Large Scale Central

2023 Mik Challenge - Makeke o Haluku'ilio

Neat. I really love your logs!

2 Likes

Looks like Team Mueller is all hands on deck. Glad to see O.D using a proper measuring device :grin:

It has been amazing watching the growth of Kid-Zilla, both literally and figuratively, through the lense of the Mik Challenge. His skiils are improving with each challenge.

Carry on, Team Mueller!!

1 Like

Now is that nice Dan ? :sunglasses: :innocent:

No, that was not nice of me and I apologize to Team Mueller. But my excuse is fat fingers. The K & L are too close together. Whoever designed the keyboard (typewriter) should have thought about those types of mistakes and made sure it couldn’t happen. So its their faulk :grin:

It has been corrected. Thanks for pointing that out Hollywood.

1 Like

Just noticed that OD has a fiddler next to her creation. Was this Dad’s attempt at some humor?

She’s right on track for that all nighter. Just started enough to say “yes I’ve started, but I’m not really sure what I want to do next…”

Kid-zilla has been taking lessons from my oldest (8). Mine decided that it would be fun to cut scraps of foam core into random shapes, and then proceeded to cut them into even smaller chunks. And forbid that we throw them out. :roll_eyes:

1 Like

Great progress!

Pearl looks a lot like our Shadow who is a rescue of unknown lineage…

Pure coincidence, actually! That is “Mozart.” He and “J.S. Bach” usually stand watch at her organ. I wish I could take credit for the joke, though!

And, yes, we have two bags of scrap foam. One is for useable bits, and one is for other bits. Can you guess which ones Kid-zilla prefers?

Shadow and Pearl have the same proud ancestry! Both our pups are rescue dogs. Opal was surrendered to the Humane Society; Pearl was a street dog. They are best buddies, but Pearl is only just now warming to us after being here 18 months!

1 Like

Meanwhile, on the Lanai, progress continued.

O.D.

The table now has four legs! Progress! Today, she started crafting basswood into shelving.


She is using PLAYMOBIL shelving for dimensions, but these will otherwise be to her design.

Y.D. / Kid-zilla

It turned out the deck I am making is a bit small, which allowed me to give these two the opportunity to work together on a combined project. They will be able to combine her eye for details with his eye for burning foam! To that end, he was working diligently making the stand today.


He had also made something to hold the fruit his sister had made. I am not sure where that is in the debris field above.

O.S.
His stand went to the paint shop today!


Looks like he has entered the pattern for an on time arrival! He also helped me with the dock over the last couple days, which I will detail below.

Yours Truly
Beginning with the end, the stall got a coat of exterior latex paint.


Tomorrow, I will touch that up. I also got scraps of foam and cut them into “boxes.” I will get them painted over the course of next week. I am looking forward to bringing this structure to life!

With O.S., I also took a crack at the dock that will hold our market. I had rushed the first go, so I had to take it all apart and start over. O.S. and the 1:24 gang helped me clamp everything in place…


…and we got something that would work.

My alternatively straight cuts and creative framing left more slop than I would have liked, but we both agreed that it was time to recognize “good enough” and move forward. As an aside, both he and O.D. have been giving me all kinds of ribbing for me woodworking. He actually said, based on the skills developed over two tissue-on-frame airplanes, “You just aren’t used to working with wood like I am, Dad!” O.D. rooted her comments in teenage omniscience rather than presumed experience.

Their ribbing, of course, was taken in good stride, and justified, of course, with my next experiment in controlled saw work. I used a Dremel to cut grooves in the deck to make them look like planks, sanded the lot to remove burs, and then tried to stain the grooves - and just the grooves - with diluted India ink. India ink tells no lies, diluted or not, and it was quickly apparent that my grooves were only sort of straight, and, courtesy of sanding, of multiple depths. Luckily, I cannot find that photo.

I decided that I needed see this in place. I hadn’t realized that the dock was the property of the railroad, so the “digger men” got a break…


…and the “train men” came out to check the dock.

I worked in a public shipyard years ago, so I understand these sorts of labor issues. Though far from perfect, it looked a lot better in place than on the picnic table! I found a bucket of acrylic stain, and, after a coat, it looked event better, as it softened some of my staining.

I put it back on the railroad, got some trains running, and observed it all over the top of a beverage can from the vantage point of a hammock chair. It’ll do.

I think all parts are now coming together and should be done(ish) by the cut-off. The details and individuality of each stall should be the key to bringing this all together.

Eric

2 Likes

Shadow has been here over 6 years. She still won’t sit next to me on the couch! she’s Marilyn’s dog when it comes to snuggling, but mine when it comes to playing ball or tug!

End of Weekend Update…

O.D.

Table and shelf pau (done).


The shelf is very, very good, if you don’t mind my saying so. No part of me has that patience. She plans to make one more. After that, she will turn-to on the detail bits.

Y.D. / Kid-zilla

The stall hit the paint shop…


…and the sign shop.

Combining forces here was a good move. I think it helps him visualize his product in a finished state, and it allows her to focus on the crafty thigs that are her unique talents

O.S.

