Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 1 February 2016

Stairs

I managed to drum up enough enthusiasm this week to proceed a little further with my "Street" and
First set cut out
started on the back-stairs giving access to the upper floors.
This could have been a very simple job if I'd gone for solid concrete steps or had won the lottery and bought some of the wonderful MDF ones available from various manufacturers.
I however decided to make my own using the ever versatile plastic canvas. The problem I've a;ways had with this stuff is gluing it - either to itself or to just about anything else.
second set cut-out with added supports
This part of the build was no exception this regard as I used Loctite superglue  (Whose name begets a lie) and although it eventually did form some type of bond, I'm thinking of backing the result with thin card for stability.That is, of course, if I can get the card to stick to the damn stuff as the superglue only really did what it does best and that's to stick one's own fingers together!


How many steps ?
After the initial steps support was cut, I realised how flimsy the thing was so I cut the second with a vertical and horizontal support to make it a little more rigid. The first had also had to have its support and this of course came from the piece I'd already cut (doh!). This of course is yet another example of thinking a problem through thoroughly before cutting and gluing !  
The other bits were duly cut, ready for the final assemably (made even more awkward due to the nature of the material being used).
I added a cross piece to fit between the two step supports (and now of course realise two more wouldn't come amiss) and the final piece being the top landing.
The landing is sufficiently large enough to easily get a figure on it (and maybe two at a push) as its about 30mm x 35mm.
'Finished' stairs   (the blue was an aid memoir not to cut !)
The steps are about 35mm wide by about 10mm deep and although they would be more to scale (yet still overly large) at half those dimensions I felt that both the drop and size of each individual step didn't look too out of place, I'm not a big fan of the large 'building block' steps that I frequently see.used for the obvious reason that figures sit nicely on them.
No, mine are looking at steps, not using steps!






The landing was left loose to enable the final fitting to the building to be a little easier. There still
Different, but boring view
a little more to do on this before I can truly say it's finished (other than the obvious one of attaching it to the building).
I'll be re-gluing all the joins (again), adding two more crosspieces to act as braces, double undercoating (for extra strength-fingers crossed), adding a hand-rail (even though haven't completely figured out how I'll do this  yet)  and finally painting it a suitable metallic looking weathered and rusted effect.
Some or even all of the above may well have been finished this week and the reasons.excuses why they haven't  are explained on my other blog (ZabGladsWorld).

That's it for this week, as usual thanks for looking in.

17 comments:

  1. Good looking steps Joe, once you figure out how to strengthen them I'm totally pinching it!

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    1. Thabks dGG, O think that with the etra bracing pieces added and the support offered by the building itself it'll be strong enough, but only if the glue holds.

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  2. Great idea for external stairs Joe! I'm sure once they're painted they'll look the business.

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    1. Thanks bob, I'm hoping they do the job with a little more effort.

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    1. Thanks AL, though I don't think there's any money to be made considering ow long it takes me to make stuff, so i'll never be able to turn professional.

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  4. They look very well indeed. I suspect that the plastic canvas is made from polythene or some similar material. If that is the case then it'll be impervious to pretty much all household glues, though specialist adhesives can be obtained for most polymers :-( .

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    1. Thanks C6, it is pretty much glue-resistant, but a mix of superglue and polystyrene cement seems to be holding atm.

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  5. Maybe some light sanding before glueing would improve the bond? Or hot glue?

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    1. Thanks Mathew for that tip. My nomral pre-gluing preparation is to lightly file the relevant bits and/or drag a scalpel blade across them, to rough them up.

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  6. What a great way to build stairs easily and quickly I bet. I'm going to have to give these a go, they will look better that the big block ones I am sure!

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    1. Thanks N667, I've never liked the blocky stairs and I wish I could affford to buy the mdf ones *they're very cheap). The only problem I've had with these is gluing them; I wish I was more confident with my glue-gun as I think that therein ay the solution

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  7. Terrific fire escapes! I was wondering how to do these and to keep the, robust. Consider the idea stolen.

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    1. Thanks Clint, I can't claim this idea as my own as I've seen a fire eascape (complete with landings etc) made from this studd the nly difference being that the builder used vertical ladders between floors instead of stairs.

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  8. Just as I like 'em. Quick, efficient, cheap and good looking.

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    1. Thanks Irqan, we're of a like mind in every respect there.

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  9. Thanks HW, I'm guessing another couple of hours will see it finished

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