The O'Neill Family Groceries
and General Store is entirely
scratch-built of basswood siding
and boards. The windows are
-groan- all hand made. The roof
is fine grit sandpaper. Because it
has two floors with full interiors
it needed to be built so it could
come apart without being too
fragile.  What I did was build a
3D jigsaw puzzle: the roof comes
off, the outside stairs are
removable and the entire second
floor lifts off.
Upstairs is the Maritime
Museum where for a nickel you
can view pirate's treasures and
gawk at the only mermaid in
the world. You will be amazed  
at the authentic collection of
memorabilia and educated by
the scale ship models.
When you are done go
downstairs and buy a soda and
perhaps a sandwich . Whatever
you do please close that screen
door, the flies are coming in.
The inside details include scratch built items like the
cold case and its contents, the shelves and most of
their contents, as well as crates, a bolt of cloth and
many more. Others are from various suppliers of cast
details, too many to list. The floor ia  Evergreen Scale
Models tiles.
 Click on the thumbnails for a
larger vue, click again for
more magnification.
For the past three tears since I built it I have been
adding things to this model as I acquire them. Next
are an old brass cash register and roll wrapping paper
dispenser. The museum has planned additions too.
 A  couple of Arttista figures look at the
only 1/48 scale mermaid in the world
that now resides inside a Banta display
case. Thanks to expert taxidermists it
still looks lifelike after years of viewing.
 The objects displayed range from
1/700 pewter ships, found items and
detail parts from various sources.
 The rug and ship paintings were
cut from magazines. In the  upper
left corner you can see some of
the wires that have been painted
the same color as the wall. The
building is lit throughout with
CirKit Concept micro and grain of
rice bulbs.
The brass cannon is from Model
Shipways as are the blocks and
several other details.
 In the large display case along the back wall are all sorts of interesting objects that might have been
recovered in shipwrecks; pewter mugs, brass chains and doodads, a clay pipe that belonged to Davey
Jones hisself (stretched and formed sprue) and anything else I thought would look good. The furniture
is cheap plastic pieces, they look terrible until you repaint them to look like oak, mahogany or
whatever, try them. This was a fun project which is still ongoing but since then I don't do windows.
I hope this was worth the price of admission.
                Thank you for looking.
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The Maritime Museum.
General Store and Maritime Museum.
A scratch-built wood building with character.
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The General Store.
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