Workshop? Garage?

I've spent the last couple days working on little projects for the barn's workshop/garage. I'm still not too sure what to call it, because our real life garage functions in so many different ways. My husband would LOVE for it to NOT function as a storage space for the lawn mower and other gardening implements, but building a shed is probably #23 on the "home maintenance" priority list. That's another story, but for this 1:12th scale workshop/garage I made sure not to include any gardening stuff of any kind. Unless you count the chainsaw, but that's really more of a Jeep tool than a "garden" tool.

In true frugal fashion, I ordered a bunch of unfinished metal tools on eBay. This barn project has already cost $6,154.55! Not really, but you all know what I mean...

Unfinished metal can be a great option to help mitigate costs, but be aware of a few things:

1. Make sure to look at and imagine the measurements of the item in your scene. "Small" might not be small enough and vice versa.
2. Unfinished metal is, well, Unfinished! You'll possibly have to trim away excess sprue, file and sand a bit before painting/finishing.
3. Beware items that have small and not very well supported metal pieces. These often break off in shipping, and can't always be easily repaired. I had two iffy repairs to make. Hopefully, no one notices.

I wanted a lot of detail in mine, so I took the time to tape off areas that I did not want painted. My husband has a lot of black, red and blue handled tools, so those are the colors I chose.







I like to use spray paint on these items, because you get a much better finish and way less paint build up. Be sure to let them dry thoroughly, especially if you need to paint both sides of an item.






I had ordered some unfinished metal can and jug blanks, so they needed to be painted in the base color, then have labels added. I took a look around Russ' shelves and cupboards to see what he actually uses, then got images from Amazon.

To see a little label making tutorial, click here.








Here is what I've gotten finished on the workshop/garage so far. I have cans, boxes, sleeping bags, tents, coolers, signs, calendar, and many more little details to add, so I'll just update progress as I go. I also think that many of the items here are too clean. They need grime and greasy fingerprints added.