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

[RoughboyModelworks]

Pink mink engineer's cap  That seems like a little more information than we need to know Russ...

Paul

[shropshire lad]

Quick update for those who might be interested .

   I recieved my next shipment of 2000 bricks from Germany on Friday so I am back slapping them down again . However , I have a dilemma . What to make the lintels out of . I have a number of options . Stone , concrete , RSJ ( rolled steel joist) brick or timber . Bearing in mind that this is a cheap industrial building I have ruled stone out so I am torn between concrete and steel . Any thoughts anyone ?


   Nick

[Chuck Doan]

I have seen some interesting steel ones. If they had some scrap laying around it would be quick to do.

[marc_reusser]

Steel 'L'  or 'H' section would be quite common, and ould provide some nice detailing/weathering relief.

Somwhere I have images of these from an old 1920's brick structure we restored, and seismically retrofitted....will see if I can find them.


M

[MrBrownstone]

Hey Guy's,

I don't know...So I went back and looked at the posted reference photos...

I see alot of wood used and quite a bit of it laying around?

what was used to support the arch/overhaed? rails?

Mike

[danpickard]

Hi Nick,
Just sifting through some recent threads, wondering if there was any progress with this one?

Dan
(effects of the MEK have worn off, and I have a modellers frame of mind back in place )

[shropshire lad]

Hi Nick,
Just sifting through some recent threads, wondering if there was any progress with this one?

Dan
(effects of the MEK have worn off, and I have a modellers frame of mind back in place )

  Dan ,

  Thanks for showing an interest . There has indeed been a significant amount of progress on this project . I have virtually finished the first shed ( the one with the chimney ) and I am about three quarters finished on the other one . I have slowed down recently because , would you believe , I need some more HO 6x1 stripwood for the mortar joints and no one seems to sell it over here . So I have been rumaging around in all my old kit boxes looking for leftover wood that might be suitable . I think I have just about got enough , without resorting to robbing unstarted ( and probably never will be) kits .
  I ended up buying another 2000 bricks from Germany at vast expense to do the second building but decided to make a mold of a couple of hundred of them and see how they look made out of plaster . Stupidly I didn't put any sort of releasing agent on the bricks before making the mold and , not surprisingly , I had a job getting them out of the mold when it had set . However , as it happens it turned out for the good because in the act of getting the bricks out of the mold I managed to rip little bits of the mold . This gives the bricks more surface texture and consequently makes them more interesting to look at , almost a " hand made " brick look .
  I have also made a set of test panels using five different materials for the brick . The first uses the original clay bricks and the other four are different plasters . Three white plasters and one terracotta coloured plaster . The upshot of the trial is that I have dismissed the white plasters as they take to much effort to colour , and I shall be making all my bricks in future using the terracotta plaster . For the obvious reasons , the colour is virtually what I want . All I need to do is give the wall a number of pinwashes on individual bricks with either ink and alcohol or thinned paints , be they watercolours or acrylics .
  I then gave the panels a couple of coats of matt varnish and then filled the mortar joints with plaster . This seems to have worked well. The terracotta panel is just about how I want my brickwork to look .
  The only problem with the terracotta plaster is that it has had very fine iron powder added to it to make it rust when it gets wet ( it is hard enough to be left outside ) and this ends up looking a bit shiny if it is sanded , so I have to be careful not to sand the finished walls . Not always that easy to do .
   All the plasters I have used are from a British company called Alex Tiranti  at www.tiranti.co.uk   .
   I suppose you'll be asking for photos next .

  I hope I haven't bored you to much , but you did ask ,


   Nick

[danpickard]

Nick, got any photos? 

Of course we want some bloddy photos!!!!!
Certainly glad to hear there has been some good progress though, and no, it wasn't boring to read...

Cheers,
Dan

[finescalerr]

Yeah, Nick, quit wasting time and post some photos! Sounds as though you may get some really good results. -- Russ

[lab-dad]

"we want pictures!" "we want pictures!" "we want pictures!" "we want pictures!"
(in a loud chant)
sounds like you are learning a lot and developing new tricks.
Can not wait to see the results.
-Marty

[TRAINS1941]

Nick wrote suppose you'll be asking for photos next!!

Well yes how did you guess don't tell us the camera is broke again.  Marty is available to fly over and take some for you!!!  Or maybe you could even get Russ to the photo shoot for you!!!!

Jerry

[shropshire lad]

Nick wrote suppose you'll be asking for photos next!!

Well yes how did you guess don't tell us the camera is broke again.  Marty is available to fly over and take some for you!!!  Or maybe you could even get Russ to the photo shoot for you!!!!

Jerry

  Either or both are welcome to pop over whenever they like , but I must warn them that the weather is s--t at the moment ,

    Nick

[lab-dad]

well I could sure use a break in our weather!
Highs in the 80's and lows of only 77 stinks!
I'd love some good duck hunting weather;
About 42 with a constant mist and a nice 30 mph headwind with the occasional gust,
may be even a flake or two after dark?....

-Marty

[finescalerr]

Marty, here in Southern California we have the same temperatures with very dry conditions and some Santa Ana winds. No measurable rainfall in almost a year. It's so dry my cats are crackling with static electricity. We'd gladly accept some of Nick's rain. -- Russ

[RoughboyModelworks]

It's so dry my cats are crackling with static electricity.

Now there's an image... Just call them "Sparky"... 

Paul