Sefton's Occasional Hobby, Art, Craft, and General Bodging Thread.

Hey kids. Hope your Memorial Day weekend is going well. Oregon Muse returns next week with rants as well as his chess thread next Saturday, but has graciously permitted me to host this, so here we go, one more time!

Again, please use all power tools and any chemicals safely. Always wear proper eye, ear and lung protection. Now, to the basement, attic, garage, spare room or studio we go.

First up, Jason Jensen is a most affable fellow and a talented railroad modeler, as opposed to model railroader. His layout is really nothing more than a large continuous running oval with a few spurs, but it is jammed packed with craftsman kits and scratch built structures that he paints and weathers to give it that dilapidated, seaside look. The effect is sort of a cross between Popeye's Sweethaven and John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row." He's got lots of great tips on building, painting and weathering in wood, card stock, plastic and foam, so check out his channel.

In the comments last week, someone mentioned wanting to make a diorama of a submarine firing a torpedo. Well, how about a diorama of the storied American submarine USS Gato doing just that, and at 1/700 scale and inside a bottle! Some good techniques on building as well as airbrushing and using epoxy resin.

Neil Paskin is an amazing talented Aussie woodworker and metalsmith who builds some beautiful pieces of furniture as well as other kinds of home and shop projects. Here, he builds a custom miter saw station and storage for his workshop.

I featured the Ace of Clay a long time ago and I'm a fan of his work. Admittedly, I'm not that into the creepy, ghoulish characters he creates, but he's a wizard with Sculpey.

This fellow restores very old Tonka, Buddy-L, and other metal toys that are sometimes no more than hunks of rust. Watch how he makes this barely recognizable Marx truck appear brand new.

Next up, a master furniture restorer from Estonia I think brings an old chair that is ready for kindling back to its former glory. Lots of good tips and techniques with wood and finishing.

For the model airplane buffs, here's an extensive video from Julius Perdana in the Philippines showing how he made a twin engine Cessna Skymaster for RC out of foam board. Lots of good techniques on building with this material, and you'll see the maiden flight at the end.

Sam Lewis, aka SLEW, is a painter who not only does all kinds of wild characters and graffiti but is passionate about classic, old world portrait painting in both oil and acrylic. Here's he talks about his process while executing a small portrait.

Finally, Norm Charbonneau has built a truly stunning model railroad in O gauge 3-rail. I'm not a fan of 3-rail tinplate/toy trains, but this is as nice as any scale 2-rail layout that I have seen. Be sure to check out his channel for some videos chronicling the construction.

posted by J.J. Sefton at 05:25 PM

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