Terrific!

Cheers, Mark

Thanks very much, Mike, Curt, Tom, Larry, Philip and Labdad.

Its a fun little project that travels well.  I've taken them to dog shows a couple of times where I work on them in a deck chair in our little marquee, and even when the wind is blowing quite strongly its easy to twist up armatures.  Also a great project to gab at the last minute as it doesn't require lots of materials.  In fact, at a pinch, a handful of florists wire will keep you busy for a several hours!

Cheers, Mark.

PS - I've been working on soldering on dropper wires and connecting them up to bus wires, so nothing of interest to show.  I'm using 3 and 5 way wago 221 splitter boxes, which I love.  I find I can twist together two dropper wires so a five way splitter will do up to 6 droppers leaving the two outer slots for the bus wire.

Looking great, Larry.

The little shed looks terrific. 

I like to leave a little overhang on my treads, as I think you have done.  I do work out where my 4x4's for the railing support posts are to go and cut little squares out of the appropriate treads flush with the side of the stringers before I glue them on.  This gives a nice flat surface to adhere the posts to.  Making these cuts after the stairway is assembled is extremely difficult to do without causing damage.  Not much help this time around, I know, but something to try with your next set.  Northeastern do timber stringers.  Rail Scale Models carry the old Rusty Stumps stair sets, laser cut with stringers and treads.  They also do jigs.  There used to be a company that did a variety of different sloped stringers, but I couldn't find them.  They had laser etched nail holes in the treads so I thought maybe BTS?  But I couldn't find them on the BTS site.  They might have closed down? 

Cheers, Mark.

Really great to see your progress and read about your adventures.

The build has came up wonderfully well.  It is an impressive main structure and looks like it would be a fun build.

Have you checked out modelu for children?

https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/collections/digital/products/60012-children

Cheers, Mark.

Continuing...

Photo 7 - Here is the paste I use to apply for bark texture.  This is applied with a flat brush.  I use a smaller brush when applying to the twisted wire branches.  It works very well and goes a long way.  It is also carvable.


Photo 8 - Here is another tree.


Photo 9 - A close up of the textured bark.  I may add another layer and more to the wire branches, although at this stage I'm not sure how much the flock will hide.  There is no such thing as a bad tree, just foreground and background trees!


Photo 10 - An idea of what they will look like en masse (and also how many thousand I will need to make!)  They are almost indestructible (I dropped a branch on the garage floor and my wife ran over it in her Mazda Demio.  I was still able to reshape the wire back to as good as new).  You can also construct anything - if you can dream it up, you can build it.  I would imagine as my skills progress I will be able to work from photographs and build a model tree to match.  I'm already doing this, but imagine I will improve.  There are also other techniques such as creating branches with thicker wire and wiring the smaller branches to the end of these.  In this way multi limbed trees can be constructed.  I'm keen to have a go at this to attempt a Kamahi tree.  This is as far as I have got so far, but I'll be sure to update as my journey progresses.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

Thanks very much, Rick, Curt and Jerry.

I've taken a few more photographs so will try to walk you through the wire twisting stage.  This is a tried and true method covered in many books including Gordan Gravett's two books 'Modelling trees part 1 and 2'.  I'm new to these techniques, but have found that twisting up branches is a nice easy job to do while watching telly with the family of an evening.

Photo 1 - Start with an even number of thin florists wire.  I can't tell you the gauge, as I was given a big box of bundles of loose wire.  As the Kahikatea does not have a lot of girth near the canopy, I have lessened the amount of wires I start with as I've progressed.  For my latest trees I have been using 12 pieces for my top branch and 6 pieces for my lower branches.  Pictured is 6 pieces of florists wire, bent in half and the bottom section twisted together.  This, of course, now creates 12 wires.


Photo 2 - Here I have separated 4 wires from the 12.  These are split into 2 groups of 2.  each is twisted a few times, and then doubled over on itself, leaving a small tail.  This tail is twisted together to make another two branches.


Photo  3- The two pairs of two loops are separated.  Each loop is twisted a few times and then doubled over on itself, again leaving a small tail loop and two other loops.  These three loops are all twisted a few times to create smaller loops.


Photo 4 - Shows the four wires completed.  Rinse and repeate.


Photo 5 - Here the various branches have been inserted into holes drilled in the tree trunk.  I try to get a good tight fit and add some Aleenes tacky glue to the hole before inserting each branch.


Photo 6 - Here all the loops have been cut with side cutters and teased apart.  This is another good mindless job for doing in front of the goggle box.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

What a fun project, Curt!

