Distractions from the past

     Having finished the Armored Cruiser and looking for something that would go quicker and require less thought I grabbed a couple of models that had been used in a recent game that were in need of paint. The Wild West Town  by Gamcraft Miniatures that my son had given me for Christmas had escaped painting thus far. I now intended to remedy that issue. While building the models was easy and quick I had noticed that the laser-cut edges were markedly darker than the rest of the wood check the old post and see what I mean link . I had solved the problen by adding trim peices made of balsa, which worked out pretty well, see the pictures below:

the trim pieces did the job pretty well,

but these buildings were painted in pretty wild colors in the Good Old Days

the laser cutting proces literally burns through the wood leaving scorched edges that are very dark

(and they absorb paint like a sponge, seal these with a thin coat of glue before painting)

I painted mine using slightly thinned acrylic craft paint

in retrospect painting them before assembly would be both easier and faster

the thinned paint covered just enough but still let the details show through

this red looks better in person

I think this will become the "Lost Shamrock Saloon"

this will probably be the assayers office,

 but the paint scheme reminds me of the Bill Knapp's restaurants

you can see livery stable lurking in the background,

 I am looking for a better shade of red for it

the rear of the building, this view shows why painting before assembly would be a better idea,

 the edges where the windows join the building were not particularly easy to paint,

and there are a LOT of those edges on these models