Blackstaff Cottage

[Patrick Davey]

Another of my 'banish the winter blues' projects was to have a go at building a cottage diorama, with an emphasis on including as much interior detail as I could realistically cram in.  The interior is based on an original building once owned by my grandparents, which still stands today in King Street, Newcastle, Co. Down.

The main building material for this project was 3mm mount board, with most details eg. furniture also built from this material.  A few additional details are from Scale Model Scenery, including kitchen table & chairs, armchairs and terracotta roof slates.

I have progressed the build sufficiently to share progress, as I reach the final stages.  Some of the interior detail is known only to me (very obsessive) but most of it was photographed before the roof went on and interior lighting also shows much of it.  Further updates will follow!

 

[leslie10646]

You could get a job at Pendon!

Great detail.

[David Holman]

Great stuff and looks like good fun too. What scale have you used?

[Patrick Davey]

38 minutes ago, David Holman said:

Great stuff and looks like good fun too. What scale have you used?

Thanks David - 4mm.  And yes to the fun! 

[David Holman]

4mm? I thought it was the 1:12 doll's house from those interiors!

 

[Patrick Davey]

Some further progress.

[Patrick Davey]

Currently building a small stone bridge to cross the river below the cottage.  The basic structure was constructed from mount board then Das clay was applied, once this was dry, the stonework was scribed.  I have used the stone coloured variety of the clay and when it is fully dry, it gives a really authentic base colour which would probably only need weathering to complete the effect, although I am going to follow the example of Alan @Tullygrainey and paint the stonework in various colours of beige and brown.

The extra slab of clay in the final photo will be used to create the coping stones and these will be applied individually.
 

Edited Saturday at 06:50 by Patrick Davey

[Tullygrainey]

7 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

Currently building a small stone bridge to cross the river below the cottage.  The basic structure was constructed from mount board then Das clay was applied, once this was dry, the stonework was scribed.  I have used the stone coloured variety of the clay and when it is fully dry, it gives a really authentic base colour which would probably only need weathering to complete the effect, although I am going to follow the example of Alan @Tullygrainey and paint the stonework in various colours of beige and brown.

The extra slab of clay in the final photo will be used to create the coping stones and these will be applied individually.

 

Glad to see you're coping Patrick

[Galteemore]

40 minutes ago, Tullygrainey said:

Glad to see you're coping Patrick

That’s quite arch of you Alan 

[Broithe]

2 hours ago, Tullygrainey said:

Glad to see you're coping Patrick

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

That’s quite arch of you Alan 

We all knew this was coming - bang on course!

[Patrick Davey]

I was going to try out a few of the above puns myself but I was worried I could be pillar-ied for it. 

Edited Saturday at 17:53 by Patrick Davey

[Broithe]

2 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

I was going to try out a few of the above puns myself but I was worried I could be pillar-ied for it. 

Just sit back and wait for the usual suspects to do it.

There'll be plenty mortar come yet.

[Mol_PMB]

19 minutes ago, Broithe said:

Just sit back and wait for the usual suspects to do it.

There'll be plenty mortar come yet.

Only if you lot keep Pointing it out… 

[Tullygrainey]

All your effort has produced a fine bridge Patrick but did it take a toll on you?

[Patrick Davey]

Waiting on the next puns. The suspension is killing me

[Galteemore]

12 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

Waiting on the next puns. The suspension is killing me

Hope you have a long attention span

[Mol_PMB]

Setting expectations like that, who’s going to put their head above the Parapet now? 

[Patrick Davey]

I will definitely be retaining a few of these

[Patrick Davey]

The Das coping stones have been fitted - a bit more sanding and trimming needed but I do like how the clay dries to a good representation of stone.

When the finished bridge is on the diorama, much of the lower stonework will be hidden and some of the upper stonework will be clad in ivy 

Edited Sunday at 14:46 by Patrick Davey

[Patrick Davey]

Almost there - am really loving Das clay at the moment! 

[Mol_PMB]

Looks great, a lovely representation of smooth finished stone. Superb work!

If you were to want a slightly more textured finish for your stone blocks on another structure, a good effect can be achieved with artists 'Matte Medium' dabbed onto the surface of the DAS after scribing but before painting, which is the technique I used here on my slow-burning Swiss project:

[Patrick Davey]

Painting of the bridge has gone in an unexpected direction, it’s producing something of a sandstone effect, which I actually quite like:

[Mol_PMB]

Very nice indeed!

[Patrick Davey]

I finally arrived at a finish for the bridge which I liked, so after a bit of weathering and adding some vegetation, I called in the Royal Ordnance Corps to blast holes in the riverbank, and the bridge was eventually placed in position on the diorama: