If you have read the thread, “Bob’s New Daughter”, then you have all the information to understand what this is about.
The first time I saw my daughter in person was in March, this year, in Springfield, Missouri. I met her and we spent the day getting to know each other, just driving around and comparing notes on both our backgrounds. Click on Image to enlarge.
When we were in the eastern part of town, I remembered a house that I had loved all my life since a kid. She then said she had one too that was in this area. I started driving in the general direction and she began describing the house. Long story short, Same house. Her birthday is in December and I had planned to build her a Chinese pagoda, another common interest. Then It occurred to me how perfect it would be to instead build a model of that house for her.
Susan and I went down to visit again from the 7th through the 12th of May. While there, I snapped about a hundred pictures of the house from all angles. Here are a few. Click on Image to enlarge.
Click on Image to enlarge.
The property takes up at least half a city block, has tennis courts, swimming pool and several out buildings. I intend to include everything, maybe not quite all the trees, but it will have enough to simulate the atmosphere. A few of the challenges in doing this is first, the unique stonework. Then the brick on the front has been laid in a parquet chevron pattern. Neither of these are available in scale commercial sheets, at least that I know of, so both will have to be made from scratch. I am using a 2′ X 4′ base, so it will be large enough to show the details. I have a little less than seven months to complete, so I have to get moving on it.
My plans are to build this step by step and post each one as it progresses both here and on Tanks and Things.com. I am fairly confident I can have it done in the time allowed, providing nothing serious happens in the interim. Click on Image to enlarge.
Since I only have known of her existence approaching 6 months, she has inspired me to many off the wall things I have never before attempted, like…… writing a poem?? Guess it is all just part of being a father. Who knows what’s next?
I will start with the base. When we started the museum back in 1993, I built about thirty of this type of base. They have a 2 X 2 frame, (50mm X50mm), and covered with plywood, then carpeted. The plexiglass cover will keep it dust free. When we shut the museum down, I moved a dozen or so to storage. This base is 4 feet by 2 feet, (1219mm X 609mm), and will be perfect for this project. Note the cardboard sheet for the basic construction of the model and the plywood that will be used to mount the diorama. That way, it can be lifted off for moving it. I intend to dress it up with some wood veneer, a brass plate, etc. Click on Image to enlarge.
Click on Image to enlarge.
I spent Saturday, June 6th, getting the basics up and working out the dimensions. Used a calculator more than anything else. It is difficult working from photographs, but I did pace it off from the east and north sidewalks to get the rough size of the real structure. As I scaled down, I used percentages to arrive at the various dimensions. measuring the dimensions on the photograph, arriving at the percentages of difference between two dimensions on the photo, I then use those same percentages when creating the dimensions for the model. The more percentages of difference you accrue, the better the model will have very similar dimensions in scale. Does that make sense to anybody else? Comparing the corrugated cardboard frame to the actual photos, I believe I got the dimensions pretty close. It scaled out to be between 1/32 and 1/30th. I had originally intended to include the tennis courts and the detached 6 car garage w/servants quarters above. I will barely be able to give their impression in the finished diorama.
Click on Image to enlarge.
Here is a shot from the right side, I left the Coke can in the photo to give the viewer a sense of the size.
Here is a left side shot. Click on Image to enlarge.
A front oblique shot from the left. Click on Image to enlarge.
And from the right oblique.
For comparison. Click on Image to enlarge.
The next steps will be creating mattboard veneers, That will give the model strength and then make interior bracing with corrugated cardboard to keep it true and square. After all that is completed, the fun part begins. Building the brick and stone walls as well as the open timber ones, the roof shingles, window frames and fireplace chimneys and so on. The model building itself with be 27 inches wide, (685.8 mm). The main building being roughly 80 feet wide, (about 25 meters)
I got a bit done the last couple of days. I was only able to buy a few sheets of siding materials. I ordered more and they came in today. This is the front entry, I gave it a veneer of matt board.
Click on Image to enlarge.
Then the chimney, it has the matt board and the beginning of the stones. The sheet isn’t identical to the house but close enough when I add several Milliput larger stones at random and give each stone a bit of texture by stipling with filler. A triangular strip of balsa provided the gradient stone and then coated it with artists modeling paste. When sanded and painted, it will have the texture of stone.
Click on Image to enlarge.
Click on Image to enlarge.
Then, as I will do with all windows and doorways, I use 1/8th inch strips of matt board to frame the openings in this unit. I use Elmer’s white glue for the veneering. Next, I will give this a coat of artist’s past, sand and lay in the stones. Click on Image to enlarge.
