Category: structures

Model Making Quick Tip: Making it Square

 

This Model Making Quick Tip is all about keeping things square when building model structures. I share a few of my favorite tools and techniques for cutting and glueing to get the best results.

Thanks for watching, amigos!
Dave

Machinist square and 1-2-3 blocks: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093Q1DMSP?ref=ppx_pop_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Mini miter box and saw: https://www.micromark.com/Micro-Miter-Box-Super-Value-Package

Building an Ancient Cliff Dwelling

 

Hidden in sheltered alcoves deep in the canyons of the American Southwest, ancestral puebloan cliff dwellings tell the story of a once thriving ancient culture. Known today as Anasazi or Sinagua, these people were likely the ancestors of modern day Pueblo Indians like the Hopi. In this build video, I recreate the ruins of an ancient cliff dwelling below the canyon walls of Thunder Mesa with tips for carving Hydrocal plaster, LED lighting, and painting and finishing high desert scenery.

Thanks for watching, amigos!
Dave

Structure Build: The Panhandle Café

 

Time for another structure build! This week, it’s the Panhandle Café, inspired by the Panhandle Hotel from the queue of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland. Follow along step-by-step as I scratchbuild this quaint O scale Victorian era structure as the latest addition to Thunder Mesa town. Wooden structure building techniques, coloring, roofing, and finishing.

Thanks for watching, amigos!
Dave

Building the Thunder Mesa Assay Office

 

In old west mining towns, the assay office was where would-be prospectors could have their ore samples tested by a chemist to see if they had struck it rich or gone bust. My Thunder Mesa Assay Office was inspired by a similar structure from the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland. Follow along step-by-step as I build this charming little adobe structure with its distinctive balcony and southwestern colors. Tips for using a stencil and airbrush to do the lettering too!

Thanks for watching, amigos!
Dave

Crescent Creek Model Scale Stucco: https://thundermesa.studio/product/scale-stucco-all-scales/

Laserboard: https://encompass-media.salesvu.com/

Building an O Scale River Steamer – The Canyon Queen

 

Welcome aboard the Canyon Queen! She’s a 50′ paddlewheel river steamer like those that once plied the mighty western rivers of America. Starting with a fine kit from Kitwood Hill Models in the UK, I build a on-of-a-kind Victorian era sternwheeler with tons of Disney flavor. Step by step descriptions of the process from rigging to LED lighting.

Thanks for watching, amigos!
Dave

Kitwood Hill Models 50′ Paddle Steamer Kit

Building a Southwestern Trading Post in O Scale

Yá’át’ééh! That’s a traditional Navajo greeting, and appropriate since today’s video is all about building an O scale roadside trading post like those found along old Route 66 on the Navajo Nation. In this stand-alone project, I wanted to try something from a different era than my usual modeling on the Thunder Mesa layout. Some of the modeling techniques covered in this build include:
• Creating realistic aged adobe and stucco finishes
• Old weathered paint on doors and windows
• Watercolor weathering on Illustration board walls
• LED interior lighting • Do-it-yourself corrugated metal roofing
• Realistic tarpaper roofing
• Modeling flagstone surfaces
• Signs, paper posters and more

Thanks for watching, amigos!
Dave