gregh
electronics, computers and scratchbuilding
Over in topic : http://www.gscalecentral.net/A-nice-town-hall-for-my-tramway-m229190 , tramcar trev was pondering building a town hall from Hebel. That?s Thermalite or Celcon for you in the Uk (or unobtainable for the yanks).
For an introduction to using Hebel see my webpage here: http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/satr/hebel.htm
While I was rummaging through my photos of Western Australian buildings to reply to Trev, I ran across this one of a ruined mine building in South Australia?s ?little Cornwall?.
I got to thinking that a ruined building should be easy to make ? no roof or windows and any ?mistakes? are covered by the ?ruinedness?.
A quick look outside turned up a piece of Hebel 300 x 200 x 200mm lying around which looked like it might be the ?right? size. Then googled images of ?cornwall mine ruins? for many pics of those beautiful buildings. I used many of them to decide on the broken down wall shapes, window and door openings and chimney sizes.
Then I thought this might be a good project for novices as an initiation to using Hebel, so here?s a detailed description. There have been some questions about hebel standing up to freezing weather. I don?t have that problem in Sydney, but a ruin would still be a ruin if cracked by ice.
You Poms have plenty of ruined castles and abbeys for models ? they?re a bit thin on the ground in Oz. But you could choose any ruin ? a barn maybe.
I cut a 30mm slice off one side of the block to make it 200 x 170mm plan. I used a 1? spade bit in my drill to bore down about 6? from the top leaving walls 30mm thick. Hebel is not very strong in thin bits, so I opted for 30mm walls. I used a 30mm chisel to square up the insides.
Then I did the same up from the bottom, but not far enough to go right through to the top ? this gives it more strength and I planned for the inside to be filled with rubble anyhow.
While I was a working a couple of King Parrots came down to supervise
Then I cut out the window and door openings using the spade bit, an old hacksaw blade and the chisel, just pushing it by hand, not hammering. All the stone blocks are scribed using a hacksaw blade. It?s a big job as I had to do the inside too. All this only took about 2 hours.
I wanted the remains of a roof gable at one end so I cut it from the 30mm slice I had cut of the main block. I drilled 6mm holes for the glue to key into and for added strength use a couple of nails. I use Fullers Ultra clear as an adhesive. This pic shows the pieces ready to glue.
All the pics I saw showed round chimneys, but I wasn?t going to try making one of those! (I have tried turning Hebel on my lathe, but it?s MESSY.) I had another piece of hebel, 400 x 100 x 100mm so it became the chimney by slicing the wedge shapes off the side to give it a taper. In this pic it hasn?t had the stones scribed in yet. That?s a big job, so I?ll leave it till another day, while I ponder how to make at least the top few inches hollow. Also whether it should have some angle iron (styrene) bracing partly falling off.
Then I?ll try to make a collapsed floor ? maybe balsa? - to put inside it.
Does it need an old boiler lying next to it? And a mine adit? And an overgrown narrow gauge railway? Boy, this could go on forever!
For an introduction to using Hebel see my webpage here: http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/satr/hebel.htm
While I was rummaging through my photos of Western Australian buildings to reply to Trev, I ran across this one of a ruined mine building in South Australia?s ?little Cornwall?.
I got to thinking that a ruined building should be easy to make ? no roof or windows and any ?mistakes? are covered by the ?ruinedness?.
A quick look outside turned up a piece of Hebel 300 x 200 x 200mm lying around which looked like it might be the ?right? size. Then googled images of ?cornwall mine ruins? for many pics of those beautiful buildings. I used many of them to decide on the broken down wall shapes, window and door openings and chimney sizes.
Then I thought this might be a good project for novices as an initiation to using Hebel, so here?s a detailed description. There have been some questions about hebel standing up to freezing weather. I don?t have that problem in Sydney, but a ruin would still be a ruin if cracked by ice.
You Poms have plenty of ruined castles and abbeys for models ? they?re a bit thin on the ground in Oz. But you could choose any ruin ? a barn maybe.
I cut a 30mm slice off one side of the block to make it 200 x 170mm plan. I used a 1? spade bit in my drill to bore down about 6? from the top leaving walls 30mm thick. Hebel is not very strong in thin bits, so I opted for 30mm walls. I used a 30mm chisel to square up the insides.
Then I did the same up from the bottom, but not far enough to go right through to the top ? this gives it more strength and I planned for the inside to be filled with rubble anyhow.
While I was a working a couple of King Parrots came down to supervise
Then I cut out the window and door openings using the spade bit, an old hacksaw blade and the chisel, just pushing it by hand, not hammering. All the stone blocks are scribed using a hacksaw blade. It?s a big job as I had to do the inside too. All this only took about 2 hours.
I wanted the remains of a roof gable at one end so I cut it from the 30mm slice I had cut of the main block. I drilled 6mm holes for the glue to key into and for added strength use a couple of nails. I use Fullers Ultra clear as an adhesive. This pic shows the pieces ready to glue.
All the pics I saw showed round chimneys, but I wasn?t going to try making one of those! (I have tried turning Hebel on my lathe, but it?s MESSY.) I had another piece of hebel, 400 x 100 x 100mm so it became the chimney by slicing the wedge shapes off the side to give it a taper. In this pic it hasn?t had the stones scribed in yet. That?s a big job, so I?ll leave it till another day, while I ponder how to make at least the top few inches hollow. Also whether it should have some angle iron (styrene) bracing partly falling off.
Then I?ll try to make a collapsed floor ? maybe balsa? - to put inside it.
Does it need an old boiler lying next to it? And a mine adit? And an overgrown narrow gauge railway? Boy, this could go on forever!
thats a brill idea - i gonna have a go myself 