I had found some really realistic stucco sheets for the open timbered parts, and applied it the the main gable. Later, I will make a balsa grid that will be painted earth brown. The stucco will get an off yellow color finish to match the house. Here it is assembled. I have added the back wall and laid a sheet of the roofing shingles over two gables. Click on Image to enlarge.
Another angle.
The front view. Click on Image to enlarge.
And a view from above
OK, I Got some more done today. I am putting more matt board veneer and cut the chevron area from brick sheet and applied it over the matt board second floor that I made today.
Click on Image to enlarge.
Click on Image to enlarge.
I am posting this again for comparison purposes. Once I have all the white stone in place, then I will enhance it using several techniques.
I should be able to get quite a bit more done over the weekend. Click on Image to enlarge.
am experimenting with creating the proper “Relief” for the stones on this project. This is a trial and error part as I have never done anything quite like this before. It isn’t there yet, but once the fireplace chimney is “Right”, then I’ll have the formula for the rest of the house and can move forward!
I have veneered the chimney with the sheet stone, however, it can only be used as a basis. It needs some random larger and mid-sized stones, some more protruding than others. Here you see wax paper, baby powder, a brass tube that I use on epoxy putty, (Milliput), to roll it into a sheet. The exacto knife and the ruler are used to cut the stones. Just above the ruler is a bluish colored epoxy putty rolled to a sheet. The baby powder is used between the putty and the wax paper to keep it from sticking!
Another shot. Click on Image to enlarge.
Now I have taken some Stucco, (An Italian brand of filler, like Squadron Green stuff), thinned it with Testor’s liquid cement and painted it over the stones on the sheet. More coats to come, and then some material to coat it all with to get the proper “Look”! Also, I will make another sheet of Milliput, this one thinner than the last, and make some more mid-sized stones that will be of a thinner relief.
Click on Image to enlarge.
As I said, I’m playing this by ear!
Anyway, I am getting closer to the “Look” I am trying to replicate. Here are todays results. A reminder of the stone relief on the original building. Click on Image to enlarge.
The bottom half of the chimney looks like this now. I am getting close! But not quite there. After painting and lightly weathering, it would be close, but tomorrow, I will try a couple of other things.
Got a little done this weekend. More stones on the chimney, cut the stone sheets to fit the entry, additional stones to come later. I also did some color experimenting. The Testor’s acryl raw umber very closely matched the brown paint, It is on the window frame. I used Testors acryl Camouflage gray for the base coat of the roofing above the entry. Finally, I used Vallejo 814 burnt cadmium red for the chevron bricks. After weathering and highlighting, all three should be very close!. The awful female figure is for the viewer to judge scale. She is 1/35th. As I go along, I continue tweaking the added stone work. I found that by lightly mashing the epoxy stones with my thumb, they take on a much more realistic appearance. Click on Image to enlarge.
Some of the components look off kilter. That is because they are not attached to each other and just sitting on or about the other components. When assembled, I will make them true in relation to the other components!
f compared to the Real house, the stone sheet applied to the entrance is very similar, but won’t take on the proper appearance until the additional stones are affixed. Click on Image to enlarge.
A couple of days ago, I decided to light it up. I bought a lot of grain of wheat bulbs and some spotlights, so that with the lights out in the room, it will have a light effect as well.
OK, Got some more done. Started the open timber on the left side. I cut the stone sheet to fit the lower section of that left extension, the remainder will be either roof or open timber. Click on Image to enlarge.
Here I skinned the front extension with the brick sheet and made the basic front and rear roof. Click on Image to enlarge.
It is slowly taking shape. I also enlarged the windows on either side of the fireplace, they looked too small. must have been a math error.
Over friday through sunday, I made some good progress! The best thing is, I believe I have captured the feel of the real building. Once that is accomplished, the details become the important facet of the build.
All the sheet stone is veneered onto the matt board. Soon, I will be taking a week or so to add the irregular protruding stones from Milliput like I did on the fireplace. It’s gonna be a little boring and certainly a no brainer, but after the painting and weathering, all that will go a long way to create the look of the real building.
I want to get the roof base cut to fit for the main gable near the front center (Below). Note the dormers on the right extension. There are also 4 large dormers on the rear center portion of the building.
I still have two more sections of open timbered gables to build. One is directly below.
The gap between the two sheets of stone will be covered with a patina brass roof over the bay window.
You will note the fireplace is off the ground. When complete, that will be underneath the paper mache’ dirt in the planter box.
A closer shot!
