Free is good...

You know all of those free ink pens that you collect then leave in various places around your house? Well, when you work with miniatures, they are a veritable goldmine! The cone shaped ends can become recessed or spot lighting. The shafts and mechanisms work great for pipes and fittings. And, the piece that holds the pen on your paper or in your pocket become excellent appliance handles! 

I scavenged around my house today and found 6 or 7 useful (and free) pens with many, many useful parts! I even found the perfect retro looking fridge handle! 

The hinges required a lot of patience and a little silver paint, but worked out perfectly. If I'd had just one more for the freezer I'd have been happier, but it all worked out okay in the end. I need to order more hinges, so maybe my kids will give good miniatures.com gift certificates to me for Mother's Day...

The interior has had a couple coats of spray paint (really hard to get it sprayed in there) but needed a hand painting. It's already taken several coats and still needs more. I got board and moved on lol!

So the Realife Miniatures kit is officially completed. I'm working on a little hutch kit next, then Russ and I really need to get the barn kit laid out. I'm anxious to get started on that!