The Church (wip #3)

 After feeling ill for the first half of the week, recovering and now ending up with a cold, I'm amazed that I managed to get anything done this week. 

After cutting and fitting the various parts necessary to finish the roof, gluing them in place was very slow as I really needed to wait whilst one piece dried before assembling the next one. 

Each side of the church needed three pieces to attach to the vaulted roof and once done the whole assembly needed gunging up with filler and then sanding, some areas having to be done twice. 

The filler was my usual cheap pot of read-mix from Poundlandworld and I've gone through half a pot of the stuff just for this model ! 

The inside of the church was painted black (to stop seeing the inside from the three openings); doors were glued in place (before the roof assembly) and the two statues on the facade were embedded in filler. The latter had their bases severely filed down as I didn't want to raise their height above the plinth any more than was necessary.

  

So the main body of the church is finished (see photograph on the right), the buttresses have been carved out and the tower plans are well underway.

 

Here's the photgraphs of how it went 

Inside of the church painted black

Roof pieces cut, rabbetted and the inside painted black

Roof pieces held in place by masking tape, whilst drying.

After adding plaster and sanding.

Side and rear view (not looking forward to tiling the apse).

Lower sides have not been 'gunged', yet, as they still have work to do on them.

Three-quarter view showing where the tower will be  (bootom centre - the square of foamboard).

Picture to show scale with 54mm (kneeling) figure.

The footprint f the body of the church is about 12" long 30cm), by 7" wide (18cm) and 8" (20cm) to the top of the vaulted roof. The top of the faced is about 10" (25cm), from the 'ground' level.

The four buttresses with template (on the left).

 Other than the four buttresses, the tower, the cross on the top of the facade and the two bells to source, the building is all but complete !

In other news:
I had a very interesting exchange of emails a week or so ago but will have to let you all (both ?) know  the outcome of all the messaging after this weekend when it all comes to fruition. (I too don't yet know how this will turn out.)

That's it then for another week, when I've not acheived much, but more than I thought I would. Next week should see the church all but finished (a trip to the pet shop is in order - for the bells in case you were wondering) but I'll also be, yet again, losing a day due to real-life (and the above).

 

Once more, thanks for taking the time to visit, hopefully you found something of interest and as always, your comments are both welcomed and apprciated.

 

The Church (wip #2)

 Once more this week, I have been working in 'fits and starts' on the church, adding a lot of detail to the facade and other bits and pieces to the remainder of the building. I keep wondering what the set makers were thinking of when they added seemingly random bits to all the buildings in the village. I've also started planning the bell tower and the photograph on the right shows one of the few pics showing the whole (almost) of the tower and a good view of the large buttress to the front right of the building. There is only slight evidence for another three buttresses, but there is definetly a second on the rear left of the church. I'm going with the church being symettrical and having four buttresses.
Here's the photographs:

The area of the facade I've been addrssing.

More matchstick bits added

The front three steps added.

The two front doors made in cardboard.

Internal view of the steps and where the third layer of the facade (with the doors) fits

Mock up of the facade still in pieces to facilitate work.

Plans and materials for the last detailing

The pieces in place

The facade after its initial coating of filler

The facade is now as complete as I can make it, but without the elegant plant carving, up the two thin columns - though I do have thoughts on these too (doilies ?). It does need a bit more filler in parts and a lot of filing, but this week should at least see the major body of the church assembled. There is still a lot of work to do on it though.

The four buttersses need material sourced (foam ?) and the apse's half-conical, tiled rood to do. I have though started on the card that will support the dark stone surround as shown below:

The rear apse sans roof.

In other news:

About two weeks ago, I recieved notice of parcel, through the post and after a bit of hassle with the post office I eventually got the small, heavy, parcel (with a Russian label), into my hands.

After closer examination of the label I fouund it was marked 'sample'. I hadn't ordered anything from anyone but upon opening I realised than my Evil-bay wanderings had probably been the cause of this windfall (I was looking at 54mm-1/32nd scale western figures). The Russian firm has a vast selection of these figures,  from gunfighters to civilians, but at about £6 plus postage and the fact that my painting skills (or lack thereof) couldn't possibly do them justice they remain a wishful whimsy.

Here's the figure I recieved: 

He's a cowboy with chaps and a great level of detail, though hardly a figure I'd want.

That's it then for this week, I'll be continuing work on the church, assembling the bdy of the building, making buttresses, starting on the roof of the apse and making inroads into the tower, proving real-life doesn't interupt as it did in the last week when I was recruited as the on-site joiner to fix both our front and back doors, losing a whole day's hobby time to the two endeavours.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, hopefully there was something here of interest and as always your comments are always welcomed and truly appreciated.

Building #1 - The Church (wip)

 Although I've taken a leisurely approach to this build in the last week, I've still managed (from my viewpoint) quite a lot of progress on this build and even managed to maintain at least an hour a day on the build.
The photograph on the right shows the front of the church (obviously), with peons scurrying about .

The other three photographs in turn show -

i. The right hand side of the church

ii. The rear  of the church with curved apse(?), where the altar would be found.

[Note: As Christian  churches are always built on an east-west line, with the altar in the east, this gives us a good orientation of the entire village.]

iii, The left side of the church, showing the only noticeable feature on this wall - a hole !

Note the 'arched building' on the left of the Church

Showing the general cross-section of the church

The very peculiar eliptical hole (window ?)

My build started with drawing out the plan and the front and rear walls of the church on a sheet of foamboard (A2), then gathering the other materials I'd need for the build.

Sketched plans, and all the tools needed

Two figures that will be used as statues on the front

A thick cardboard tube, used for the roof-top and the end bit

The roof top cut from the tube.

Rough assembly of the bits - the front is left seperate for ease of working on.

Vaulted roof will lie between the ends, rather than on top as shown.

Work started on the front - lots more to do.

I have also cut out the pieces for the sloping roof sections and the vertical walls from the vaulted roof, but they're nothing remarkable.

There's still a lot to do, the front to finish off, the steps to cut out and that tower to start ! The latter is almost a full build in itself ! 

That's it then for this week, more on this next week - probably. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and as always your comments are both welcomed andappreciated,

Gunfighters #3 and #4

 I've posted this week's blog slightly earlier as on Monday morning we're having work done on our Interweb speed thing (sorry about the technical terms) and should last until early evening.

I've just about finished two more gunfighters this last week; they still have some detailing to be done on them though, hatband, belt buckles etc. As their paint was flaking off, for some reason or other, I decided I'd varnish them along with the two already finished gunfighters before proceeding further.

Here's the photographs:

Sorry, no full frontal shot (ooh, err, missus) of the second gunfighter of of this  pair due to technical difficulties (camera battery), but there are two rear views (for those that like that sort of thing).

Bonus group shot of the four gunfighters so far:

 That's it then for this week, next week I'm making a start on the church (how difficult can four walls be?), so expect a wip-type post.

As always, your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.