A Home for the Holidays

A couple of years back, I started working on buildings for my "Out west Town".  Not a real town, but more of a modern version of that isolated little town that has the misfortune of staring in every "B" movie that comes along.  It was to be a collection of buildings, some based on things from my childhood, others on Route 66 type Americana, some just subjects for games, like the "Birdman Museum".  Many of these would also be part of the city for my "Cops and Robbers" games that I someday intend to run.

Anyway, I wanted a few houses, a couple older style, a couple newer,  a couple fancy, etc.  I find it easier to build models of things that really exist, as dimensional and design issues that I might overlook  with original designs are already worked out for me in the real world. So the thought occurred to me to base a model on my in-law's small ranch house.  It would be a fast build as it is a fairly simple design, would be one story for easy access to the interior, and I could estimate the dimensions and do up a sketch real quick like.  I sketched it out for 1/56 scale, and modified it to accommodate figure bases, and went to work.

The model measures roughly 7"x5"x3", and was constructed entirely from plastic, mostly Evergreen styrene with the textured roof panel being the old Holgate & Reynolds shingles in whatever plastic they used to use. The model as shown is primed, ready for paint and detailing, though still needs the simple flat-roofed porch.

I mentioned it to my wife, when I got it to the primered stage, explaining that it would participate in alien invasions, zombie sieges, attacked from mutant beasts, etc.  She thought that it was cool, and decided to show it to her parents, when we went to visit.

Her parents loved it.  After a little while, her Dad disappeared with it, taking it to the their neighbors to show it off.  Some of my wife's siblings showed up during the visit, and very much to my surprise, it was a big hit with everyone. They were a little confused about its purpose, as the whole idea of aliens and zombies and games doesn't really get across to them too well, but it was all cool.

So.... at some point the question came up, "Can you build one for us?"  Time is my biggest enemy, so I try not to commit to too many outside projects.  So I took a few dimensions (too few as it turned out), some pics, and shortly before X-mas, my wife announced that I was building a gift for her parents. I had taken some time off around the holiday, mostly with the hope getting some work done on my post apoc terrain.  Joke was on me. "But they don't even game!" didn't get me out it.  And so...

I built the in-laws house.  Between the time that I took the pictures, and the time that I built it, they did some remodeling.  So I built some of it twice (or should that be three times).  The in-laws house is all plastic, built in 1/60 scale (a little easier to crank dimensions than in 1/56, plus they won't be putting based 28mm  figs in it.

So my post apocalypse sets unfinished, as does my "out west town", its birdman museum, and its little ranch house, but the in-laws got their home for the holidays, and they and my wife are happy.

Not quite what I had expected to do over the holidays, but I did enjoy it, and I might still get the New years weekend for my hobbies.  What?  It could happen.