The Walled Harbour of Wilberton - Diorama - Aedes Ars - 1/87 - by Kevin - December 2020

[Waitoa]

52 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

I have to ask  (can not help myself)   are you going to do some figures?

 

OC.

It is addictive, have the last 15 townspeople to paint and tempted to outsource them to O.C. given the results he gets.  Looking forward to seeing what you are planning as I am still battling through my cloisters.

[Old Collingwood]

1 hour ago, Waitoa said:

It is addictive, have the last 15 townspeople to paint and tempted to outsource them to O.C. given the results he gets.  Looking forward to seeing what you are planning as I am still battling through my cloisters.

Would do them with my pleasure  - dont know how they would get here and back though.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

With the river valley there is scope for watchtowers, a mill maybe a small boat yard

 These kits definitely stimulate the imagination. I plan to upgrade the harbour part of the Rochelle Towers with an attempt at water effect rather than using the blue paint provided in the kit. Then a couple of boats under sail. I was thinking today about trying to retrieve the illumination plan. Maybe it would be possible to snake some fibre optics through the card formers.

[Kevin]

everything on the board to the left of the city wall will be raised by about an inch to allow some depth of the river, 

 

the wall along to back and right side will be wide enough for troops and cruise ship passengers of the future,

some electrics depending on time,

i will be able to extend the river to allow a port and fields, however i am also aware just how much  work one building will take, never mind the 1000's of bricks just for the city wall, here in the UK, it is cheaper, just to buy the kits for the bricks rather than sourcing them  from Spain 

 

 

[EJ_L]

This sounds like how my last model railroad layout went. Wife allowed me to start with a simple 4x8 sheet of plywood and a simple oval track. Over the following 10 years, it grew into a horseshoe shape covering the entire 14 x 24 basement room until we moved. She is being much more cautious on what she approves for my new train layout. 🤣

 

Looking forward to seeing this evolve as I love dioramas and I think you have a good plan to get started.  I would suggest that besides raising the entire land area the inch for the water beds, you slope the entire land area from the castle to the water, to give a more noticeable elevation change and most castle would be built upon higher land than the surrounding village. 

[Kevin]

17 minutes ago, EJ_L said:

This sounds like how my last model railroad layout went. Wife allowed me to start with a simple 4x8 sheet of plywood and a simple oval track. Over the following 10 years, it grew into a horseshoe shape covering the entire 14 x 24 basement room until we moved. She is being much more cautious on what she approves for my new train layout. 🤣

 

Looking forward to seeing this evolve as I love dioramas and I think you have a good plan to get started.  I would suggest that besides raising the entire land area the inch for the water beds, you slope the entire land area from the castle to the water, to give a more noticeable elevation change and most castle would be built upon higher land than the surrounding village. 

great idea on the gentle slope

Edited December 3, 2020 by Kevin

[mtaylor]

Uh-oh, Kevin.  Looks like you took a look into the rabbit hole and fell in.  It's a long way down from which coming back will be hard.

[Kevin]

i was pushed in,  by him over there, the one wearing the face covering

[Kevin]

good evening everyone

 

thank you for comments and likes

 

day 2 after reset

 

well i made a start , i wanted to incorporate the bridge, as it was 99% complete, the base from the kit was stored away for another day, and another one built in its place

 

i am working in scale 1/160 to 1/180 

1/160= N scale and 1 foot=1.9mm if im correct the new wall is 41 feet high

 

once this corner is sorted (not necessary complete) i will have a good idea on a how things are going to work

Edited December 3, 2020 by Kevin

[Egilman]

18 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Uh-oh, Kevin.  Looks like you took a look into the rabbit hole and fell in.  It's a long way down from which coming back will be hard.

 

16 minutes ago, Kevin said:

i was pushed in,  by him over there, the one wearing the face covering

I'm feelin' for him, I'll throw him a Jacobs ladder, if I can find one long enough.....

 

But I will advise, If I can find it, don't be surprised if he chooses not to use it.....

[Old Collingwood]

So much work involved in this  - hope I can do mine justice  when I start.

 

OC.

[Canute]

Send Alice and the March Hare down there, too, while you're at it.

[Kevin]

7 hours ago, Canute said:

Send Alice and the March Hare down there, too, while you're at it.

allice can come if she makes a nice korma curry, and willing to clean up after me, 

[popeye the sailor]

you don't want 'little fingers' in there......do you?!?!?   he blossomed from a brothel owner to a major villain!  so good to see him get his just deserves!  

  Arya was my sweetheart   I haven't found her yet.

[Kevin]

3 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

you don't want 'little fingers' in there......do you?!?!?   he blossomed from a brothel owner to a major villain!  so good to see him get his just deserves!  

  Arya was my sweetheart   I haven't found her yet.

i not only found her, i married her, wish she would house train the dam dragon

[Kevin]

good evening everyone

day 3 since restart

 

the left side of the river bridge is complete for now, i bulked out the base of the span to look a little more realistic

the city entrance wall is on the table now, with two arch entries, and will be defended by watch towers on either side

the base carcase is balsa covered with card inside the arches is wood, for a contrast as i only have 20,000 grey bricks, i need to find out if they can re coloured/stained

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by Kevin

[Kevin]

good evening everyone

Day 4 city gates

 

im still experimenting and try to see what works for me, i appreciate this is a model ship site not kevin's do anything site, but as i am allowed i want to keep my followers  interested, and I am accepting helpful advice and ideas

 

the large gates are 25' x 25' each, i will put wooden gates in and portcullis later on, not sure what to do with the long white wall to the left  it looks a bit bear at present, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a quick tidy up to see what i have achieved 

Edited December 5, 2020 by Kevin

[Old Collingwood]

Would the waterway  be  fortified I wonder?   how about some ramparts?   I would imagine most castles and fortified  areas close to the castle would be so, infact I have seen that myself  on some of our old hols.

