Saturday, March 16, 2024

Slide of the Month Extra: Turks Head with special beads




March 2024

Time to make: .5 hour

Finishing: 0 hour

Original design:  Bill Macfarlane




















With the other length of leather cord I had did the same turks head slide but with a twist. The beads I used were either color changing in the sun or glow in the dark. Neat upgrade to the previous slide

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Slide of the Month Extra: Turks Head with beads


 


March 2024

Time to make: .5 hour

Finishing: hour

Original design:  Bill Macfarlane













I was going through a box the other day and I found a length of leather cord. Not to let it go to waste I quickly tied a turks head slide. Since I had extra on each side I thought why not add some beads to it. Quick and easy slide.

Friday, March 1, 2024

Slide of the Month-Indian Plaques

 


March 2024

Time to make: 1 hours

Finishing: .5 hour
 
Boy's Life July 1982,  p. 64

Original design:  Lew Weston



I would say this was an easy slide to complete but it did take a bit of time on the computer using MS paint to edit, enhance, and color according to the colors suggested in the article. Once I had copies I was happy with, I printed them on waterslide paper and applied they to some hobby rounds that I had painted white. A couple of coats of poly finish them off.  

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Slide of the Month Extra: Philmont Phillips Junction

 


February 2024

Time to make: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour
 
Original design:  Philmont/Bill Macfarlane




Phillips Junction is the location of one of the largest commissary's at Philmont (I did a slide about the commissary here.) Beside the commissary, there are campsites, showers and potable water but fishing?
As it turns out it is only 1.5 miles away from Fish Camp so an easy hike to go fishing. Fun tidbit about Phillips Junction, it has the worst radio reception of any of the staffed camps but also has the most vehicle traffic. Must be from all the food being brought in. 

Made from a hobby store plywood oval painted with hobby paints, lettered with waterslide paper and a large hand tied fly glued to the slide. (Yes, I tied the fly.) A couple coats of poly finish it off

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Slide of the Month Extra: Pallet

 



February 2024

Time to make: 1 hours

Finishing: .5 hour

Original design:  Bill Macfarlane








I do a lot of my Philmont slides with reclaimed pallet wood so why not do a pallet slide. The ironic part is there is no pallet wood in this slide.

Using coffee stirrers I created the main 2x4 supports by gluing 3 coffee stirrers together with super glue. When dry I cut them to size and also cut the deck/bottom pieces.  To assemble, I used super glue the deck pieces to the supports and when dry, the bottom pieces were glued to the slide. Super glue was used as a finish for the slide. 

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Slide of the Month - The Dolphin



February 2024

Time to make: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

August 2000, page 63

Original design: Jeff Springer











With crews getting ready to go to Sea Base on school vacation, I got thinking about this slide.
Back years ago when I was a kid, during the golden age of television, there use to be a show called Flipper about a boy and his dolphin . While I loved back then, I realize how it seems corny by today's standards and to me a watery version of Lassie. "Hey Fipper, Bud fell down the well" and the dolphin just laughed.

WOW...this one looked easy but I had a hard time trying to make this one look like Jeff's with the right proportions.  Carved from maple with odd cuts and a lot of sanding. LOTS of sanding. I painted it with hobby paints and finished it off with a couple coats of poly.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Slide of the of the Extra : Philmont Garcia Cow Camp

 


January 2024

Time to make: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour
 
Original design:  Philmont/Bill Macfarlane



An odd calmness (or exhaustion)  sets in after the holidays and what better time to highlight this slide. Located on the UU Bar ranch, Garcia Cow Camp is located two miles west of Apache Springs and has wonderful cabin set in a beauty meadow. The staff, dressed in traditional garb, portray the rolls of early 20th century conservationists there to catalog wildlife and plants/flowers for there benefactor Ernest Thompson Seton. Unlike the high intensity opportunities offered at the other staff camps, Scouts who travel here will find something the are not expecting - the simple joy of relaxation. From "saunters" in nature to landscape drawings/watercolors it is a chance to be still and observe the world around them.

I decided to try something a bit different with this slide by wood burning the design. I started by doing a free hand drawing the design onto a piece of pallet pine. Next I used a wood burner to go over the lines I had drawn and add shading to the slide. I wanted the edges to have a burnt look so I when around the edges with a small hobby torch. I used water slide paper to letter the slide and a couple coats of shellac to finish it off