The Idea

My Dad and his wife Jean spend their summers in Bayfield, Wisconsin living on their boat.
When people come up to visit, they often take them to some of the various
lighthouses that exist in the Apostle Islands area.

One of my favorites was the Sand Island lighthouse. As a result of the beauty and history of the lighthouses of the area, we decided to build a model for my Dad and Jean.

There are several more pictures of this project are available in the Photo Gallery.

The Design

I decided to carve the base out of foam, and then coat the top of it with strips of plaster cloth. The building is hand made out of pieces of balsa wood, cut and glued together by hand. The rocks are made from plaster poured into rubber molds.

Building

Paige helped to paint the base, rocks and building. She and Andi painted and placed the rocks, as well as helping to arrange the rest of the details on the surface.

Once the building was assembled and painted (including a working “light” in the lighthouse), the surface was coated with modeling supplies to represent grass and other surface vegetation. Then trees were added to complete the scene.

Thanks again to Paige for her help, I certainly couldn’t have finished this project without her painting skills!