Mik 2024 -- Hui Laulima Mahi 'Ai na M&K

[Eric_Mueller]

Thanks! They help tell the story, and, in posing them, the force me to slow down. Everyone wins!

Lots of MIK-ing between rehearsals, practices, games, and that stupid work thing. I think we are on track to finish tomorrow.

O.D. - Finish her Grain Elevator

This is going to be close, but her elevator itself is not part of our judged elements. It is, however, the core of our disparate projects. We bought the craftsticks she needs to finish. Last night, se painted the unloading area black.

Naturally, she has a community service project and a bunch of schoolwork this weekend. The rest of us our standing by to help!

O.S. - Silo

He finished his washes and drybrushing, and declared his silo pau / finished.

He wisely focused the weathering on the bottom to simulate accumulated drek (German or Yiddish for gunk). I wish he would have spent a bit more time aligning the panels, but, overall, I think he did a good job, in particular with the finishing.

He is currently helping Kid-zilla move that project along.

Y.D. & Kid-zilla - Office & Outhouse

Kid-zilla started carving the base…

…only to carve a second degree burn into his finger! His brother finished the job.

Y.D., meanwhile, cut the roof and glued on the windows.

The boys are at work leveling and then affixing the office to the shared base piece.

Yours Truly – Small Station

The 1:24 lads and I carefully measured some basswood and collected crafstick scraps to make a small ramp.

I stained the deck, and this, too, is pau.

Final update tomorrow!

Eric

[freddy (Fred Mills)]

Thank you, Eric. Your “Reporting/sharing” of how a wonderful family is enjoying hobbies together, is great inspiration. I look forward to many more tales of inspiration in the future…again…thank you, to you and your wonderful “Teams”…the little guys, and the larger guys.
Would it be asking too much, to see a picture of YOU, and the full team, including the “House Staff” ?..I’ll bet they all would look good in a full team Picture.
Fred Mills

[Eric_Mueller]

@freddy

Would it be asking too much, to see a picture of YOU, and the full team, including the “House Staff” ?..I’ll bet they all would look good in a full team Picture.

Thanks for your kind words, Fred! If our efforts inspored one family to leave their Christmas set out year round and build a world from salvaged construction material, scraps, and repurposed toys, I will feel like we have given back to the community writ large.

We’ll see if we can do a full team shot next week when we pose this year’s MIK creations on the railroad.

Closing out on Mik 2024, here we are…

O.D. - Finish her Grain Elevator

Between busy schedules, the size of this project, and the need to make adjustments as it transformed from school project to 1:24-ish PLAYMOBIL scale industry, we were not able to get this over the hump. All hands lent to as they could, though…

…so however it ends up, it will be a community effort in the “Spirit of the Mik!”

The results of the last weekend brought us here.

Cladding, roofing, doors, windows, and bits remain. It is far enough along, however, to allow us to place the rest of the hui next weekend for the glamor shots.

O.S. - Silo / Y.D. & Kid-zilla - Office & Outhouse

He was finished, so he has been helping his siblings in their efforts to bring projects over the line. Rather than doing it for them, he ran materials back and forth, helped clear work areas, cut bits, and sorted materiel. He also leveled Y.D.'s office…

…while she was at dance so that she and Kid-zilla could focus on touching up the rocks…then touching up the wall paint…then covering the rocks now covered with wall paint…to move back to touching up the walls covered with rock paint…I finally stepped in to stop that cycle of paint and repaint!

Uploading: 20240211_114346.jpg…

Their finished efforts are here:

O.S. built the chimney on the office out of a bit of dowel and scrap wood. Kid-zilla found a bit of brass tubing to make a vent for his outhouse. I cut the little half-moon from scrap vinyl adhesive.

Yours Truly – Small Station

OK, I am very pleased with this. I really didn’t break any ground in terms of techniques, but it is emulative of a late 19th-century whistle stop station outside of Honolulu. While not quite square (working on that skill), it’ll look good up in near our farm, and I will enjoy the coloring effect of the elements over time. Here it is posed alongside O.S.'s silo:

Bonus Project.

CINCHOUSE got into the action today, working on a rocket.

It’s the spirit, not the project that counts!

Measure of Success

This was the lanai last night after I cleaned up the pint of acrylic paint and before a general clean-up.

That mess speaks of creativity run amok. Mahalo nui / Thanks so much @Dave_Taylor for another round of structured memory making!

On Behalf of Team Mueller,

Aloha!

Eric

[Devon_Sinsley]

A rocket??? Well a build is a build

[Eric_Mueller]

I feel the build thread is not complete without a couple short lines and pictures describing site preparation. Tomorrow, we will get up the glamour shots, but today Kid-zilla, the 1:24 crew had to properly close this thread!

Early in the morning, a work train pulled up on a siding serving a farm working M&K land under lease…

…and the crew set to work!

Kid-zilla helped to set and level a half paving tile…

…before letting the 1:24 gang fill in around the foundation and move spoils to needed low spots.

After putting our little station in place and doing some clearance checks…

… we let the 1:24 gang take a break as they waited for a train back to the work camp.

Kid-zilla had a soccer game. Afterwards, we got right back to work to clear the area for the other MIK items. The local constabulary helped to set safety boundaries.

Kid-zilla and his work crew set up and directed personnel and vehicles onto the site.

There was track work, too, so the M&K and Triple O contributed workers, machines, and trains.

The Triple O track gang set to work, as we had to move the siding that served a locomotive shed to a new location.

Kid-zilla led the “digger men” in moving, aligning, and pouring the foundation for the locomotive shed.

He discovered that the building would not set level, so he found a half hollow tile block, and he and the crew set it in place.[

He was pretty pleased with the results!

We then placed the new buildings for fit and set back to run trains. Naturally, our DC analog system was testy after a month of limited running and an afternoon of intensive work near the tracks, so it took about an hour just to get one loop up and running. Oh, well, Pearl approved, regardless!

The rest of the 1:1 crew will set the final scenes tomorrow for judging!

On Behalf of Team Mueller,
Eric

[JRad (Jon Radder)]

Pearl looks almost identical to our Shadow who is a rescue of unknown linage. I’m pretty sure if we had a DNA test done it would come back with at least a few percentage points cat!

[Eric_Mueller]

[quote=“JRad, post:46, topic:83834”]
I’m pretty sure if we had a DNA test done it would come back with at least a few percentage points cat!
[/quote]

We’ve though the same thing about Pearl, who shares Shadow’s secret lineage!

[Devon_Sinsley]

Has anyone mentioned how fun it is to follow team Mueller?

[Pete_Lassen]

My RR is called Babs River Railway and Babs was my dog, best friend and best dog ever

She didn’t see the guide wire on our newly planted tree, and went for a flip chasing a rabbit, and had to have surgery. And REALLY didn’t like being limited to little to no movement after surgery . She looks like Pearl and Shadows litter mates! Still miss her ! So many stories with that dog!

[Eric_Mueller]

Thanks, Devon. I try to make it fu for us and for others to follow along. As I’ve said elsewhere, I hope it inspires other families to take the plunge.

Eric