I have been fooling around with some things. Electrical and paint matching. Not anything major, but I will throw it up here and you can see what you think! I needed two large coachlights for the rear of the building. I found some approximately the right size and style in a Miniart kit. The problem is, I am lighting this one up and the styrene in the Miniart kit wouldn’t take the heat from the miniature grain of wheat bulbs! So, I took a Post light I picked up in a train shop, almost exactly the same size, cut the pole with a razor saw very carefully and then cut a hole in the rear of the light to run the electrical cords from. Then I used the bracket from the Miniart kit, used a dress pin as the ball on the bottom of the sconce and Viola!!
All it needs is some flat black paint!
I have been doing all the open timber gables and wanted to make sure I could match the colors involved.
I ended up using Testors 4606 acrylic Raw Umber for the chocolate brown Timbers, then I found two colors which are a dead match BTW, Humbrol matt 103 and Vallejo 976 Buff for the interior flat areas.
Well, I am ready to post some updates.I have made the basic gable cuts for the main, (center), gable. I have been installing window frames and timbered gables, and, in the process, creating the three major components.
The cuts on the roof will be covered when the matt board and roofing sheets are laminated.
I need to trim the lower part of the roof gable about a quarter inch! I am nearing the point of spending a few days adding Milliput stones on all the surfaces. Boring and tedious, but necessary!
After that, the matt board and the roofing material. Then all the gutters and downspouts.
Just recieved notification that the porch lights will be delivered Wednesday!
I am getting ready to “Wire” the mansion. It will have around 20 standard grain of wheats, plus many exterior lights and spotlights.
Gail came up with the name for it. “Simpatico” it will be. That word fits everything like a glove! She’s so smart!
Here are what the exterior coachlights will look like. They are microscopic. I will be using a 12 volt DC transformer attached to the base. I will be wiring the lights both in series and in parallel, to get the proper scale lighting.
The two tiny wires from the bulb has to be inserted into the tiny holes in the white protrusion I am holding.
If you look really close, you can see the bulb in the center of my palm. The wires are there, the camera couldn’t pick them up.
This is the wall bracket, the wiring and, if you look close, the bulb. The lamp is threaded and actually screws on the bracket.
This shot is using a nine volt transformer and…..
Same lamp using 12 volt transformer
Gee, I feel like an electrician!
I managed to get a little done on this project over the weekend. This part is going slow because the “Sunroom”, a huge sunroom is the entire ground floor of the left wing of the mansion. It will be lit and visible from outside the building so it must be finished and furnished! I began by “Dry walling the interior walls, and started finishing out the window frames. Also, I had to correct the rear of this wing as I learned there was a deck off the second floor when I drove by a couple of weeks ago.
Then I cut a piece of corrugated cardboard to the exact size of the floor. Then I fitted some evergreen tiles to fit that, and glued them together.
Then, made certain of the fit. The gap to the right of the screen is for the rear wall, the sides fit flush against the main building wall.
Then I gave the entire floor a coat of flat back. After drying, I gave it a cloud pattern of dark gray, here and there, at random.
I mixed up a combination of flat white enamel and gloss green acrylic paint. This is the same way I do for patinas on statues, etc. I use this because the two paints will never mix thoroughly, thus it creates the exact effect I need. Then thin it down with thinner and alcohol. I use a wide soft paint brush that I have thinned with thinning shears. Dip it into the solution and make a few practice swatches on an old piece of cardboard. If done properly, it will “Vein” when it hits the black tile I usually do several coats, letting each dry first. I hold the brush in one hand and then strike it with a finger to propel it randomly onto the tiles.
Here is an example of the patina on Napoleon’s statue in the square,
…And then, this shadowbox was made with the exact same system with slightly different shades of colors. It really is quite effective! I discovered both of these techniques while building The Winds of War, way back in the 70s.
This was the first run.
I gave this one three coats. Then allow to dry to the point of lightly sanding it to make it all blend together. Be careful to not sand too hard or use anything but a fine grit, as it will sand the base coat off.
Then after sanding, I use 1/64th inch light gray tape. Chartpak is the brand and it comes in dozens of colors and sizes. I use it like grouting in real tile. Once in that groove and stretched tight, then wrapped on both ends to the cardboard underneath, it will be there long after I am gone!
Then I gave the entire floor two coats of polyurethane clear gloss.
I placed it inside the walls of the left wing to dry overnight. I will assemble the floors and the walls tomorrow. With the seven very large windows in this wing, it will be very visible, especially in the dark with the lights on.
The last shot shows the alterations I had to do to accommodate the second floor sun deck.
To be Continued.
