05-24-2010, 07:51 AM
Hi All! I am in the mood to scratchbuild something once again! This time I am going to try a New England stone barn.
Something similar to this photo. I am going to be doing this without any plans so it will be "imagin-eered" from the start using strictly materials I have on hand.
I am not sure yet exactly what I am looking for, so if anyone has some decent pics of stone barns either real or modeled I would really like to take a look! Please post if you have any in your archives. A half hour of Google searches did not yield too many images to use as a starting point. Most I found were were of distant landscapes, humongous stadium sized structures, modern businesses and homes remodeled from old barns etc. etc. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places. I did notice that Irish and British style barns resemble closely their older American counterparts so that may be an avenue to explore as well.
For the stone work I will be using a product called Durham's Water Putty. Some modelers have used this as a medium to construct roads, parking lots etc. It sets up fairly quickly and once hardened can be scribed, primed and painted easily (similar to hydrocal or other plasters).
I made a test wall the other day. I took a piece of cardstock and made a simple frame of stripwood. I mixed the water putty(3 parts powder to 1 part water.) I sprayed the mold with a little wet water and poured in the mixture. I let it sit for about an hour and it popped right out of the mold nicely. Scribing the stonework was easily accomplished with the point of a #11 blade. I then tried to see if the wall could be cut for windows or doors and found that it broke when I tried it. So for the proposed structure, the openings will need framed out in the mold.
That's about it for today. I am eager to see how many of you will come through with some hints and tricks and tips as well as some ideas thrown in to boot!
Matt
Something similar to this photo. I am going to be doing this without any plans so it will be "imagin-eered" from the start using strictly materials I have on hand.
I am not sure yet exactly what I am looking for, so if anyone has some decent pics of stone barns either real or modeled I would really like to take a look! Please post if you have any in your archives. A half hour of Google searches did not yield too many images to use as a starting point. Most I found were were of distant landscapes, humongous stadium sized structures, modern businesses and homes remodeled from old barns etc. etc. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places. I did notice that Irish and British style barns resemble closely their older American counterparts so that may be an avenue to explore as well.
For the stone work I will be using a product called Durham's Water Putty. Some modelers have used this as a medium to construct roads, parking lots etc. It sets up fairly quickly and once hardened can be scribed, primed and painted easily (similar to hydrocal or other plasters).
I made a test wall the other day. I took a piece of cardstock and made a simple frame of stripwood. I mixed the water putty(3 parts powder to 1 part water.) I sprayed the mold with a little wet water and poured in the mixture. I let it sit for about an hour and it popped right out of the mold nicely. Scribing the stonework was easily accomplished with the point of a #11 blade. I then tried to see if the wall could be cut for windows or doors and found that it broke when I tried it. So for the proposed structure, the openings will need framed out in the mold.
That's about it for today. I am eager to see how many of you will come through with some hints and tricks and tips as well as some ideas thrown in to boot!
Matt