Eat Ye Heart Out , Barney !

[Ray Dunakin]

Sweet!

[Marc988]

Amazing  

Would there be a chance of DD making a mould in 1:48 for the Courses of bricks (flemish bound) mould like the one in 1:35 ??  I'd be very interested !! 

[Malachi Constant]

Adequate thus far although I mourn the loss of Legos. Thanks for the update. -- Russ

Ditto!  Sad to see the Legos go ... but it still looks pretty decent without them.  -- Dallas

[shropshire lad]

I've been having a running joke with my step brother... who is a bricky,  about leego's. 
I need to put some of these images on my FB page.

His comment last week was... "How's your leggo playing mates", referring to our model making skills.

  You have a step brother ? You mean there is more than one of you in Oz ? Ye gads , I'm not I sure I can continue with my trip Down Under knowing that .

[shropshire lad]

OK , back by popular demand for one night only , may I present you with  ...LEGO ( note spelling , only one "e" or "g" and no "s" ) .

[Gordon Ferguson]

Much better, 

[shropshire lad]

WOW!
Great progress!!!!
Are those "slate" tiles?
What are they made of?
How are they attached?

One more;
Frogs go up or down? (I'm assuming down but........)

Mj
FBLOA
future brick layers of America

 Marty ,

 Pedants Corner :

 Slates is slates and tiles is tiles . They can't be both . Slates are a natural material hard won from the Earth and cut and split into required shapes . Tiles are manmade , usually from clay or concrete , and are shaped in moulds .

  The ones on my roof are representing slates . They are made out of plaster and immersed in an alcohol and shoe dye solution a couple of times . Allowing the slates to dry between immersions . The more often they are immersed the darker they become . They come out with a slight purple hue which pretty accurately reproduces the colour of a great number of slates found in this country and many more around the World .

 The Good Folk at Diorama Debris colour their slates by adding black pigment to the plaster when they are casting the slates . I am happy with the way my slates come out using my method so I shall stick with it . You may notice on the close up shot that the slates are not of a uniform colour and many fade from light to dark . This is an effect I find pleasing .

 Prototypically these slates would be centre nailed with two nails about one and a half inches in from the edge , however , I found that nailing the slates onto my roof was too wasteful as the hammer kept slipping and breaking the adjacent slates so I have resorted to gluing them with waterproof carpenter's glue !

" Best practice" for laying bricks is to lay them with the frog up so that it is filled with mortar thereby making the joint stronger . Only cheapskates trying to save money by using less mortar lay them with the frogs down . So are you a " best practice " guy or a   cheapskate ? Your call !  


 This building is really meant to be a bit of a showcase for the different moulds that DD produce , so it is my intention to actually make three different roofs fo the one building each having a different roof covering . In addition to the slate roof I shall be doing one using plain tiles ( each tile being approx . 10" x 6" in size ) and another using Spanish Barrel tiles . Whilst it is not very likely that a building like this would have such tiles it should be quite fun to do . If and when they produce a mould to make pantiles and/or double Roman tiles I shall make roofs for them as well . After that I shall never want to see a slate or tile ever again . Any future buildings will be thatched !

  Nick

[shropshire lad]

Amazing  

Would there be a chance of DD making a mould in 1:48 for the Courses of bricks (flemish bound) mould like the one in 1:35 ??  I'd be very interested !! 

  Marc ,

   I had already thought of that , as that would be a much more useable product . I have no idea if doing such a mould is feasible , but I will ask them ,

    Nick

[artizen]

Nice looking slates - but they look like they were just laid.

Here is the weathered version - http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryrowell/450966657/in/photostream/

[lab-dad]

Thanks Nick!
-Mj

[shropshire lad]

Nice looking slates - but they look like they were just laid.

 No they don't . They are just not as weathered as the ones in your picture . By that I mean the roof is still functional !

  I've done the back with undamaged slates and the front with slates passed their first flush of youth .

[k27rgs]

Anything that has just been "laid" , has a natural fresh look.
Is this project heading "downunder",  so we can see it in the flesh ( so to speak )

"M"

[Lawton Maner]

Why hasn't the Ministry for Industrial Safety shut your job site down because of a lack of proper fall prevention equipment for the roofers? 

Gluing the tiles to the framing is cheating.  You should be making and using tiny copper nails if the job is to be done right.  When are you going to plant the GM miniature moss on the slates?

But seriously, the project is coming along quite well. 

Prior to the introduction of digital xrays at my dentist, his assistant would save the 3cm squares of lead foil from the film packets for me to model with.  If you can find some you would be able to properly flash the edge of the roof to the brick work; that is until a group of local hoodlums decided to steal the lead and sell it to buy drugs.  If I can find my jar of it in the dungeon, I'll be willing to share with you.

[Lawton Maner]

Just found and visited the Diorama Debris site http://www.dioramadebris.co.uk/ and intend to order a couple of moulds from them.  More then 1 mould in 1:48m would be nice, but until we buy, they don't see a market.  Since some stone pieces are variable in size and in some uses the texture is more important then size, I may order a mould or two in 1:35 for paving stones or

BTW, when I Googled DD the second link to pop up is a South Korean vendor if trees and ground cover for military modelers.  http://www.dioramashop.com/index.php  Anyone need Bamboo?  Palm Trees?  Also have laser cut leaves in a variety of styles.  Not on topic for this thread, but subject has come up in others.

[shropshire lad]

Anything that has just been "laid" , has a natural fresh look.
Is this project heading "downunder",  so we can see it in the flesh ( so to speak )

"M"

  Mario ,

   I am hoping that I have room in my case for a number of dioramas , including this building , to use in the clinic I have been co-erced into giving . I'm not sure I'll be bringing all of the roof options ( assuming I build them ) as they are likely to be the most delicate part .

  Nick