Captain William Smith House

Neighbors visiting the Smith House.

When Stay-At-Home orders were issued back in March, I figured I'd use the time to work on a project.  I've been impressed with the offerings from Things From The Basement for some time, so I decided to order something for my AWI collection.  Their Captain William Smith House kit was perfect.

Kit parts.

The kit arrived quickly, and in great condition.  It was sent by Priority Mail by default.  While this did help with the shipping time, I would have been okay if there had been an option for slower shipping at a lower cost, but that option was not available from the website.  The only other minor issue is that instructions were not included in the kit.  They need to be downloaded from the website in PDF form.  I would have preferred a printed copy included with the kit itself, but this is a minor complaint.

First floor interior complete.

I found the instructions to be super clear and easy to follow.  I had the first floor assembled and painted on the first day.  Using photos of the inside of the actual house, I used wood stain on the floor, a flat white for the walls, and a colonial red for the doors and trim.

Assembling the windows.

The exterior walls go up.

The exterior woodwork and trim received the same treatment.  Stain for the exterior, white for the interior, and red for the windows.  Assembly was quick, and all of the parts were accurately cut and fit well.

Mrs. Smith checks out her new kitchen.

While I was building, the kitchen area seemed a bit bare, so I added a scratch-built fireplace and shelf.  While researching the actual house a while later, I found that I actually wasn't too far off on the fireplace placement.  The second floor and roof went together just as easily as the first floor and the walls.  I experimented a bit with painting the brick on the chimney, and was pleased with the result.  I wasn't sure about the weird white plaster bit on the front, as I thought it'd look, well, weird, but in the end I like how it came out, and it matches the original building.

The actual Smith House, Lincoln, Massachusetts

Overall, this was a great build, and I'm happy to have added it to my collection.  After building this, I'd highly recommend Things From The Basement products for anyone looking for buildings for their game table.