Ever evolvin dio. ft. 'THE INDESTRUCTIBLE TREE' as ft. on youtube.

[Vince1159]

18 hours ago, Badder said:

Thanks Vince. It's a shame I didn't blow the building up so I could show some more wall-hangings!

That sounds like a dio for someone,couple of Opel Blitz trucks outside a museum or somewhere being loaded up with works of art...

[Badder]

 

On ‎04‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 7:50 AM, Vince1159 said:

That sounds like a dio for someone,couple of Opel Blitz trucks outside a museum or somewhere being loaded up with works of art...

Funny how 'The Monuments Men' was on TV the other day. Coincidence?

 

Badder

[Badder]

So, being a bit lazy, I've decided to make a ground-floor 'entrance porch' out of spare bits of cast wall, rather than start from scratch. It means a bit of cutting, filing and filling, but I'd have to do that even with fresh casts.

Here it is so far.

Note that I've used balsa wood as a backing/frame on which to attach the plaster as I am using several pieces, both large and small, to make each side.  The balsa provides a nice flat 'datum' and ground for the glue. (I'm using medium CA). Of course, I shall be cutting the balsa wood away from the window and doorway once it's finished.

 

Hopefully I shall have this extension built by this evening.

 

I'm still not entirely sure where to place it on the buiding. I'm leaning towards one of the end walls rather than the rear.

I'm looking forward to sticking a roof on this and covering a this with ivy. (again, hopefully)

I think I may have to cut a doorway into whichever end wall I chose to place it. I could leave the extension 'doorway' doorless and just have a door into the building itself. 

And I'm now thinking that the lower rear wall could be passable with just ventilation slots rather than windows.

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

I haven't finished constructing the 'porch', what with my day being interrupted by a 'post-prandial, sudden-onset, diabetic-induced snooze' which turned into a deep sleep of several hours.

Nevertheless, I have progressed significantly, as can be seen below.

 

The tiled roof is dry-fitted and oversized for now, but it will be trimmed and thinned.

I just have to finish the remaining end wall off with a slope for the roof. Then I can fill in all the gaps and re-carve the stonework before adding the roof permanently.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

Seems I uploaded a photo that hadn't uploaded to the sharing site!  Now corrected and available to view above!

 

Sorry

Badder

[Major_Error]

You will need someone to paint the porch, @Badder. But be aware!

 

---------------------------

Blonde paint job

 

A blonde, wanting to earn some money, decided to hire herself out as a handyman-type and started canvassing a wealthy neighborhood. She went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had any jobs for her to do.

 

"Well, you can paint my porch. How much will you charge?"
The blonde said, "How about 50 dollars?" The man agreed and told her that the paint and ladders that she might need were in the garage.

 

The man's wife, inside the house, heard the conversation and said to her husband, "Does she realize that the porch goes all the way around the house?"
The man replied, "She should. She was standing on the porch."

 

A short time later, the blonde came to the door to collect her money.
"You're finished already?" he asked. "Yes," the blonde answered, "and I had paint left over, so I gave it two coats. "Impressed, the man reached in his pocket for the $50. "And by the way," the blonde added, "that's not a Porch, it's a Ferrari."

 

8-D

 

[cocky05d]

On 23/04/2017 at 11:25 AM, Badder said:

 I agree! The MiniArt doors are stupidly tall. Unfortunately every MiniArt building I've seen uses the same doors.

When I made the first building I lowered the height of the doorway. Of course, I couldn't cut the kit door to fit (it wouldn't look right) and decided not to scratch a new door.....but as it was a ruined building, that didn't matter. I could do without.

With this second building, lowering the height of the doorway/door would have meant having to cut away the plastic 'arch', drop it down a couple of 'feet', fill the space with plaster and carve new stonework above the new 'arch'.... and I'd have had to scratch build a new door to fit. This was something I wasn't happy to do. So, a doorway for giants it is.

But then again, maybe the farmer wears tall hats, or his wife has a Marjorie Simpson hair-do?

 

Badder

Isn't it strange the way all the builders in Europe use the same hinges and door handles.

[Badder]

15 hours ago, cocky05d said:

Isn't it strange the way all the builders in Europe use the same hinges and door handles.

Indeed, and for this 'porch' I'm taking advantage of the fact that it is made up of plaster casts and not the original MiniArt parts. I've chopped the bottom off the porch and have lowered the height of their stupidly high doorway. In full scale this would equate to around 2ft lower... and still it's plenty tall enough!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

[Badder]

Here I've filled the gaps and re-carved the stonework before giving the walls and roof a wash with water and dark earth and rust weathering powders. However, this is more to accentuate any flaws than to colour the plaster. Having chopped the bottom off the porch, I've of course lowered the height of the window as well, and I need to address this by raising the window sill.

