PIT STOP. click on link on my 'signature' for vids

[Gorby]

You are your own worse critic, the chimney stack is an amazing piece of work which looks utterly convincing from this side of the screen. It's time you gave yourself a pat on the back.

 

You mention a few posts back that you are intending to add snow to the eventual display, is that going to be a recipe of your own concoction? I had idea yesterday for making snow, but haven't as yet had time to experiment.

[Badder]

6 hours ago, Gorby said:

You are your own worse critic, the chimney stack is an amazing piece of work which looks utterly convincing from this side of the screen. It's time you gave yourself a pat on the back.

 

You mention a few posts back that you are intending to add snow to the eventual display, is that going to be a recipe of your own concoction? I had idea yesterday for making snow, but haven't as yet had time to experiment.

Hi Gorby,

I have in my head a picture of how the chimney stack should look and that's what I've been trying to achieve. So, whilst it may look 'convincing', or good, or great, as it is, I still see it as a bit of a failure. If I may quote myself,  'It's like the artist who draws the most perfect free-hand circle in history, when he was actually trying to draw a square!'

Not that I think my chimney is perfect in any way.

But I took that oft quoted advice, left it overnight and looked at it with fresh eyes in the morning. I've tried to look at it subjectively and whilst I am now happy to accept that I am not going to get that particular 'look' I was after, I think the new look could be improved slightly. So, I'm going to remove some of the 'mortar' and do a little more work on some of the bricks, making the stack look more aged and unstable. Hopefully.

 

As for the snow, I have weighed up my options. In the very distant past I've used talc, which while it looks good, is difficult to fix in place and makes a hell of a mess if you make a mistake and wish to alter it/remove it, or do anything else with it, actually. So, that's a no go.

Bicarb is a slightly better option, especially when used with CA to make a more icy, or slushy snow. Again though, it's difficult to fix in place if used as a dusting.

I did purchase some Woodland Scenics Snow, which is basically ground up white plastic. And that's okay for forming a bulk of snow I think. Unfortunately, whilst it's easier to fix in place as a dusting, the flakes are too large to be a realistic.

I have also looked at Precision Ice and Snow, and I have to say that's looking like the very best option. Expensive, yes, but unbeatable IMHO.

So, I'll be using a combination of Bicarb and CA in a few places, a lot of Woodland Scenic's snow for the bulk, and a dusting of Precision Ice and Snow over everything.

 

 

Rearguards,

Badder.

 

PS.  Having worked on the chimney this morning, I am now much happier with it. Pics in a bit.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

 In the previous couple of posts I stated that I had failed in getting the chimney to look as I had originally envisaged, but I was going to accept it for what it was, with just a little improvement to do.

As it turned out - more by happenstance than anything else - what I ended up with was the chimney I had originally envisaged!

 

Some may not see much difference, but I rest easy knowing that I've somehow achieved exactly what I wanted to achieve. I can now pat myself on the back!

@Gorby

[Badder]

Apologies for the previous incomplete post which I was unable to continue with, edit or delete, due to my use of the '@member' function which 'locked' in place and proved impossible to remove. Not that I wanted to remove it Gorby,

Anyhooo...... here's the chimney finished apart from a tiny bit of detailing and a matt varnish:

 

 

I started off this morning's work simply by running a scalpel along most of the mortar gaps, removing the 'mortar'. This returned the bricks to their original 3D form and made the chimney look instantly more decrepit.

 

In some places I only took the top layer of mortar off, leaving the deeper mortar in place. I also widened a fair few of the mortar gaps

by pressing the blade in and waggling it side to side.

 

Finally, I rubbed back some of the darker surface inks to reveal the lighter reds beneath.

 

Oh, and the chimney won't be sited as above, it will go in the room at the rear, behind the dividing wall.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

Edited October 7, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

I've just compared the latest photos of the chimney with those on the previous page and I am WELL happy with the chimney now. The bricks are just the right shades of red, look worn, chipped in places, and loose with crumbling and missing mortar.

With that done I'm content to go and photograph fungi down the woods with SWMBO. Now, where's my rucksack for my beer?

 

Have a great afternoon all. (or morning, or evening for those in far off places)

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

[Richard E]

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 5:45 PM, Badder said:

Hi Vince,

And thanks.

The funny thing is I can't pick out a single square inch of this building and say 'This bit is finished'.

