Great Lakes Lighthouse Build

Started by carl b, January 01, 2020, 11:43:41 AM

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Oldguy

Bob Dye
Livin large on a pond

carl b

Carl

sdrees

Steve Drees
SP RR

carl b

Carl

carl b

To begin the High Gothic Victorian keepers quarters, I drew up the remaining HO scale wall elevations. 24 windows and 3 doors total.  Since the brick row counting and other estimating techniques didn't always coincide, adjustments were made to "look right"..



I cut out and taped some card together for a mock-up-, a real balancing act of finding the correct proportions..... I included the roof because it will provide me a preview of some major challenges down the road...



I prepped all the windows and doors I need. Some of these are hacked-up or added to Tichy doors, especially the front with the transom and side lites. The 6 basement windows are the tops and bottoms of 3 regular masonry windows.



Two years ago I made hundreds of hydrocal blocks for a stone bridge in another project. These leftovers were saved and are being repurposed as the single row capping stone course of the foundation.  I chopped them down even thinner- to about 8" high in HO.



I painted them several colors and glued them to a backer board for strength. These will be just underneath the brick walls.



The foundation was built up with mitered stone sheet, chipboard , stripwood and basement windows. Approx. 3 scale ft high. The split in the middle will be covered by the front porch. It's approximately 45' x 26' HO scale.



Capping stone strips applied, squaring chipboard triangles, window sills installed. Also built the "connector walkway" section foundation, which ties in the light tower to the keepers house..



The side walls now have most of their windows and doors cut and test fitted. 33 scale feet high to the gable peak.



Front wall complete, very tricky with those dormers, so VERY slow going...Must brace this unit immediately to prevent any disasters...



Till next time...little things can help a lot....
Carl

Oldguy

Bob Dye
Livin large on a pond

GPdemayo

Great progress Carl.....the foundation is especially well done.  8)
Gregory P. DeMayo
General Construction Superintendent Emeritus
St. Louis & Denver Railroad
Longwood, FL

Jerry

Moving right along.


What excellent job on that foundation.  if I ever build a house I'm hiring you to come to Jersey to do the stonework!!!  ;)


Jerry
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." A. Lincoln

carl b

Thank you very much Bob, Greg and Jerry.

Appreciate your posts and comments, and for following along.
Carl

postalkarl

Hey Carl:

Wow you have come A long way since I visited your build. Foundation looks great and I'm sure the main walls will be very nice also.

Karl

carl b

Thanks Karl, I'm grateful to be done with the light tower finally-
Carl

carl b

All windows and doors are cut out. 1/8" square bracing complete.



Little things help a lot. For mitered corners on sheet stock, I built this simple 16" long sanding jig. The bottom is 1/2" plywood, with a glued-on piece of 60 grit sandpaper for rough, and a 2nd separate piece, with 150 grit, for finer work. The diagonal 1/2" plywood table has a 45 degree cut, screwed against a 2x4 cut with a 45 degree cut. "Non-skid" material is on the bottom. Just slide under whichever grit sandpaper you need.... underneath the table. You must keep even pressure along the sanded edges at all times.



The 6 dormers are almost swallowed from view by the thickness and angle of the roof. I built out the dormers side walls to keep those strong. It also prevents the "just sitting on the roof" look.  Installing blocking and my insistence on mitered corners dragged out this operation.



Walls in place temporarily on the foundation. Now beginning the landings and steps for all three doors. Cellar entrance doors are on the left side of the front porch.



Pasted and painted all bases. The Ensign stopped in- "I feel like I belong here" he said.



The front porch has Tichy corner posts that were cut to the appropriate length, then glued to the sub-roof. Couldn't find any suitable commercial offerings, so I made the center finials on my "Dremel mini-lathe" out of 4x4 strip wood.



Actual lathe owners will find this humorous, but I simply laid my veteran #395 Dremel in a cardboard & wood cradle, and chucked in either 1/8" poplar rods or 4 x 4 strip wood . I ground the very tips down on sandpaper, and then used a sharp X-acto blade to gouge out the curves or ridges, spinning at the slowest speed.



I tried making the fancy roof top spires and bottom finials for the gable ends and dormers. After some pieces flew across the room or disintegrated completely, I continued to forge ahead. Had to learn the right "touch". Needed 8 of each, but will make a lot more and choose the best ones that match each other. Just used my eyeballs to keep them about the same size.



Till next time...paint and light.....
Carl

Janbouli

Absolutely fantastic , love the techniques you're showing us . Would it be possible to show a little video of turning those posts?
I love photo's, don't we all.

PRR Modeler

Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
Freelanced PRR Bellevue Subdivision

sdrees

Some great ideas Carl.  Thanks for sharing
Steve Drees
SP RR

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