 

 

Furthermore, because this porch is purely a 'shelter' and 'storage' area outside the side door to the building, I am not going to glaze the window, or add a full wooden door. Instead the window will be barred, and the doorway will feature 'stable doors'. I am going to add some shelving and scratch build a full door to the interior of the main building.

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

 

I've raised the window in the porch, removing the original window sill and replacing it with a plasticard one positioned higher. The gap below the new window sill was filled with an off-cut of wall. 

The GOOD thing about MiniArt kits is the amount of spare parts you get. Some detail sprues are generic and appear in many of their kits.

With this Ardennes kit there's a detail sprue which also appears in the Ruined Village House kit. The sprue holds door parts, window frames, guttering and a pair of wrought iron ornamental gates .Neither kit requires the gates as part of the build. The same sprue appears in other kits in which the gates ARE used, but the doors and windows are not.

So, I have two pairs of wrought iron ornamental gates. And they are perfect for making 'barred windows', as you can see.

 

I may turn the bars up the other way. And yes I can see the bits that need to be shaved off.

 

 

 

The same gates will be used to make another barred window... and maybe some actual gates!

 

TFL

Badder

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Ozzy]

Wow Badder you don't hang about. Your porch complements the main farm house very well, your roof tiles look really effective. A little quicker than individual roof tiles.

[Badder]

7 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Wow Badder you don't hang about. Your porch complements the main farm house very well, your roof tiles look really effective. A little quicker than individual roof tiles.

Thanks Ozzy,

The porch was knocked up pretty quickly because I just used spare off-cuts from previous castings. The hardest part was getting everything square and true. Again I used graph paper as a base and set squares for the perpendiculars. When it comes to making old buildings I am not one for 0.1mm or even 0.5mm accuracy though! Plaster shrinks and warps sometimes! So long as it looks right to the eye, that's good enough for me.

 

As for the roof tiles, they were purpose cast, and must have taken all of 20 mins to make; 15 mins of that drying time!

Although the roof tile mould I've got is excellent, the tiles are way too neat and tidy for my liking. So at some point I'm going to make another cast and take a scalpel and files to it and make the roof old and decrepit..... and then I will make a new mould of that. But as I say, that's something for the future.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

I've finally decided on the positioning of the porch. It will be added to the side of the 'barn' section towards the rear, with a door knocked through to the interior. I am not happy with the right hand corner of the porch... there are no cornerstones. So I'm going to have to rework that end.

But then again, I keep forgetting that this porch is going to be rampant with ivy/creepers and so I could possibly get away with not bothering.

 

 

I have to say, this little 'side project' has been most enjoyable. I am really looking forward to kitting the porch out with shelving, workbench, hardware and bric-a-brac.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

Whilst watching Prometheus for the 10th time, I've been having a crack at making a length of guttering to fit the rear of the building. I've previously searched for drinking straws and other such materials of an equal diameter to the kit's guttering, but have so far failed to find anything suitable.

So I had the idea of making the guttering from paper.

Obviously, one sheet of paper isn't thick enough to replicate the kit's guttering, but several sheets glued together are. And from experience I know that layers of paper, when doused with thin CA, take on a plastic-like quality.

 

I used graph paper to keep everything square, first bending one sheet over the edge of a thick sheet of plastic to create a long convex fold. I then doused this with thin CA and succeeded in stiffening up the fold while coincidently gluing my fingers to it as well. I managed to extricate my fingers without too much pain, and then managed to glue them again whilst applying the second sheet of graph paper, and finally again with the third.

 

I trimmed off most of the excess paper, leaving a half-pipe which appears below.

 

 

Below..... And here it is beside the kit's guttering for comparison. Whilst the paper version isn't perfect in form, I think I can squeeze it and play around with more CA to make it more than passable. UPDATE... Yes, I managed to tidy up and remove the creases visible to the right in the photo below.

 

And the CA'd paper guttering with a Junior Hacksaw hanging from the end to show how stiff CA'd paper is.

Tomorrow, or should I say 'later this morning' I will add the support brackets. I shall probably make those from thin plasticard.

FInally, and luckily I have a spare in the kit for the end of the guttering where the drainpipe attaches.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

IF I can find some paper straws, the above method should be even more successful. I'm not sure if anywhere sells paper straws any more though.

 

Badder

 

UPDATE.

 

No need for me to search for paper straws. My graph paper guttering has turned out much better than I had anticipated. I had thought that the final trimming to size would be very difficult... with much care having to be taken to keep the guttering true and equal along its length.  I had thought that maybe it would be impossible.

