Why We Bought a House and Tore It Down

Because many of you have asked how it's going with the property here is a brief overview.

In February of 2017 we began looking at options to move to in order to separate our business from the house. Bombshell Miniatures is five years old now and it has taken over about half of our home. While at first the commute was terrific in a work-at-home situation, as the product lines, production areas, and shipping/receiving areas have grown, we can no longer escape "being at work."

At first we looked at property in the mid-west, like Missouri, having a better proximity to attend shows and conventions, with an ideal climate. Later we determined this wasn't as practical and decided to stay in Texas near to family.

The houses in our area are in a seller's market with the current influx of businesses moving to the region. We have twenty years of equity in our current home and are very close to paying off the mortgage loan amount. This would allow us to buy another property outright and develop it to suit our needs.

LeeAnn Kearney - Realtor

So, in August with the help of our awesome realty agent LeeAnn Kearney, we finally found a suitable site at a price that was about 30% of the current value of our existing home. We purchased that property with the intent of renovating the existing house if it was possible. The property is a corner lot 12 minutes south of Greenville, TX and is a full acre with fantastic neighbors, a beautiful open view, and lots of space for development.

Throughout the entire month of September, Vicky and I set to task to do the demolition and determine what would need renovating. We knew there were structural issues with the added sunroom as well as some other areas that had flooded at the front of the house after a walk-through and a professional home inspection.


  

After tearing out the sheetrock and carpet to see the extent of the issues, it uncovered a lot more work than just a cosmetic remodel would fix.

• There was cigarette smoke damage and odor throughout the house
• There were live termites under the flooring in the sunroom and laundry room
• There was water damage and rot to most of the studs along the front and side walls
• No internal plumbing or drainage was properly run
• Attic piping to the hot water heater had leaked and caused damage
• Mold was present in all of the outside walls, studs and insulation
• The foundation had sunk below the grade of the drainage swell at the front
• The ceiling joists where the sunroom attached were not properly supported

So, after we tore enough of it out to determine the extent of the issues, we decided to complete the demolition and replace the house with a new modular/manufactured home. It would be a completely new building, all built to code, complete with a manufacturers warranty. Vicky and I visited Recreational Resort Cottages in Rockwall, TX to select a suitable floor plan and choose all of the options on the interior/exterior. This is the model we chose.

We hired SML Demolition in Greenville to remove the house structure as well as break up the foundation concrete and remove all of that. They have been fantastic guys to work with and have done a terrific job clearing the site for our new home. They managed to deconstruct the structure and salvage/recycle a lot of the materials.

  

We are expecting to receive shipment of the new house the first week of December and will be posting updates to our photo albums on Facebook as we prepare to move in. During this time, construction continues on the 1200 sq ft production facility and studio for Bombshell Miniatures. You can see all of the pics on the progress in the albums here.

Bombshell Acres

Bombshell Factory

--Patrick

Konflikt 47 Firefly Squad

With the Warlord Games Con coming up Memorial Day weekend in Oklahoma City, I wanted to get my Konflikt 47 models ready to take along in the event I can get some introductory games in.

My initial force list was set up in Army Builder. I decided to make a fast attack, mobile, and versatile force that can claim objectives quickly but still deal with heavy opponents like tanks. To see the force list PDF you can click here.

The first unit I wanted to start with was the Firefly squad. Rather than just settle with the standard boxed set I decided to do a little customization to give them a real dieselpunk/pulp sci-fi vibe.

For this project the following parts were used:

• 2 x US Airborne Infantry Sprue
• 1 x US Weapon Sprue
• 6 x 25mm LITKO Acrylic Flight Stands
• 3 x 1" tall Flight Peg
• 3 x 1.5" tall Flight Peg
• 10 x 8mm Bubble Hemets and Collars
• 10 x Rocket Packs

The first thing was to sort out the poses of the figure bodies and select which ones would go on the flight stands. The overall look I was going for was a succession of rocket troops coming in for a landing. Some troops would be already on the ground in a firing position while others were still airborne and coming in for a touchdown.

After cleaning mold lines off the parts, I drilled appropriate mounting holes in the bottom of the figures with a 3mm bit. Once they were dry fit on the flying posts I cut the feet from them and re-attached them using ProCreate sculpting putty. I also added some padded kneepads to their fatigues.

I picked one of the bare heads on the infantry sprue and sculpted a flight cap over it. This will be cast in resin for each of the figures' helmets.

Once the squad is assembled it will be on to priming and painting.

--P