Quarter Scale Coaching Inn

 I had to take a big break on the coaching inn project to do a couple of Christmas projects, so it's only been lately that I've gotten back to this one. Which was a bit of a shame as I was *almost* done, but then again I didn't want to rush this one, given I've been working on it for years. I got the rest of the houses in and wired, and did a lot of gravel work to lay that down. Then really the last thing to do was to put in the details...lots of animals, baggage for the yard, and other items. Except for the horses, the animals are from mini-gems . The wooden trunk and gold bird cage are from Petworth Miniatures , while most trunks and barrels are either from Skytrex or S&D Models . The pump and trough are from Herdwick Landscapes . The hand cart in the yard is from Petite Properties , with a basket from Stewart Dollhouse . The stagecoach in the yard is an old Tally-Ho stagecoach and horses kit; since I already had the Matchbox stagecoach and horses out front I jus...

One thing I hadn't initially been thinking about is the big space that was going to be made when I joined the two Butterwick Houses together . I decided rather than do more bedrooms or other living spaces that I should make them storage spaces, and I had a lot of fun with doing them, going so far as to go all the way back through my stash of items and find some items that I didn't think I was going to use anywhere else, to get rid of them, so to speak. It also let me use the giant hutch from Seaside Miniatures that I didn't think would fit anywhere. I don't think I can log up every single piece of furniture but here are some of the big ones: the butcher shop items (which I displayed as a sort of "larder" on the bottom floor) were from Just Quarters ; the butter churn you see above and the open barrels were from Stewart Dollhouse ; other barrels and metal parts were from S&D Models , but the chain, hook, and some other metal items were from Narrow Gau...

So if it seems like I've abandoned this project, I haven't...I've just been working and working without completing much of anything. That's because I've been on the joining of the two Butterwick houses to create the gallery for months now. But now it's done! This was a complex process, albeit mostly executed by me flying by the seat of my pants. It was all done with pieces of wood cut to mostly fit and then glued into place, with liberal amounts of Crackshot to even things out and fill in the gaps, and also some landscaping mesh to fill in on the back part of the roof. Rather than try to explain it all, though, I'll just share my photos, which I think do a better job of this! The one thing I did not do that I should have is draw a substantial line up the center groove of the roof. I ended up going off kilter as I went along laying tiles, so a bit of "surgery" was needed. Thi...

So as I mentioned in my last post, I went on a huge offensive over the weekend to try to finish up the four upstairs bedrooms in Butterwick, and I succeeded! The first thing to mention about the bedrooms is that I split the top of my Butterwicks by adding dividers, which made for four cozy bedrooms up top rather than two giant ones. This felt more right for an inn where people would often just be staying overnight. All of the rooms are fairly masculine -- it wouldn't be as common for women to be traveling by themselves, and I thought these rooms would be more often occupied by men. The first room is meant to be one that might be preferred by someone in trade. Although the rooms are mostly geared for a one-night stopover, this one might be used for longer by someone who had business in the area. It's got a table, bed, chair, writing slope and desk from Petworth Miniatures . The picture frames for all of the rooms are also from Petworth, while all of the fir...