Yet Another Kit...

 

Slowly Taking Shape...

I apologize for the terribly Dark picture, Dear Readers, but it was a gloomy day! I had decided to try to complete another lovely little kit from Sandra Morris of 'Tower House Dolls' fame. She has just retired and closed her shop, and it made me want to finish some of her kits I had bought over the years and then not had time to build. This is the "Musical Automaton Kit" which consists of a little Victorian Doll you get to dress, standing beside a tiny piano you get to build, and the box they stand on contains a music speaker and it plays piano pieces when you push the button! "What a cute Idea!" thought I when I purchased it a couple of years ago. I now have experience on assembling one of her costumed dolls, but a music box assembly was definitely a new challenge!

First Step was to get the instructions out and identify all the parts!

These are just the ones for the base with the music box. 

The battery pack, speaker and switch are in the bubble wrap.

There is a little chip with a pre-programmed selection of piano tunes!

The box itself was fairly straight forward.

Wooden framing and matboard sides.

You needed to cut a hole in the back panel 

for the speaker and the switch.

Templates were provided.

Next step was to paint the box

 The paint provided with the kit

 had dried out because I took so long to get to it...

So I used the basic gray I use for the castle...

 I have plenty of that!

There are lithographed designs to glue onto the panels.

The next step should be attaching

 the speaker and the switch to the back panel... 

This requires some epoxy, which I don't have...

 and some ability to use the right arm....

which I have to admit, Dear Readers, 

 is a problem!

I have pulled a muscle.... or a tendon.... 

causing pain when I try to do too much...

(or anything at all, actually!)

(I am always trying to do too much!)

I have had to take days off... 

doing almost Nothing with my right arm!

I am becoming ambidextrous as a result.

And maybe I could just do tiny things?

So I started to build the teeny piano kit.

Only requiring the tiniest bit of folding...

And gluing....

The sum of one day's work!

And the next day... 

can I paint at all?

Just a Tiny bit?

And maybe glue some of the graphics on?

(Carefully...!)

And the following day,

 glue the rest of the graphics on the tiny piano!

Oh, and the music stand too!

But I think I let it slide down too far...

You can't close the lid this way!

(No, I did not add hinges!)

(But maybe I should have!!)

So there you can see, Dear Readers,

 the Slow total of the "work" I can

 accomplish with my sore arm.

I am not used to so much "Inactivity"!

But I will admit that rest is the best cure.

So I am doing my best to do just that...

And learning to do everything with my left hand!