C. C. Crow Stone Church - First Annual Raymo Build Challenge 2016

[S&S RR]

Here is my stop action picture with all the fine plastic dust.  I kept the vacuum cleaner going while I did this. Tip of the day: put the small nozzle on the vacuum so you don't have to go get your casting out of the vacuum cleaner. Yes - that is one of learned the hard way.

[S&S RR]

Another tip: This was my first experience at trying to sand resign to size using a process that I've used many times with wood and hydrocal. This plastic material responds very different to the sanding process because of it's low modulus.  You are never sanding the whole bottom at once.  You basically only remove material from the area where you are holding it and putting the downward pressure.
You just have to keep measuring and moving the casting around in your hand to remove material evenly.

[S&S RR]

Here is a picture of the steps assembled on my workbench after the sanding process.

[S&S RR]

Now for the inspection. We moved the assembly to my granite layout table.  I used my micrometer to make sure I had an 8 inch scale piece of strip wood. I used it to make sure that each step was an even using my now sanded fingers to make sure it was flush on each step.

[S&S RR]

At this point the step assembly is ready for painting.  I will glue it together on my base for the build once I have the main structure completed.

[S&S RR]

Today, I also primed the test casting so I could start playing with how I want to paint the castings.


I'm starting with a sand primer coat for the main church walls for my first trial. 

[S&S RR]

The shingle castings are starting out with a grey primer.

[S&S RR]

I want to point out that these are throwaway casting that I made just to test the coloring.  I haven't cleaned them up and if fact choose them because they were defective.

[ACL1504]

John,

Well, you certainly have enough "throwaways" to practice on.

Tom

[S&S RR]

John,

Well, you certainly have enough "throwaways" to practice on.

Tom

I have been pouring a lot of hydrocal and resin the last few weeks - I had these molds sitting on the workbench and filled them with what ever material was left over from a batch. I'm really not sure how I want to color the stone work on this church and will be trying a number of different techniques.

[ACL1504]

John,

Well, you certainly have enough "throwaways" to practice on.

Tom

I have been pouring a lot of hydrocal and resin the last few weeks - I had these molds sitting on the workbench and filled them with what ever material was left over from a batch. I'm really not sure how I want to color the stone work on this church and will be trying a number of different techniques.

John,

The good thing about having all the extras is you can really get a feel for the color your eye is comfortable with.

I've done the same in the past.

Tom

[Zephyrus52246]

Steps look a lot more "scale" now.  If you'd had churchgoers on the others, they would have needed mountain climbing gear.   


Jeff

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great work, John!

The chap I model with on a Tuesday night builds all his structures with Das over MDF shells.  He cuts all the walls, door and window openings etc of the MDF with a saw such as yours, and often breaks two or three blades a night.  I'll hear a 'ping' followed by a "damn it!"

Would it be possible to create an image with the two sets of stairs side by side?  It might be nice to accentuate the difference that all your hard work has achieved.

IMO most definitely worth the effort!

Cheers, Mark.

[S&S RR]

Steps look a lot more "scale" now.  If you'd had churchgoers on the others, they would have needed mountain climbing gear.   


Jeff

Jeff


Thanks for following along - and yes my little people will definitely find it easier to go to church now.  It is amazing how much of a difference having something out of scale distracts form a structure.

[S&S RR]

Great work, John!

The chap I model with on a Tuesday night builds all his structures with Das over MDF shells.  He cuts all the walls, door and window openings etc of the MDF with a saw such as yours, and often breaks two or three blades a night.  I'll hear a 'ping' followed by a "damn it!"

Would it be possible to create an image with the two sets of stairs side by side?  It might be nice to accentuate the difference that all your hard work has achieved.

IMO most definitely worth the effort!

Cheers, Mark.

Hi Mark


I'm glad you stopped back to see the new and improved stair castings.  The original casting is still sitting on my workbench - so I will take a picture of it and my 4 piece design side by side with a few little people and post it tomorrow. 


That little jewelers saw is great for scratch building projects. I'm amazed at how many times I use it. And yes - I do go through a lot of blades.  I buy them in packs of 20.