No new progress. He was at a neighbor’s playing a WWI themed board game all afternoon. I did tell him it was time to work on the details.

Yours Truly

I was worried that I would not get much done today, as I have entered that wait-for-it-to-dry phase. I spent some time flitting between things as they dried and before I knew it, it was trains and beverage time! The stall itself got its second coat, its roof, and its shelving.


I was pretty proud of my first framed structure. CINCHOUSE ended that with the comment, “It looks like a dolly’s bed!”

The 1:24 gang and I also got a jump on the upcoming detail bits. The painter from the Triple O shops converted bits of foam into white bits of foam…


…while I spraypainted some metal mesh stuff.

The former will become boxes; the latter will become “G” scale tracks to hang from the ceiling and as a test track on the counter.

All in all, I think we are in good stead, with all but O.D. now out of the building phase and into the finishing phase. I miss the controlled chaos of all hands on one project, though, and, were I to do it over, I would have made one market stand like my “dolly bed” and divided it into four stalls for folks to decorate. CINCHOUSE provided that suggestion. Tonight. Well after the fact.

Updates as required! Have a great week!

Eric

3 Likes

Your village is coming right along.

This build just keeps getting better and better!!!

2 Likes

Team Mueller just keeps pluggin’ away. Great progress.

1 Like

For increased drying time for paint, borrow the hairdryer in the house. If you one such thing. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1 Like

I think you mean DECREASED drying time. Increased time means it would take longer.

1 Like

Increased, decreased same thing. Faster drying time. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1 Like

And that is why neither term is allowed for use on ship’s internal communications per the interior communications manual and the standard operating rules manual!

Beyond a bad Navy flashback, no progress to report beyond O.D.'s second shelf taking shape. Looks like we will have to make a push this weekend!

Eric

Update…

There were some advances on all three sub-projects this week, but most of the action happened today. The weather was cool (I hesitate to say “cold”), blustery, and rainy, so it was perfect MIK weather! I really enjoyed the controlled chaos of having everyone on the lanai painting and cutting and scoring and marking. Here is where we stand.

O.D.

She had been puttering away at her shelving all week. Today, to after directing our church choir, she turned-to again.


By the end of the day, she had her table dressed, a shelf painted, its feet installed, and a second shelf in the works.

I had mentioned to her Ray’s ( @Ray_Dunakin ) jewelry workshop of a few years back as an example of the micro-detail that is possible given her seeming interest in what I would call the “fidgety.”

She came and went all afternoon and, at one point, said, “This is what I hate about model building…waiting for things to dry!” Not that any of us have ever said something similar!

Y.D. / Kid-zilla

These two are usually thick as fleas, so this was a happy pairing. Today, they started crafting additional detail parts.


By mid-afternoon, their combined project stood here.

She plans to make more of here clay fruit. He plans nothing. This is on track!

O.S.

O.S. made semi-scale model airplanes over the last couple weeks. These, he reminds me, are based on plans in his model airplane book. At some point, they both got coats of paint. Today, he installed the display case panel (Pete (@Pete_Lassen ), we are still working through those trays you sent!) to include painting on a brown frame.


The painted models and fully built stand are below:

He will need to make a sign and add a few more details, but I think he is in the pattern and ready for an on-time arrival!

Yours Truly

I had converted scraps of scrap foam (The Triple O wastes nothing!) into rough boxes and begun to color them with Y.D.'s alchohol markers to look like train boxes. I knew I hit the mark when both Kid-zilla and CINCHOUSE exclaimed, “Ooooo! Little train boxes!” Kid-zilla liked them enough to ask to paint the trains in the white spaces that I left to represent the plastic “drool guards” on the real thing. He decided on an F3 in Southern Pacific colors.


A few truncated boxes went into the puka (holes) on the shelf below the display table…

…while the rest will help set the scene. Inspired by Kid-zilla’s work, I took a Dremel to a piece of scrap and “pulled” an F-unit out to place on the test track. Then we played with it a bit…

Kid-zilla announced I need to make a streamliner car to trail behind the loco and that, yes, he would definitely play with this train.

The painter from the Triple O helped to make some signs…


…and the CRICUT helped to make the big billboard.

O.D. told me, “This really looks like something built by someone in the real world with a lot of stuff and no skills. You know, like you, Dad.” Success! I think.

While the 1:1 crew drifted to and from their projects, I began to recover the lanai, stowing things that cut and craft and making way for things that paint and detail. In cleaning, I also ransacked my bric-a-brac for things to use for cleats or bollards on our pier. No joy. I think I bought some glue, but beyond that have not spent any cash on this project, and I am hoping some cheap cabinet knobs may provide suitable bollards.

With all building except O.D.'s pau, it will be a week of detailing things to bring them to life!

Happy Building!

Eric

1 Like

You have some pretty dang talented people on your crew. I have always been impressed with Clan Mueller but holy cow. Each of them is doing some seriously cool work and some very fine detail. This reminds me of Pike’e Place Market in Seattle and I think you guys are really doing well at capturing the waterfront market idea. I love the train boxes. they came out awesome.

1 Like