Kurt Johnson

Maurice, 

As usual very, very nice. Very, very nice. You always bring the project multiple layers above what most could hope to achieve. And this was such a wonderful subject. Truly a great job.

Kurt

PS: So what’s next? You have no one but yourself to blame. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next.

Ekis,

l just finished looking at your Flickr site and all your work is gorgeous!

Kurt

Rich, 

Nice clean work!

Kurt

Is that the hand of God in those pictures? Kind of reminds me of Monty Python.

Kurt

put in a good word for me.

Kurt

Ekis,   Can I rent the market hall for a family party in June?

Kurt

Thanks!👍👍

Yes, that’s it! Initially I only noticed one corner, but later noticed it was actually two corners. What is the purpose of it?

It’s probably going to be painfully obvious once you explain it.

Kurt

Ekis,  The last picture looks particularly cool.  A question, the tower roof near the gate has a semicircular cut out in it. What will go there?

Kurt

Steve, Its looking good! I was always partial to this kit. It really builds up nicely. I have one kicking around, but it has the usual warps and twists. I even ordered some “good” plywood to replace things but it came warped too.  I have to see if I can straighten it out. It got me thinking of the old days when plywood was plywood. I took a picture of a planking clamp I made years ago from 5/8” birch ply from Ace hardware. It has twelve layers to it!! Of course I had to walk 10 miles in three feet of snow in bare feet to get it. Or maybe that was going to school, I forget.

Maybe I can talk Chuck into making a 3/16 or 1/4 inch version of it. 
 

Kurt
 

Ekis, 

Most of the time looking at the photos you forget how small things are. They appear much larger in your mind. They stand up pretty well to the zoom, so they be really awesome In person.

Kurt

Clare, The Honryou-sen hull really has a very elegant flowing look to it.

Kurt

Ekis,  You’re making great progress. I can’t wait for the fortified gate!
 

Kurt 

It always amazes me the way some people create beautiful masterpieces from the most unlikely sources.  I had always wanted to build the Heller kit, but never got around to it. You are doing some incredibly amazing work. From many years of bashing plastic kits I can only guess at the time spent perfecting ways to get the results that you do. I also am in awe of your perseverance to your task, I would have burnt out years ago. Kudos! I love following your progress.

Kurt
 

So what is the name of the village?

Kurt

Ekis,

What is the overall size of the village going to be?

Kurt

Ekis,

I was looking through the catalog of kits from the company you had mentioned to see if there was one I wanted to build. The one thing that bothered me is the roofs all looked out of scale. I thought maybe they had changed since you purchased yours. It didn’t dawn on me you modified them. The results improve the buildings a lot!

Kurt

Ekis,  There seems to be a number of the books avaiable used, and I am happy with the condition of the books I received. I don’t know if you have read Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, but according to Follett the Jean Gimple Cathedral book was one of the inspirations for the novel. Evidently the two men became friends. Gimble seems like a character from a novel himself. He was in the Ressistance during WW2, became an art dealer and a Medieval scholar.

             I have as much fun researching as I do model making. Let me know if they are any help to you.

I guess it’s already tomorrow for you with the 6 hour time difference. So I’ll say have a good morning.

Kurt

Ekis, I sent the book info by PM to you.

Kurt

I think for the fulltime artisans/craftsmen/craftswomen of Guedelon it is a labor of love. I doubt they make what their skill should really pay. That being said I would love to be part of it, even as a volunteer.

I have two books that might be interesting, Ekis, forgive me if you’re already familiar with them. They’re by a former countyman of yours, Jean Gimple. They are “The Cathedral Builders” and “The Medieval Machine”. Both are very informative.

Kurt

Steven, Thanks for the Guedelon site, it adds to the enjoyment of Ekis’s work. I would love to be able to go there myself. I love “living history”. Perhaps I should get a lottery ticket tonight. One of my favorite fiction authors, Steve Berry, has a character who is a woman who is building a castle in France in the time appropriate way. It must be just a coincidence, ya think?

Ekis, I like the cloisters and the dovecote in particular so far.  So far everything seems to be coming along very nicely. Nothing looks out of place. 
 

Kurt

Ekis,  You’re modifying the original kit, correct? Do you have a definite plan how it will be when its completed or does it keep evolving as the building progresses? I personally think the latter would be more fun. I’d probably have a whole story developing in my head at each step. 
 

Kurt

This is really the coolest thing. Beautiful job! I’d love to try something like this. It’s particularly interesting because I happen to currently be reading The Pillars of the Earth ( for the second time ).

Kurt

Michael, Amazing. I’ve read all of your builds and parts of them several times. But I’m going to reread them all from start to finish. There is so much to be learned, especially from a standard of quality point of view.

Kurt

I guess, I shouldn’t have put the last line in. I was just be silly. The question was real though.

Kurt