some new things.

Frenzy of gluing, masking, painting, and washing

I had thought of trying "hairspray" paint chipping technique on this "large scale" structure, but after getting a nice coat of primer, and dark brown wash on the model, I followed a different route.

After watching a YouTube video about the AK weathering PENCILS, and decided I'd see if I could make this plastic house look more like a weatherbeaten wooden structure.  Using the pencil was a throwback to art class, and I like the results:

Walls were primed, "washed," and distressed with AK Pencils

At the end of the weekend, the kit was almost finished— I still need to add the window glass, some minimal interior walls, and a few "creepy" LED lights.

Mother is home