progress on the lasercut cottage kit... it hasn't actually taken me 10 days to get to this stage, I'm just a very occassional worker at the moment...
balsa wood has been added to follow the frames cut into the mdf... I still need to do the curved braces and the undereave timbers, but the majority is done and I wanted to get an update sorted out... annoyingly I bought a shedload of 2mm balsa a while ago and so went with that for the timber, but it was too thick so when it was on, the whole face was sanded back to a rough and varied 1mm... the slight differences add to the feel I think, although some horrendous over pressure (mainly on the gables) meant g/s had to rebuild the timber in a few spots - I have to say Silent Invader's work over on LAF and his own
blog are very handy references for this kind of work... also I'm becoming a huge fan of GW Liquid Greenstuff, when dry it's hard, but is just soft enough to allow a wire brush to add some woodgrain...
I gave the whole balsa frame a good going over with the wirebrush to get some more grain into the sanded flat surface, varying direction with the length of the timber... windowsills were added with matchsticks, cut into the existing balsa frames, but standing proud of the frame itself..
the basic kit didn't come with the floorboards cut in as I said before and this is something of a blessing as the mdf surface is too smooth to get a wood effect with and when 'roughed' up just gets down to the fibrous mess inside which is no better... I bought the thinnest balsa I could find and glued that to the interior floors and scored in the floorboards - each is 5mm wide which may seem wide in the grand scheme of things, but gives me 17 boards across, when the lasercut version has 16 across... I also cut the hatch over to one corner (from the look of the instruction diagram, on the bought kit that is in the middle of the floor), it's 2cm square, wide enough for the ladder and a 28mm body, leaving the majority of the floor clear - what I loved about this kit is the access to the inside and I want to make the most of it... I added a frame around the hatch into the balsa, with a little help from more liquid g/s...
same with the downstairs floor really, although no hatch... the ladder will be attached to the downstairs wall once it's prepped and I have a rather nice fireplace made up - it just didn't photograph well... I need to do the matching breast upstairs, but it will be on a small footprint so I don't lose any floor... the one difference with this floor was that I needed the balsa to be flush with the bottom of the doorframe, so the walls are all raised slightly by the same thickness of balsa, this is hidden by the framing timbers though, but just thought I mention it if anyone is following in these footsteps...
and a shot for scale... poor photos I know, but they do the job... I need to add the curved timbers on the frame, the chimney breast on the first floor and decide what to do about the roof before adding the chimney stack itself... that will probably be made from blue insulation foam rather than using the mdf one in the kit... similarly to the floorboard problem, the door from the accessories kit is going to be too smooth, so I need to think on that... I still think that kit is a good deal, the windows alone make it, and the lovely little tudor door frame detail as well... I'll keep you posted on that...
balsa wood has been added to follow the frames cut into the mdf... I still need to do the curved braces and the undereave timbers, but the majority is done and I wanted to get an update sorted out... annoyingly I bought a shedload of 2mm balsa a while ago and so went with that for the timber, but it was too thick so when it was on, the whole face was sanded back to a rough and varied 1mm... the slight differences add to the feel I think, although some horrendous over pressure (mainly on the gables) meant g/s had to rebuild the timber in a few spots - I have to say Silent Invader's work over on LAF and his own blog are very handy references for this kind of work... also I'm becoming a huge fan of GW Liquid Greenstuff, when dry it's hard, but is just soft enough to allow a wire brush to add some woodgrain...
I gave the whole balsa frame a good going over with the wirebrush to get some more grain into the sanded flat surface, varying direction with the length of the timber... windowsills were added with matchsticks, cut into the existing balsa frames, but standing proud of the frame itself..
the basic kit didn't come with the floorboards cut in as I said before and this is something of a blessing as the mdf surface is too smooth to get a wood effect with and when 'roughed' up just gets down to the fibrous mess inside which is no better... I bought the thinnest balsa I could find and glued that to the interior floors and scored in the floorboards - each is 5mm wide which may seem wide in the grand scheme of things, but gives me 17 boards across, when the lasercut version has 16 across... I also cut the hatch over to one corner (from the look of the instruction diagram, on the bought kit that is in the middle of the floor), it's 2cm square, wide enough for the ladder and a 28mm body, leaving the majority of the floor clear - what I loved about this kit is the access to the inside and I want to make the most of it... I added a frame around the hatch into the balsa, with a little help from more liquid g/s...
same with the downstairs floor really, although no hatch... the ladder will be attached to the downstairs wall once it's prepped and I have a rather nice fireplace made up - it just didn't photograph well... I need to do the matching breast upstairs, but it will be on a small footprint so I don't lose any floor... the one difference with this floor was that I needed the balsa to be flush with the bottom of the doorframe, so the walls are all raised slightly by the same thickness of balsa, this is hidden by the framing timbers though, but just thought I mention it if anyone is following in these footsteps...
and a shot for scale... poor photos I know, but they do the job... I need to add the curved timbers on the frame, the chimney breast on the first floor and decide what to do about the roof before adding the chimney stack itself... that will probably be made from blue insulation foam rather than using the mdf one in the kit... similarly to the floorboard problem, the door from the accessories kit is going to be too smooth, so I need to think on that... I still think that kit is a good deal, the windows alone make it, and the lovely little tudor door frame detail as well... I'll keep you posted on that...
