polar explorer's hut
My new big miniature project is a polar explorer's hut. The structure is modeled roughly on Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds in Antarctica, but it's going to take inspiration from lots of other huts and explorers and expeditions. The hut and its contents, that is. A while ago I made some miniature Primus stoves, the first items for this project. Now I'm making the hut itself. From scratch! In the pictures here, the only readymade items are the windows, and even those had to be adapted.
First I made a plywood shell. I got the guys at the hardware store to cut the wood to my dimensions, but I really had to sweat over those window and door openings, cutting with a tiny handsaw that was not made for the job. Maybe some benefactor reading this will give me some power tools! Or even some better hand tools. I feel like I'm in the iron age!
Then I added siding and started working on the roof beams.
Then flooring.
Then staining and painting, interior wood paneling, and more work on the roof beams. Here's how it looks so far.
As always, cat checked and cat approved.
I haven't decided what to do about the roof. I was going to make it look like the real hut's roof and have a section that could lift open, but I've also considered covering the whole roof with Plexiglas instead, since the beams look so nice and since it lets everything be visible in lots of light. I don't think I'm going to do electricity in this one at all. I haven't done tapewire. (And if I change my mind and do, it will be ok to have wires showing because they had gas lights with visible pipes running everywhere.) I like the look of natural ambient light though, and my handsome roof beams. Hmm. Though they could be better, especially those corner ones. It was hard to figure out the geometry of those. I ended up kind of just guessing. I'm sure real architects and professional dollhouse builders and designers would be horrified at my crazy wonky corner beams, but I'm a bit proud of them. (Though there were several times when I wished I'd chosen Cape Evans instead of Cape Royds. Cape Evans has an easy roof.)
Randomly, I've been singing to the tune of "Maria" from West Side Story - "The most beautiful hut I ever saw - Cape Royds, Cape Royds, Cape Royds! All the beautiful huts of the world in a single hut - Cape Royds, Cape Royds, Cape Royds!"
These are my miniature Primus stoves (originally posted here.)
Lots more to come!
linked at doll_houses , little_world and sir_shackleton .
First I made a plywood shell. I got the guys at the hardware store to cut the wood to my dimensions, but I really had to sweat over those window and door openings, cutting with a tiny handsaw that was not made for the job. Maybe some benefactor reading this will give me some power tools! Or even some better hand tools. I feel like I'm in the iron age!
Then I added siding and started working on the roof beams.
Then flooring.
Then staining and painting, interior wood paneling, and more work on the roof beams. Here's how it looks so far.
As always, cat checked and cat approved.
I haven't decided what to do about the roof. I was going to make it look like the real hut's roof and have a section that could lift open, but I've also considered covering the whole roof with Plexiglas instead, since the beams look so nice and since it lets everything be visible in lots of light. I don't think I'm going to do electricity in this one at all. I haven't done tapewire. (And if I change my mind and do, it will be ok to have wires showing because they had gas lights with visible pipes running everywhere.) I like the look of natural ambient light though, and my handsome roof beams. Hmm. Though they could be better, especially those corner ones. It was hard to figure out the geometry of those. I ended up kind of just guessing. I'm sure real architects and professional dollhouse builders and designers would be horrified at my crazy wonky corner beams, but I'm a bit proud of them. (Though there were several times when I wished I'd chosen Cape Evans instead of Cape Royds. Cape Evans has an easy roof.)
Randomly, I've been singing to the tune of "Maria" from West Side Story - "The most beautiful hut I ever saw - Cape Royds, Cape Royds, Cape Royds! All the beautiful huts of the world in a single hut - Cape Royds, Cape Royds, Cape Royds!"
These are my miniature Primus stoves (originally posted here.)
Lots more to come!
linked at doll_houses , little_world and sir_shackleton .