Jane's attic, update XXI: an upgrade for mister Goergen's wheel chair - SPECIAL HALLOWEEN EDITION.

Celebrating Halloween 2018, here's a special, extra edition of my Rust & Steel blog. 

Earlier this month I posted some pictures of an awesome 1:12 scale miniature wheel chair and crutches, hand made by the talented Dutch miniaturist Han Goergen, and destined for Jane's attic. Today I'm sharing with you the changes I made to it, and hope you will like the end result!

The wheel chair and crutches after the 'make-over'.

Although the chair was perfect, I still wanted to make a few 'cosmetic' changes and additions of my own to it, not many, but still important to me! I mentioned my intentions to mister Goergen, who said he was looking forward to see what I'd do to the chair!

For starters, I wanted to work on the handles to push the chair along. These were rather basic, and their shape and color a bit 'at odds' with the chair..

One of the original handles.

So I replaced them with more elaborate wooden examples, which I weathered together with the metal rod to which they were attached for a more antique and robust look.

The new wooden handles, including a 'crack' to suggest heavy usage.

Then my attention went to the wheels and leg supports, which looked too 'factory fresh' to my taste, hence not 'in line' with the chair itself, for which mister Goergen had used old wood and beautiful, vintage olive drab vintage fabric, which is at least 60 years old! Below are some 'before and after' photo's to illustrate the changes.

This image: One of the wheels prior to the 'weathering'.

Wheels and rubber tires after 'weathering', looking much more antique. Note that a cap was positioned on top of the head of the screw to hide it from view.

The leg supports were also subjected to 'weathering' to remove their 'factory fresh', pitch black look, and make them look old and used.

The crutches and underside of the chair didn't escape my attention either, and looked more used and worn after I was done with them..

I also decided to add something extra; something of my own design, which wasn't part of the original chair and crutches set. The idea was to create an old oxygen bottle standing on a trolley. This would not only add an interesting feature to look at, but also an extra 'layer' or story line to the developing 'Jane of the Attic' story. 

The oxygen bottle and trolley were constructed using all sorts of parts, and were quite a challenge to do, specially the trolley. I studied several designs, past and present, but in the end I went for a design of my own, simply because none of the ones I came across came close to what I had in mind. And, actually, I'm glad I did, because, to be honest, I'm quite proud of the end result: A one-of-a-kind, bad ass and creepy looking old trolley, supporting an equally impressive oxygen bottle, all in 1:12 scale! By the way, the beautiful rust on the bottle's body is totally natural, and I chose it for that very reason. Only the valve on top of it was added and weathered by me. They do match, don't you think?

Finally, here are two pictures of the wheel chair and crutches, together with the oxygen bottle and trolley, plus a special 'Halloween card' with my best wishes to you!

Thanks for visiting, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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