There's still bits which need to be made and added on, then virtually everything will get more paint. There's lots to apply damage to, add ivy to, and ultimately add snow to!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

At which point a passing tourist will fall in love with it and adopt it as a restoration project before converting it into a desirable and bijou holiday home.

 

Inspirational work Badder.

[Badder]

1 hour ago, Richard E said:

At which point a passing tourist will fall in love with it and adopt it as a restoration project before converting it into a desirable and bijou holiday home.

 

Inspirational work Badder. 

Hi Richard,

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Some of he walls are packed with cardboard, there's no running water, or electrics and as for the toilet, it'll be outside and have no cess pit underneath it.

 

But thanks for your kind words at the end!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

And now for the fireplaces.

I used to own a house which had a real fireplace downstairs and another directly above it in the room above. The uppermost fireplace was tiny, with a cast iron plate filling most of the hole. The plate had a very small grate built into it and an even smaller flue. This obviously fed into the same chimney as the fireplace below, but how that was achieved specifically is not known to me. What anyone would have gained from burning one small log in the small fireplace is also beyond me. Whatever, I will have to research how a shared chimney worked and was constructed.

The alternatives to the shared chimney layout are 1) to have a fireplace downstairs with its own chimney and to have another fireplace and separate chimney upstairs.

2) To have a fireplace and chimney downstairs and a 'wood-burning heater' with a tubular metal flue, upstairs.

 

I like option 2) which would add some extra details to the building, but I fear that someone would have helped themselves to the heater, if the original owners had left it behind. (But then the same applies to the roof tiles, wooden beams, rafters, guttering, windows, doors, and possibly the stonework and bricks as well!)

 

So.... perhaps option 2) is not the most believable in the case of a 'a relatively old ruin' which I intended this to be.

Unless the ruin stands on the original owner's land - that the owner has vacated this building and now lives in a better one nearby. Only the owner then would have access to the ruin and maybe he didn't need to reclaim anything.

Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

Forgive me then for all of the preceding waffle, but as you can see, by typing my thoughts out 'live' I have 'figured out the logic of things!'

 

In conclusion then, I have changed my mind on the 'fireplaces'. I'm now going for a single large fireplace downstairs and a wood burning heater with a metal flue upstairs.

Scrub researching a shared chimney and research wood burning heaters instead. But first, I will get the downstairs fireplace sorted. I may be able to salvage the one that first appeared at the very beginning of this topic.

 

TFL

Badder

 

I REALLY should plan things properly before I ever start a diorama!

[Badder]

 A BIG THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE 'LIKES' CHAPS. You know who you are.

I feel very humbled.

 

Rearguards

Badder

[Badder]

This is where the chimney is going to be going to go to be going to go.

Rather predictably, I did make the roof structure BEFORE I made the chimney, so it turns out that I have either to cut some of the rafters in order to fit the chimney, or I can build a new roof. In the photo above, I removed said roof and placed it over the room next door. It does fit there. Just. so If I decide to make a new roof I can use the old one for the room next door. Whatever, I was going to have to make a new roof section anyway.

 

 

The chimney has been sunk through the floorboards and rests on the ground in the lower room. It's a tad too tall at this stage, but I shall cut the bottom off once the fireplace is ready to be fitted. I'm not going to use the 'old' fireplace, I've decided. I'm going to make a new, smaller one.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

Edited October 7, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

I got a bit distracted and haven't started the fireplace yet. The thing that distracted me was the fact that the latest supporting wall, the stairs and the floorboards were not fixed in place. I left them 'dry-fitted' because I'd occasionally do little bits of work on the supporting wall and it was far easier to do this if it could be removed. Now that the wall is finished (barring final washes and varnish, I could at last CA the three components in place.

With this done I can now add more details, such as the skirting boards, the railings around the top of the staircase AND that section of front wall.

 

I whacked the skirting boards in - coffee stirrers being perfect once again.

I've painted them that shade of blue and gave them stains with antelope brown. It was during their painting that I realised I could use this same blue in a lot of other places - the window and door frames and possibly the window sills, lintels and surrounds. I don't want

to overdo the blue though, so I'll have to think about it.

 

I had to fit the skirting boards around the door sill and add a thin strip of balsa to tidy it up. This will be sanded and blended in.

 

I did consider running a skirting board down the staircase as well, but struggled to justify its being there. I will be adding a hand rail to that wall though.