 

OC.

[Ekis]

For your arches, you may want to make a row of stones that follows the curvature, like the big bridge in the kit. Otherwise, in reality, your stones cannot hold in suspension. I think the aesthetics of your city entrance arches would benefit a lot. Don't you think so? 😀

If I were in your place, along the wall on the left, I would make wooden warehouses and a repair shipyard for example...

Edited December 6, 2020 by Ekis

[Edwardkenway]

I agree with Ekis on the arch stones, follow the curvature with a single large keystone top centre

Photo from internet 

I think perhaps that you might need a gate house much like the York bar type

Pic from net

A good example is Micklegate Bar.

I'll stop now and get my coat😂

[Old Collingwood]

Dont know if this will help much Kevin,  its  from Pembroke in Wales  I took the photo  - it shows the town  fortification wall that extended out from the castle and wrapped around the town  giving the people some defence.

 

OC.

[Kevin]

thanks guys, that was certainly a school boy error with the arch stones, i was thinking about a gate house prior to the arches, but to make space for the river and roads i may have to alter the wall, perhaps move the arches more towards the bridge

[Kevin]

up in the computer room at present thinking whats wrong with the build,  

possibly a rethink time, i may swing the whole bridge assembly around and have the river passing through along the back, by doing so i will loose space but bring in another idea of the London bridge housing scheme

[Kevin]

 decided i didnt like the current layout, the river was to tight a bend and i was already thinking about addon boards, which should not be necessary on day 3/4

so i moved the bridge over  and placed a shipyard in, and boat traffic passengers  the base board will be water height, and the waterside river gates are being revamped to include towers

 

from this

 

to this 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Kevin

[Kevin]

good evening everyone

day 5 complete layout change, and revamp river entrance

 

after the mistake made yesterday with the arch supports, and struggling how to get the river to flow with purpose  i made the decision to do a complete layout change, and now much happier with the way things are going, the river is just  a channel now feeding the shipyard and passengers to the city by boat

the 2nd arch has gone, although i might keep both open on the other side for something, light a medieval Eastenders under bridge garage

 

[Kevin]

Good evening everyone

day 7 since restart, now changed scale to 1/87

 

having made the decision to up the scale, everything will now have to be scratched, 

 

so i made a start, and decided like others to start on a church

the card i am using is to thin for this project, and i have not dressed my tiles very well, but, nothing i wasted if i redo it again, i may try and cleans the tiles up with filler first before binning it, 

 

googled a English medieval church with square tower, 1000's to choose from and all different picked some of the bits i could copy and went for it

 

 

[Waitoa]

 Using similar card and my suggestion is to use internal bracing as I have a lot of bowing in the walls which makes it hard to get things level and looking dressed.  I now use the dust created from sanding and basically brush it into any gaps I see and the either wet it lightly to make it return to clay and leave it to dry or in some cases use a Matt varnish to hold it into place.  This doesn’t remove the gaps but lessens how much it stands out when you look at it and seems to work well.

[Kevin]

1 minute ago, Waitoa said:

 Using similar card and my suggestion is to use internal bracing as I have a lot of bowing in the walls which makes it hard to get things level and looking dressed.  I now use the dust created from sanding and basically brush it into any gaps I see and the either wet it lightly to make it return to clay and leave it to dry or in some cases use a Matt varnish to hold it into place.  This doesn’t remove the gaps but lessens how much it stands out when you look at it and seems to work well.

i have tried several ways now, with varying results, there is certainly a fine line between how mine looks and the dressed version, and i think you said in one of your post, there are certainly builds that dont suit the fine finish, this is one of them

[king derelict]

I save the dust and mix it with diluted white glue and use it to fill gaps or build up low spots. Just a variation. I brushed dust into the gaps of the watchtower before dealing it with matte varnish.

I think resizing to 1/87 is a great idea. The construction and the block sizes then fit into scale. I'm realizing that with my 1/200 Towers of Rochelle I'm going to end up with a recognizable model of the real thing but it won't pass close scrutiny for detail. 

[Kevin]

5 hours ago, king derelict said:

I save the dust and mix it with diluted white glue and use it to fill gaps or build up low spots. Just a variation. I brushed dust into the gaps of the watchtower before dealing it with matte varnish.

I think resizing to 1/87 is a great idea. The construction and the block sizes then fit into scale. I'm realizing that with my 1/200 Towers of Rochelle I'm going to end up with a recognizable model of the real thing but it won't pass close scrutiny for detail. 

agreed, to build a one off kit in 1/180 was fine, but to put a collection together, wasnt going to work for me because of the lack of detail,  however, lol i rescaled  my 1/150  Bodiam castle kit to 1/87, and it is to big for my table as it measures 900x650

https://www.hobbies.co.uk/model-kits/architectural-brick-model-kits/aedes-ars-bodiam-castle-model-kit-architectural-model-kit

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Kevin