Gingerbread Pretzel Stall and Wurst Cart

Finishing another kit by True2Scale. This time it is a combo kit. A pretzel stall and wurst (or sausage) cart.

Pretzels

I love that there are paper pretzels, however they were difficult to cut out. The laser cutting left them jagged. I didn’t look forward to cutting the edges.

Instead I decided to make my own from wire. I considered thread but figured I would try wire first. The key to this is the right size and hardness of the wire. I have some wire that is the right thickness or gauge but it is really difficult to bend. That is what I mean by hardness.

The second important thing was making a jig. A simple jig of 3 pins is all I needed.

Wire wrapped around the jig, wire pretzels vs paper, and then the wire pretzels painted.

Making a Jig

The right materials are important to make a simple jig. I used a block of wood I already had made a jig on. However a thinner piece will work for a limited time.

I drilled holes for placement of my pins. I am using sewing/straight pins. If my wood was thinner I could just push them in. The thinner wood does have a risk of splitting the more the jig is used. Pushing them is more likely to split than drilled.

Once I have the pins in place I am able to wrap the wire around. Then I remove and trim the wires. Then I painted them.

Initially I painted a darker color, but then repainted a light color and then brushed a different brown on the front to give the baked variation.

Here are the first batch inside.

The first batch of pretzels look great inside.

Adding Lights

Once again I am adding a light to the building. For this one, the groove I cut was wider than the white trim so I needed to cover it. I painted the wire white, then added glue and more glitter.

Wires show so needed paint.
Painted wire is covered with glitter.

I thought I was finished with it, but realized I forgot the sign.

Almost done

Wurst Cart

This gap was not able to glue but the trim keeps it together.

Gap was a concern, but turned out okay.

To Light or Not?

When I started this I wasn’t sure if I would add a light. However when I noticed the wagon/cart is enclosed I decided it should be.

Initially, my plan was for the wire to go across the roof and then down the back. That is what I cut for. Then the question was where does the wire go to reach the groove. Instead I cut a notch in the side and trimmed a groove out along the upper edge under the eave.

Gap/groove created for the wire

This works fine. I just need to be careful with the leg.

White Trim Makes Wurst Worst

I was moving along with this cart and it was time to add the trim. Now after doing many of these, I prefer to remove the trim pieces from the motherboard after painting them. Apparently I flipped them over when moving them to the wax paper for adding glitter. I added the trim to the back and I just picked the one that fit based on the wheel placement.

I put the front trim on the back without the artwork. I have to fix it.

There were two things wrong. I didn’t add the artwork. Secondly, this is the back but there was the extra trim that goes around the window. That’s how I figured it out. There was no need for this extra trim on the back.

I tried to remove the best I can to salvage what I can. But due to being paper and the walls being chipboard it was not very successful.

Thankfully, I always save the motherboard and was able to use it for a pattern of the outside shape. I used it for both the replacement front and the solid side I need to hand-cut. I removed the solid side trim due having used the wrong side which was unpainted. Meaning if I keep it on, it would look different color because the wrong side has laser burn.

The actual back and door side trim (that I hadn’t glued on yet), I scraped away as much glitter as I could to apply it the correct way.

The lesson is if you going to separate the white trim from the motherboard before adding glitter, add a mark to the back in pencil. This will help me to not apply glitter on the marked side.

Next I applied my hand-cut trim to the front. Only to realize that I have forgotten, yet again, to add the artwork. I trim the artwork best I can to fit. I added an extra piece of trim on top to cover.

The back with artwork looks great.

Since I had to scrape away glitter due applying to the wrong side, I glued all the trim first. This way I could touch any spots with paint and add glitter later all at once.

All Done

These are so cute. They are in the smaller group of buildings. The wires make them hard to get flat.
Those pretzels look yummy.
I really like the details in the trim that Carol adds. This one is perfect pretzel shape.
The wire was easy to shape and look pretty good for the wurst, I mean sausages. I believe I will paint over the light wire once it gets installed.
The back looks better than the front because I didn’t mess up the trim.
The end of the sausages.

See all the GB buildings I have assembled from here.

Comments are welcome.


Happy miniaturing!

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