 

What I won't be fitting is the tiled floor. I cannot fit the floor until the building is ready for fixing to the diorama base. In fact I'll be fixing the floor to the base first and dropping the building on top.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

[Svedberg]

I really like the odd detail you sort of just stumble over when looking at your pictures. Like the skirting board off to the right in the last picture above, with its peeling paint. Just great!

[Badder]

Just now, Svedberg said:

I really like the odd detail you sort of just stumble over when looking at your pictures. Like the skirting board off to the right in the last picture above, with its peeling paint. Just great!

Hi Svedberg,

Thanks. Rest assured all of the skirting boards will end up looking at least as 'bad'.

I tend to post pics of every bit of work I do. Some may find the high number of photos a bit of a chore to trawl through, but I know pthers like to see every bit of... er.... progress.  This is called a WIP after all! I myself like to see as detailed a WIP as possible, because as you say, sometimes I find a little 'gem' of a detail that really only appeared by accident.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[bhouse]

On 10/7/2018 at 7:33 PM, Badder said:

I have either to cut some of the rafters in order to fit the chimney,

With a house as dilapidated as that, it's likely the flashing around the chimney would have failed (or been nicked!). Water would then get in which could well have rotted the rafters and laths around the aperture... Just a thought.

[Badder]

Just now, bhouse said:

With a house as dilapidated as that, it's likely the flashing around the chimney would have failed (or been nicked!). Water would then get in which could well have rotted the rafters and laths around the aperture... Just a thought.

Hi Brian,

How's things? LTNC

 

Your idea is a viable one, but I will be constructing and then destroying a new roof for that part of the building.

I'm going for dodgey mortar at the top of the chimney, and the eventual toppling of the top half-dozen courses all in one block. This smashed through the tiles, taking rafters and the ridge beam with it and allowed rain and rot to do the rest For the collapse of the roof next door I'm going for bad mortar again, causing the collapse of brickwork at the front of the building (in the barn door area) and that leading to roof instability on that side. 

And yes, I'd be having words with the brickies.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

The fireplace is still on hold, mainly because it isn't 'important' - it won't be easy to see for one thing, and it's not important to the continuation of this build. What are important are the window surrounds and that wall which I hated.

So, I've made 'Flower label' window surrounds for those windows which lacked them, and I've re-carved the stonework on the hated wall.

The 'hated' wll then, shows both progressions.

I've given the wall a fair few washes, including a plaster-dust wash which was then mostly rubbed back. Again, this isn't the finished state, but I had to get the basic colours the same, so I have a level playing field for future treatments of them all. I have yet to carve the mortar gaps in the window surround. I'm pretty sure I'm correct in saying that in this building there are no two windows alike.

 

There's a couple of things I said I was going to start on, but which I haven't. I'm going to start on one now though - the front wall, which will be brickwork. I will be using the FWINFBISS. (Or was it FWINFBSS?)

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

I do love this FTINFBISS.

It's so easy to cut and engrave, with a fair bit of flexibility whilst remaining strong.

 

Anyway, I've cut the board to fit the front of the building, have cut out the apertures for the doors and have begun carving the brick-pattern. I will be making this wall double thickness, and slightly recessed, but it will eventually be collapsed, opening up the room beyond. Again, the barn doors are in place only for photographic purposes.

 

 

TFL

Badder

[Bullbasket]

On 07/10/2018 at 16:25, Badder said:

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Some of he walls are packed with cardboard, there's no running water, or electrics and as for the toilet, it'll be outside and have no cess pit underneath it.

Are you building a model of my house? We had a problem with water running down one of the interior walls. When we got somebody to look at the roof, it turned out that the muppet person that we bought the house from had used plastic carrier bags as a damp proof membrane. He was English and so were the bags....Tesco!!

You've done a great job on the chimney, in fact the whole build so far is excellent. Nice one.

 

John.

[Badder]

9 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

You've done a great job on the chimney, in fact the whole build so far is excellent. Nice one.

 

John. 

Thanks John. It took me a while, but I got there in the end. Accidentally!

 

At least the previous owner used plastic bags .I had peeling wallpaper and damp patches in my old house. Pulled the paper off and the plaster and a load of bricks fell out. Whoever had 'repaired' the hole had just stuffed it with newspaper and plastered over it. The actual cause was the end of a 'new' gutter which had replaced an old one. There was no end plate on the  new shorter gutter so water ran out that end, and onto exposed brickwork where the old gutter used to end. The water then ran down underneath the pebbledash and soaked the wall.

 

Anyhooooooo.... I'm now trying to match the brickwork around the barn doors with the brickwork of the chimney. Not so easy when I didn't make a note of all the processes I used.