I just thought I'd attach this link for those (like me) who want to have a further investigation of this incredible kit.  Note:  There is a further link with more detail photos within this link.
https://www.sierrawestscalemodels.com/106.html

The ship under construction will be a fantastic build, and very different.  I'll be following along with your progress.  Is your model to go on your layout?  If so, it would be great to see how you plan to incorporate it.

Cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

A little tangent today...

I have been starting out on my tree adventure.  Shadowlands will need a LOT of trees!  There will be several different varieties and several different grades of each sort.  I decided to start off with swamp kahikatea's (white pines).  I haven't got to the adding foliage stage, but thought I would show you my method for creating trunks and adding branches.  Nothing groundbreaking, but a few tweaks.

Photo 1 - Swamp kahikatea, Ship Creek, South Westland, New Zealand.



Photo 2 - I have been using 45x19 dressed pine (probably kahikatea) for this.  I mark the tree outlines - I like to add a bit of curviness for interest - and then cut these out using my jigsaw.


Photo 3 - The timber is turned around in my vise to finish off the other end.


Photo 4 - Here is what I get out of a 200 - 250mmish length of pine.  If I want a curve both ways, four is all I will get, if I am happy with straight the other way I can cut each trunk in half the other way to produce eight trunks.  This would make the trunks around 9mm in diameter, which is around 2'8" scale feet.


Photo 5 - I then use the curved end of my belt sander to sand off the sharp edges.  I work my way along the length of the tree turning the trunk backwards and forward.


Photo 6 - This leaves variations in the trunk thickness, which I like.  Kahikatea trunks are fairly consistent in width, with only a slight tapering with height.  Branches are generally in the top third of the tree.  I then drill a hole in the base of the tree, add a nail, and grind this to a point on my grinder.  The trunk is now ready for the next stage.


More soon, cheers, Mark.
 

Great diorama, Curt.

It looks terrific.

Cheers, Mark.

Thank you Rich and Larry for your comments and for following along.

Rich - briefly explained.  The longer version is that I copied the mock-up when building the tower and enclosed elevator up to the old fishery.  When completed, I took it out to see how it looked on the wharf and discovered it was way too far forward on the wharf, leaving no room for pulling up the catch of the day.  My solution will be to add a hanging protrusion to the rear of the old fishery that the enclosed elevator will connect to.  This will leave the tower further back from the front of the wharf, as shown in the photograph.  And, as you noted, I have not done this yet.  We were away in Dunedin for dog shows, hence my tardy reply...

Cheers, Mark.

Quote from: Michael Hohn on May 28, 2026, 11:29:53 AMReal craftsmanship throughout.  I like the complexity of all the different levels, stairway, conveyors, and roof lines.

Mike

Thank you Mike, Philip and Jerry!

Its been a fun project.

Cheers, Mark.

Quote from: deemery on May 27, 2026, 05:21:07 PMParticularly for that unit at the dock, I'm thinking there would be an elevator to move the fish vertically to that diagonal walkway.  And that's an opportunity to add wiring around the structure.

dave

Thanks, Dave.

Duly noted.

Cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

Photo 1 - Shows the tower in position on the layout.  I will build an aerial jut out at the back of the old fishery for the enclosed conveyor to join.


Photo 2 - A close up shot.  You can see I have added the fly rafters and rafter tails.  I add a piece of low tack painters tape with markings drawn on it to the roof for positioning of those rafter tails.  Fly rafters are positioned at the very extremities of the roof to support the overhang.  In the prototype these are strengthened by outriggers running at right angles from the first rafter/ truss into the building, across the top of the gable wall and out to the fly rafters.  These outriggers would never be seen on this model, so I did not add them.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

Thanks very much, Mike and Curt.

I'm pleased you approve of my efforts.  Curt - I agree with your thoughts on the stairway.  When I held it that position that is exactly what I thought.

Cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

Photo 1 - Here I am making up the side walls for the enclosed conveyor to transport the catch of the day from the low wharf up to the old fishery factory.  This was the only photo I took of the tower construction.  I was obviously on a mission that day!


Photo 2 - This is the original plan of the set of stairs to the second story door on the side of the tower.  As I got halfway through the build I changed my mind.


Photo 3 - The half way point.  I made up the lower string of stairs and they fitted perfectly, height wise, at right angles to the landing.  I though the looked good this way and it was much easier.


Photo 4 - The second string of stairs in place with 4x4 posts attached.


Photo 5 - Hand rails and kick board in place.  If I can deal with the fiddle frustration I like to meet some sort of health and safety rules.  Kick boards are a must in my modelling world, and I do think the stairway looks more complete with some sort of midway 4x2 handrail.


Photo 6 - I made up three of these little sub assemblies as a kind of scaffold to hold fishing nets.  Inspired by one of Gregg W.'s models...


More soon, cheers, Mark.