The Den of Slack

emilymorganti.com

Page 27 of 239

Cassidy Creations Federal fireplace wall kit (part 1)

Last month I posted about the Bauder Pine Mansard Victorian, which I’m planning to furnish with lots of Cassidy Creations kits. Right after that, I got to work on the Cassidy Creations Federal fireplace wall, and I’ve been working on it ever since. This is a complicated kit, and probably one I should have worked up to!

This picture from a 1986 Nutshell News article about Bauder Pine shows a completed Federal fireplace wall.

Here’s the picture that comes with the kit.

And here’s the kit itself. Whoa, that’s a lot of unlabeled pieces!

I bought this at a flea market several years ago. Besides the picture in Nutshell News, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one finished. My plan was to build this for the Mansard Victorian’s living room, and put a false staircase behind it leading up to the second floor.

The kit doesn’t have a parts list, so the only way to figure out what’s what is to lay out the pieces on the diagrams. The instructions are pretty bare bones as well. Not for the faint of heart.

Continue reading

Christmas in March

I’m working on the Cassidy Creations Federal fireplace wall, a very complex kit that has taken three weekends so far and *might* be done tomorrow… but might not. I know, I know, you’re on the edge of your seat! Here’s a quick post to tide you over.

Last week I bought a lot of half scale items on eBay and they arrived today. These pieces belonged to the seller’s mother, who had intended to build a house in a roll-top bread box. I should mention that I already own at least half of these pieces, but you know how it is with half scale… scarcity drives us to hoard! (That is what it drives “us” to do, right…? Not just me?!) And there were a few special pieces in the lot that made it worthwhile.

The four-poster bed, trestle table with benches, wooden cabinet, and rocking chair are Shenandoah. The other bed and the blanket chest are assembled Cassidy Creations kits.

This picture shows the pieces that drove me to buy this lot. The dry sink and icebox are made by Bill & Leona Goldsberry. The pie safe is the same as this one currently available from Bauder Pine. The signature on the bottom looks like GaGodfrey. I’d love to know the artist’s full name, if anyone knows.

Continue reading

A brief history of Bauder-Pine (and a new dollhouse!)

Warning: long post incoming!

I recently bought this 1:24 scale Bauder-Pine shell off eBay. I think this house was simply known as the Victorian, but I’m dubbing it the Mansard Victorian. I’d seen this house once before when someone posted about it on the Greenleaf forum.

The side additions are not attached, and I’m going to leave them off. It’s a roomy house even without them. The partitions aren’t glued in, so I can decide how to place them.

I have some fancy resin windows that will work perfectly with a little modification.


I’m always on the lookout for unusual half scale houses, and that’s doubly true of anything made by Bauder-Pine, which was the go-to company for half scale in the eighties and nineties. The company was a partnership between Pat Bauder and Frank Moroz. Frank is no longer in the miniature business, and Pat died of cancer in 2007.

The Mansard Victorian was featured on the cover of Nutshell News in September 1986. The one pictured was owned by Phyllis Tucker.

Continue reading

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 The Den of Slack

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