 

So, I cut along the lines on the graph paper as carefully as I could, trying to keep the rims of the guttering equal. As feared, it need tidying up.

 

But I worried needlessly. As it turns out CA'd paper is so plastic-like that it can be filed and sanded.

 

I now have a length of guttering which is almost a perfect match for the kit's guttering. The small flaws in mine can be passed off as flaws in the 'real life variations in cast iron.'

 

Pics later, after I've had a sleep!

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by Badder

[Badder]

A bit later than promised due to life getting in the way.... but here's my CA'd paper guttering so far. In the end I used more paper to make the brackets, and a made use of the spare 'downpipe connector' section from the kit. Thanks to MiniArt I also have a spare set of parts to make another drainpipe.

A bit of tidying up is required before I get to painting this.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[PlaStix]

Excellent progress Badder and your porch looks just the job! The guttering looks impressive too. Very nicely done. 

Kind regards,

Stix

[Badder]

2 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Excellent progress Badder and your porch looks just the job! The guttering looks impressive too. Very nicely done. 

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix,

I'm making good use of a week's holiday! Well, in between day trips anyway. After success with the paper guttering I'm contemplating improving the roof ridge tiles using the same method. The ones I've made are okay, but they could be better.

 

Rearguards

Badder

[Badder]

I've done 3 stages of painting the new 'old guttering', needing only now to satin varnish and do a pin wash. For those interested, I have taken to applying Humbrol weathering powder with water, not my usual enamel thinners. Using water means I can more or less apply it without waiting for the enamels to fully dry and without a gloss varnish. And being water on enamel the effect is more blotchy and speckled... which suits rust and dirt spots better.

 

Here's the old old guttering next to the new old guttering. I leave you to decide which is which!

 

 

 

 

 

I am treating the 'window bars' in exactly the same way.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Ozzy]

Nice job, it's maybe somthing I will have a go at as I may need some guttering in the future.

[Badder]

48 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Nice job, it's maybe somthing I will have a go at as I may need some guttering in the future.

Just keep a bottle of nail varnish remover handy! I went for just pulling my skin off!

 

[RichO]

Exceedingly nice finish on the gutters!

[Badder]

Today I am mostly tidying up a few bits and pieces before continuing with the 'porch'.

 

I've finished off the guttering, with a bit more weathering and the addition of the 'end caps'.

I've also fixed the front door in place, using a full height paper 'hinge' and CA.

I've finished the painting and weathering of the window bars.

 

Here are the window bars, given a flaky paint and rust job using blue enamel with a gloss varnish, and then dark earth weathering powder with a tiny bit of rust weathering powder mixed in patchily.

 

And as mentioned a few posts ago, I wasn't entirely happy with the right hand corner of the 'porch' as I had butted and blended two plaster walls together forgetting that there should be cornerstones.

But rather than rebuilding the corner I had the idea of making the cornerstones as overlays, using rectangles of thin plasticard and bending them around the corner. I! think the result is quite effective and I'm wondering now why I didn't think of doing this in all those previous situations where I had to make corners! It certainly saves all the hassle of re-carving!

Here I've given the wall a dusting with plaster powder, just to bring out the detail. More work will be done to tidy this area up. I may leave the cat hair in place.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

There's still a fair bit of weathering and tidying up to do, but that will recommence once the rear wall and porch have been added. Then there will be ivy/creepers to add.

Here's a few shots of the building take outside, just to show it in true light rather than low energy lightbulbs or flash photography.

 

 

 

I am just about to fix the kit's guttering to the front of the building. If you've read the very early posts relating to the construction of this particular building you'll know that the guttering was 'blessed' with a row of nearly a dozen support struts. But being MiniArt struts, they were spaced and positioned in such a way that none of them actually connected with the eaves. I couldn't figure out how the guttering was supposed to be attached to the building, and the 'instruction' sheet didn't help at all. So I added a beam of balsa wood under the eaves, to which the guttering could be attached without using the completely useless struts.

To fix the guttering I'm going to have to CA it to the underside of the tiles, up against the balsa wood beam, and this requires that I turn the building upside down. That's why I haven't added things like the chimney, the gas lantern, or the stairway handrails. Odds on I'd have damaged them!

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

Guttering fixed. I've given the runnel a mud wash and I will be sticking the odd tuft of grass in there as well  The drainpipe is only dry-fitted. It needs tidying up with some washes to tone down the rust. I've removed the long support struts because a couple were ...er .... broken off by accident. I'll be replacing them with  plasticard ones and fixing the ends into slots carved in the side wall,

 

Next, I suppose I had best address the lack of a door in this same wall. As the porch will be shielding the door I'm thinking I can carve a depression in the wall and overlay a 'fake' door rather than cut right through.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder