Saturday, March 26, 2022

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Dan Beard 2


  March 2022

  Time to make: 3 hours

  Finishing: 1 hour

  Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane







 

At the northern most part of Philmont is a meadow with a small cabin at Dan Beard and it is one of the most scenic areas of  the camp. If I'm up in this area on our trek you can bet I'll have plenty of pictures of this countryside.   

Interesting slide to carve as I wanted it or not only show the cabin, but to give the feeling of the meadow extending to the tree line in the distance, the hillside beyond, and finely the mountain. Carved from maple, painted with hobby paints, lettered with waterslide paper, and finished off with a couple coats of poly. 

Saturday, March 19, 2022

Slide of the Month Extra-Philmont Infirmary and MedSAR


 


March 2022

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane







 

Near and dear to my heart is anything connected to emergency medical service and the Philmont Medical Search And Rescue team are no exception. The staff at the Philmont Infirmary not only assure the fitness guidelines of all who would venture out on trail. They are also there to treat those who are injured on trek or in base camp. 

A multi leveled slide carved from southern (pallet) pine with the star of life as the top layer working down to the white background outside ring. Painted with hobby paints, lettered with waterslide paper, and finished off with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Black Mountain (Powder Flask)

 


July 2022

Time to make: 1 hour

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane







 

Black Mountain camp is the site of Samuel Matthews cabin (1897-1898) and currently is a staffed camp of living history. The staff portrays former veterans of the Civil War who came west to start a new life. Part of the camp is black powder shooting skills and this slide represents  a powder flask that might have been used by one of these veterans.


This was another easy slide to carve, from pallet pine, with nice lines. The slide is painted with hobby paints, lettered with waterslide paper, and sealed with a couple coats of poly.

Saturday, March 12, 2022

Slide of the Month Extra-Philmont Ponil (Saddle)


 


March 2022

Time to make: 2.5 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane







 

Ponil is one of the larger camps at Philmont featuring western lore, burro packing, trout fishing and horse riding. In fact, it was the original base camp for Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp from 1938 to 1941. (It's also got a cantina for that famous Root Beer!)

Carved from southern (pallet) pine this was a challenge trying to make this look like a saddle. One thing I like the looks of was leaving the blanket area lightly sanded to give the area a textured appearance. Painted with hobby paints, lettered with waterslide paper, and sealed with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the Month Extra-Philturn Gateway


 


March 2022

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont Millennium 1 / Bill Macfarlane







 

Over at the Philmont Millennium 1 site there are several photos of the early days when Philmont was called Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp and one of the photo there was a photo of several scouts, an old truck, and my favorite part of the photo the gateway.  This is my spin of the photo as a slide. (I starting to think I have a thing for Philmont Gateways!)

Carved from reclaimed southern (pallet) pine, a very simple leveled slide painted with hobby paints, lettered with water slide paper,  and finished off with a couple coats of poly.

Saturday, March 5, 2022

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Miranda


 November 2020

 Time to make: 3 hours

 Finishing: 1 hour

 Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane







 

Miranda is one those places at Philmont that has to be experienced. Imagine yourself as an early explorer of the west where your very survival depending on your ability to throw a tomahawk, shoot a black powder gun, and live in the uncharted west.

I like this slide for the complexity it offered me. Carved from southern (pallet) pine, the different levels of the rifles', tomahawks, and teepee  were a challenge. I also kept the background rough to give the slide a rustic look. The featured items were painted with hobby paints and the lettering was done with waterslide paper. I finished it off with a couple coats of shellac to give the background a nice golden oak look as well as giving the teepee a weathered feel. 

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Slide of the Month-Pancake Stack


March 2022

Time to make:
 2 hours

Finishing: 0 hour
 
Boy's Life:
 Jan. 1973, p. 63

 Original design:
  Wayne Mason?






Mmmmm...pancakes with real maple syrup, it doesn't much better (well maybe if you add bacon)! Well it's that time of year again to tap the maple trees, collect the sap, and boil, boil, boil... I spent many a late winter/early spring doing just that right up through college poised in front of the wood stove feeding it with one hand and a text book in the other.  The funny part is that I didn't like real maple syrup back then.

The original slide called for making REAL mini pancakes, drying and then using varnish to seal the pancakes. As hard as I tried, I could not seem to get this to work but I got an idea with some material that may not have existed back in 1973.  Fabric paint is a liquid plastic material which will stay thick as you put it on and some, depending on brand, will puff up with a little heat.  I started with some white fabric paint making some circles of varying size on a piece of glass. (The glass provides a smooth surface and helps when helps when removing the pancakes.) Then I filled in the circles with tan fabric paint. Then taking yellow paint, I make a small circle for the pad of butter. When the paint was dry, I put a drop of the tan paint in the middle of the largest pancake. I took the next largest pancake on top of the largest pancake and moved around to glue the pancake to the lower one. I continued that process right up to the last pancake. I put a weight on top and let them to dry overnight. The next day, I took a sharp knife to the dried yellow and cut it into a square to make a pad of butter. I put a drop of yellow pain on top of the stake of pancakes and put the square on the drop and moved it around not only to glue the pad of butter but to also simulate the melting. When this is was dry, I thinned some dark brown fabric paint and applied it with an eyedropper letting it drip down the stack of pancakes. Finally, the dried stack of pancakes were glued to a wooden backer so I could attach a loop.