The Naked Silo

Both sides complete. This project took a long time to complete –not because it was difficult or time-consuming, but because I paused many times for long periods since I decided to give this old toy a bit of an upgrade a couple of years ago. It had been sitting around in an old dresser drawer at my parents' house for years and years until my return to modelling inspired me to give this a shot, using some new techniques I've learned. October 1979. I think the toy itself dates back to 1978 or so, but I definitely got it for my eighth birthday in 1979. It's possible this was a gift from my friend from across the street (seen here holding the gun, fresh out of the package), but I honestly can't remember who it was from. It could have been my two other neighbourhood friends on the left or my cousin (third boy from left, and that's my sister behind me). I apologize if the gift-giver is reading this, but I just cannot remember. Original packaging. ...

(shot before the final clear matte coat.) I totally got this idea from Brian Thompson over at his Smuggler's Room YouTube channel, where, earlier this year, he repainted an LED lantern (which already had a very Star Wars-style design) to make it look even more like it belonged in that galaxy far, far away. When I came across an almost identical lantern in a local hardware store, I knew I'd be giving it a similar makeover. Fresh outta the package. Because they only cost about $9 and, repainted or not, they'd come in handy, I got two of them and gave them a similar paint job. You just pull the top part up and the LEDs light up automatically (they require 3 AA batteries each –not included). The original colour is a nice dark metallic so I used this as my "reveal" colour when I got around to chipping my added colours. I sprayed this layer with hairspray and then airbrushed a dull brown over top. After I chipped that to reveal the original metallic colo...