Call me what you want , but don't call me mad

[shropshire lad]

I'm sure there are many here who think I'm slightly eccentric and this current project will probably confirm this belief as I am into the fourth session of constructing a small shed out of brick . One brick at a time .This is going to be one of a pair that sit either side of the track at the bottom of an incline for a brickworks , and support the return wheel .

I recently bought 1000 bricks in 1/32nd scale from a manufacturer in Germany . www.miniaturziegel.de . This is the manufacturer Marcel Ackle uses and recommends on his website . The bricks themselves are made out of clay and are of uniform size and need no cleaning up .
   I have laid them in a Flemmish bond using HO 6x1s as mortar joints .

  Obviously this is going to be a fairly time consuming business , but done in sessions of a couple of hours or so ,whilst listening to the TV , it is surprising how quickly things progress . It is also not as boring and mind numbing as it would appear .

  As for the time when I need to add mortar to the joints I will need to make the decision as to what to use . I'm pretty certain that it won't be baking powder as I'm no longer sure that it is the best way to go . However, that decision won't need to be made for sometime .

   Nick

[shropshire lad]

This was the state of play at the beginning of this evening .

[shropshire lad]

 And another

[shropshire lad]

The next two photos are of the prototype that gave me the idea . It is a brickworks Thuringia , Germany in about 1990 .

[shropshire lad]

They are taken from a book called Die Feldbahn Band 9 by Andreas Christopher and Frank Harding .

[Belg]

yeah, Nick thats what we think you are "slightly eccentric" but leave to a 1-1 builder to build with individual bricks. I absolutely love the proto shots and would have guessed like 1950's if it wasn't for the modern light. Will be watching very closely and am absolutely amazed that you have already started another project so soon. Are you feeling OK? LOL Pat

[Ray Dunakin]

Nice work so far! I'm considering doing the same thing myself one of these days, but have never found a good source of 1/24th scale bricks.

I like those prototype pics, very cool.

[shropshire lad]

yeah, Nick thats what we think you are "slightly eccentric" but leave to a 1-1 builder to build with individual bricks. I absolutely love the proto shots and would have guessed like 1950's if it wasn't for the modern light. Will be watching very closely and am absolutely amazed that you have already started another project so soon. Are you feeling OK? LOL Pat

  Pat ,

  I'm on a role and all fired up . I'll be fairly churning them out from now on . Yeah , right !

  Sometimes you see something that you can't resist modelling and the sheds in these photos are a prime example . The added bonus is that they are not too big and need not both be built at once .

 The book the photos come from is one of ten volumes which are full of shots of this sort of thing , the overwhelming majority of which are in colour . The main problem is that most of the volumes have sold out and not easy to get hold of . I managed to get 6 of the 10 since February , but it was bit of a struggle .

 Nick

Nice work so far! I'm considering doing the same thing myself one of these days, but have never found a good source of 1/24th scale bricks.

I like those prototype pics, very cool.

  Ray ,

   I bought a load of 1/24th scale bricks on Ebay last year and used them to build a lean-to shed in that scale . To be honest they are easier to get hold of in 1/24th than they are in 1/32 or 1/35th ( there are quite a few manufacturers making bricks in 1/35th scale but they are only good for rubble ) .
   Check out dolls house sites , as the ones I bought are intended for that market . The two Ebay shops I have on my list of favourites are " miniaturebrickbargains" and " Minaco-UK" . But if I were you I'd just try  Googling " 1/24th scale bricks" as that is all I did . 

  Here is a shot of my unfinished locoshed .


  Nick

[marklayton]

Nick -

Thanks for posting the link to the German manufacturer.  I'm a scale nitpicker, and their nice bricks scale out oversized for US brick.  The 1:32 brick is 7.5 mm long, which scales out to 9.44 inches in length, a good bit longer than the usual 8" (nominal) brick.  But the visual effect of laid-up brick is so appealing!

Mark

[shropshire lad]

Mark ,

  The bricks are slightly overscale for 1/35th , which is what I'm working in , but sometimes you have to make a few compromises or else you would get nothing done . I did agonise over their size until yesterday when I came across a picture of a German bricklayer in the 1950s ( the era I'm modelling in ) and saw that the bricks he was using seem to be larger than the ones I'm used to . I can now sleep easy knowing that my brickwork isn't completely wrong .



   Nick

[marc_reusser]

I'm sure there are many here who think I'm slightly eccentric ......

   Nick

Ahhh, the so very British penchant for understatement.......

I came across a picture of a German bricklayer in the 1950s ( the era I'm modelling in ) and saw that the bricks he was using seem to be larger than the ones I'm used to .

The Reason the german bricks are bigger is because they are proper "Teutonic" bricks....none of these prim and proper English ones.

Cool project and reference photos looking forward to tour model of it.

Marc

[finescalerr]

Nick, if you manage to do a fair job of representing what we see in those prototype photos then I'm going to be first in line to demand an article. So far it looks like you are right on the money. And I say that in spite of the fact that you have lost your cotton pickin' mind! -- Russ

[MrBrownstone]

Hey Nick,

The Mortaring, Looks like a job for NEBS Mortar Mock Mix... 

I am going to check that site and maybe order some myself. (always looking to try new things)

Mike

[jacq01]

   Nick,

   

a picture of a German bricklayer in the 1950s ( the era I'm modelling in ) and saw that the bricks he was using seem to be larger than the ones I'm used to

  Not to dissappoint you but it looks to me like he in not a bricklayer but a streetmaker with standard streetklinkers in his hands.

  Jacq

[shropshire lad]

   Nick,

   

a picture of a German bricklayer in the 1950s ( the era I'm modelling in ) and saw that the bricks he was using seem to be larger than the ones I'm used to

  Not to dissappoint you but it looks to me like he in not a bricklayer but a streetmaker with standard streetklinkers in his hands.

  Jacq

  Jacq , do you realise what you have done by telling me that ? You have just shattered all my illusions and I shall now go back to agonising over the size of my bricks and I'll probably end up in therapy with Rein Russberg . Once I've finished my course of treatment the only bricks I'll be allowed to play with are plastic ones with letters on !

   Thanks, Old Bean ,


     Nick