2014 In Review . . . . Part Two

Eventually even I had to admit I am running out of room for miniatures.  Let's face it when you have a love of castles and multi room mansions, miniatures aren't really all that miniature.  That's why this year has seen me create a lot of smaller scale projects.  This is my first serious attempt at 48th (1/4").  It's based in a kit from Petite Properties.  They call it 'Le Petit Palais'.  I call mine 'Le Not-so-Petit Palais' due to the extra wings on either side of the main building and the added basement.

 Inside, much of the furniture is from kits by Petite Properties.  In the entry hall for example both tables are from their kits.

Other furniture pieces are from kits by 'A Sheila's Shed' such as the dining table.  Both ranges of kits have good and bad elements to them but on the whole I'd gladly recommend both brands.

Some furniture was made from scratch like the bed and chaise in the yellow bedroom.

And a final type of furniture in the house is the 'printable' furniture such as the wardrobe in the dressing room.  For the smaller scales this type of furniture can be really effective although I wouldn't recommend it for 12th scale.  There is a large range of this type of furniture available on the internet for free, some designed for miniatures, some for barbie size dolls and some taken from other sources such as vintage paper doll books.

 I had fun with this house, but in completing it I found what I consider to be the two major flaws in 48th scale.  First is the lack of DIY materials.  This room would for example look better if the white columns were not quite so obviously 12th scale stair spindles.  Some purpose designed 48th scale columns would be nice, but don't seem to exist.

The second fault is the lack of 48th scale accessories.  Most of the rooms in this house are much more sparse than most of my rooms would usually be.  You can't just buy some cutlery for the table in 48th scale.  Either you make your own or you do without.  The same applies to people.  Until this changes or I get a lot better at such tiny DIY accessories my 48th scale projects are always going to look a little bare.

After the Not-So-Petit Palais I returned to 12th scale and the Tower of Magic for another couple of rooms.

The sorceress' chamber was supposed to be a triumphant opposite to the maligned master's chamber.  It is an improvement, but it's a long way from the best room of the ToM.  The dimensions of the box of the room need to be wider for this room to really work.  As it is, it just looks cramped and therefore messy.  The room also isn't really big enough to carry off such a heavily patterned wallpaper.  Plan walls or possibly a smaller print would have looked better in here.

Another thing against this room is that it really doesn't have much of a magic theme to it.  There is nothing to suggest this is the room of a sorceress rather than just a plain ordinary woman.

The next room for the ToM was the Observatory.

The only issue I have with this room is that it may be a little too blue.  Even the starry night skies visible through the open roof and from the rear balcony are blue rather than black.

In the centre of the room is the main array of telescopes which incorporated a recumbent seat and writing surface.  I think it may be my all time favourite crazy contraption with it's choice of three telescopes and various gears and levers.