August 5, 2019

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