I’ve made some progress on this year’s Xmas gift for my father in law. As you can see from the photo, I’ve got the basic structures built for the three houses I plan to make for his model railway table.

There’s a little detailing left to do but nothing major. In particular I need to use an old tooth brush to scrub wet DAS hobby clay over the gaps between the cast Linka mold pieces that make up the brick walls on the last house. The second house needs a chimney applied and then I can finish painting that too. I’ve completed basic painting on the first house and all it needs is a good coat of Moana matt varnish, followed by some Tamiya high gloss brush on varnish being applied to the window frames and front door.

Linka molds certainly produce some impressive results for fairly minimal effort. They’re also very easy to paint with some careful dry-brushing to cover the brick texture. Individual bricks have then been repainted a range of different colours to break up the monotonous walls.

To complete all three houses I intend to glue cut OHP plastic behind the windows to represent glass and also glue in some simple paper drapes. Once I’ve done that I can finish assembling the houses as they’re constructed from two separate storeys at the moment.

As a final touch I also plan to scratch build some gutters and downpipes, probably from plastic card and half-rods I have kicking around in my garage - assuming I can find them. Having painted one and a half houses this week I’m also quietly confident I can meet my 25th December deadline!