Au revoir for a while...

You may have noticed a slump in my babble for a while - real life has intervened.  We have been back in the UK for December and have been caught up in my daughter's wedding and Christmas.  We leave here tomorrow to return to Naples (FL) until the end of March where we have two sets of visitors pretty much filling our time there.  I have, therefore put aside my hobby until I return to the UK at the beginning of April.  I had all kinds of plans to do stuff here and to sort out things to take back to America to make while I am there;  realistically I can see that it isn't likely to happen.

I will still be in the three groups I am in and have plans to go to Molly Cromwell's show in Sarasota and the mini flea market also held in Sarasota while we are away so they will turn up in my show blog (Dolls House Shows) when I've been.

Don't abandon me - I will be back in full flood, no doubt, in April.

Bases

I have been talking to various people about bases for kits and at the moment these are the three that are in play.

They all work in slightly different ways and look different.  If you are thinking about getting one, you will need to go to the vendor's site and read all the detailed information about them - this is just a pointer to them.  Start with what you want it to do for you and then decide which one does it best.

Price-wise it will be a case of where you are buying from and what the delivery cost is to you 

This all began for me because when I ordered my Petit Palais from Petite Properties  I also ordered the very nice base that goes with it.  I think it really finishes off the structures to get them off a (piece of furniture) surface a little way.  It also makes for a good way to hide the electricals.

1/48th Display Plinth Kit

£4.99

    

5.0 average, based on 1 reviews

Manufacturer: Petite Properties Ltd

Product Information

The Display Plinth has been designed for our Le Petit Palais kit but can also be used to further enhance many of our 1/48^th kits, or can be used for a multitude of display purposes.

This kit comes with a set of full colour, step by step instructions which teach you how to construct the plinth.

The Display Plinths Approx constructed dimensions

Width = 23 cm

Depth =  13.5 cm

Height = 2.8 cm 

I have pinched this from PP's site - hope it's OK to do that.  Obviously I don't have mine built to show you just yet.

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Also in the UK J. S Miniatures has just developed four stands and they come in a couple of sizes.  Two work with Jen's lighting kits and have an additional extension connector so they work with her micro plug and the other two bases will work with any other sort of kit you might want to use.  Jennifer will also be offering landscaping in small amounts to help you finish off the structures. 

Prices - £12.99 - £16.25

Again I stole the photo.

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In the States True2Scale is also making very nice stands with a drawer for your leccy bits.  I did share a photo of it yesterday with you but here it comes again finished and underneath their Bushel and a Peck kit.

This base kit is priced at £18.47

Again I stole the photo.

I will check with all the vendors that this is OK.

Lighting - True2Scale

When I was at the Philly show I stopped by True2Scale's stand - why would I not?

Carol, who has an amazing memory for stuff, remembered that I had been wittering to her at some point about needing longer wires for my lights and fires.  She had devised an elegant solution to the problem...... this is it:

simple connectors, no need to solder or wrap

just plug and go

I have filched Carol's description of the item from her site to explain how this works:  

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

The perfect solution for extending the length of wires when lighting a project. These also provide the ability to easily disconnect the wires from a project when moving the project.

How the wired connectors work: the small pins on the male end of these wired connectors are pushed into the holes in the female connector. Then, the wires on each of the connector ends are twisted to the negative and positive wires (red to red, black to black) on the project. Shrink tubes are put over the twisted connections and are heated.

• 1 male and 1 female connector per set. The wires are attached.
• Set includes shrink tube connectors. No need for soldering!
• 8" long. The wires may be cut and stripped to any length.
• These may be used with 12V, 9V and 3V systems; including round wire systems, a 9V battery, and the 3V battery systems that we offer.

The wired connectors work well with our Base Kit for Lighted Structures. The wired connectors make it easy to extend the wires from the project into a battery holder and switch that is hidden in the drawer under the base. So, no need to plug anything into a wall outlet and it makes transporting the project easy!

These wired connectors are also great for connecting/disconnecting different systems. For example, if a wall adapter system is used to light a project at home, but a battery system will be used for traveling to a show, 2 sets of these connectors could be purchased. One end of the wired connector would connect to the wall adapter; the same end from the other set would connect to the battery holder; while the opposite end from one of the sets connects to the lights in the project. 

At just $1 or 64p per set how can you beat it? 

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I you are in the UK and want to shop from home Jennifer Smith has them too.  She also does small connector blocks if you want to join multiple wires rather than one to one.