 

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

[Badder]

Mortar gaps carved, top rows of bricks damaged. Base colour and first washes....

 

 

After more washes, including a plaster-dust wash, the addition of a wooden lintel, and a test fitting to check for colour.

 

Not totally happy with the colours. Need a few flecks of the brighter red here and there.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited October 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

A few flecks of brighter red here and there:

 

When I made the chimney I turned the FBTINFBISS white side out. With the current bit of wall I stupidly turned it colour side out. (Pale grey/green) This meant that the reds I used didn't 'glow' to the same extent as with the chimney and I therefore didn't get the same effect.

To rectifiy this I scraped back some of the brickwork and continued to scrape until I removed the pale grey/green 'paint' on the FBTINFBISS and exposed the white beneath. I then stippled fresh red over those white areas to achieve the effects above. The brickwork now matches that of the chimney.  Well..... close enough for my liking anyway.

 

I won't be fixing this new section to the building as I am going to have a think about how much damage should be done to it. I had intended that most of this wall section would be collapsed. I could easily remove several more courses of bricks from above the lintel, or indeed 'snap' the lintel and dump most of the brickwork onto the ground. Or I could just leave it as it is now and open up the doors.

 

Ponder, ponder.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited October 12, 2018 by Badder

[modelman182]

Of course.. you do realise, Badder, that there are EASIER ways to do all this....

 

 

hee hee hee...

 

Kev

[Badder]

1 hour ago, modelman182 said:

Of course.. you do realise, Badder, that there are EASIER ways to do all this....

 

 

hee hee hee...

 

Kev

Looks a bit on the small side for what I'm doing Kev!

Having said that, I have nothing against using paper, or card. In fact I've been messing about with paper today, trying to make window frames. I figure it's easier to cut graphpaper into strips and get the rectangles and squares the correct size, than it is to measure, mark and cut plasticard. I'm thinking of making 'laminated' window frames, layering srips of graphpaper on top of each other with CA to get the correct thicknesses and enduce stiffness to the paper. Possibly, I'll get tired of it all and try using real wood instead.

Whatever, the windows (8 of them, all different sizes) are going to be THE hardest part of this build. I can simplify some of them by rotting the hell out of them and having them broken, but a few will have to be done correctly.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

Well, I had a go of making the window frames from laminated CA'd paper. It's definitely feasible, but if I'm honest with myself, all a bit silly!

Giving myself a slap in the face, I did the sensible thing and made one out of wood..... and.... I knew they'd come in handy for many unforseen usages..... the plastic broom bristles.

 

 

Now, I know many scratchbuilders will laugh at my effort. Yep, it doesn't compare to the handrails on a Shuttle Launch Pad for example, or the spokes on a 1/35th BMW r75 motorcycle and sidecar. but then my windows will end up looking rather worse for wear and tear and rot and possibly the odd stone or bullet.

 

Just to explain the 'mess', I first fitted the graphpaper to the window aperture and cut the paper to size and shape.  Then I cut up and sanded some coffee stirrers to make the frame parts. These were then CA'd directly to the graphpaper and to each other. I was going to do the same with the 'cross members' but my fingers aren't up to handling and sanding such small parts. I was stumped for a while, but then remembered those plastic broom bristles. Although circular in cross section, I was going to sand the reverse side of the windows flat anyway, leaving the outside faces convex. Nice. So I CA'd them directly to the graphpaper and to the frames and then sanded everything down flat.

 

As I said, this will be the inner side of the pair of windows. I am going to CA the glass to this side, then flip them over and remove the graphpaper with a scalpel, water and a bit of careful sanding. Having said that, the paper stuck directly to the frames will be used to create chipped and peeling paintwork.

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited October 14, 2018 by Badder

[modelman182]

9 hours ago, Badder said:

Looks a bit on the small side for what I'm doing Kev!

Ha ha - touché, sir. In all honesty, it's a bit small to be of any use. It's a 'Starter kit' from the people who make castle kits using ceramic brickwork (they also did the Stonehenge I built last year).

 

The card is simply a template. The bags at the back of the pic are (from L to R) individual bricks [or perhaps stones would be a better description], roof tiles, paving slabs and static grass.

 

Building it for my LMS to display as he stocks a few of their larger kits.

 

Nice work on the window frame. Damn, that brush is coming in awfully handy, isn't it? 🙂

 

Kev