As mad as an Englishman - The Locomotive Works Diorama

[artizen]

My method varies slightly. After 26,000 bricks I now know to mix very large batches of pre-coloured dry plaster to get consistent colour through 40 or 50 batches. The trick with powders sprinkled across the moulds is good though - I'll be pinching that idea! I use casting plaster and about eight jars of cement oxides to get the variations I like - from green and brown to sandstone and reds. I have always added the water to the plaster but your comment of doing it the other way round might help. I find most bubbles occur when mixing vigorously - I get a froth which needs to be skimmed before pouring. I mix stiff and work really quickly. The bricks are ready for popping out after two hours and I get at least four batches a day (480 bricks total). Most bubbles inside the mould are caused by not allowing the mix to pour and settle naturally at its own speed into the bottom. As you only really see one face of the brick when building, a bubble on the back side is not an issue. Black is the most intense colour to use - literally count the grains to a batch of white plaster to get the grey mortar colour you need at the end!

Have fun - I nearly went mad but the end result is well worth it. Cheap therapy!!!!!

[shropshire lad]

Where the Brits lead  the Aussies follow !

  I'm looking forward to seeing you lay 1/48th scale bricks . That'll make you an utter nutter . Welcome to the club .

   Nick

[artizen]

I'm not accurate or patient enough to try 1:48 scale individual bricks. I can manage what I am doing in 1:24 because I can see what I am doing!

[Hydrostat]

What about H0 scale: http://www.stummiforum.de/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=65597&hilit=ziegelei ?

A prototype building has the same number of bricks, no matter which scale it is modeled ... so what? 

Cheers,
Volker

[finescalerr]

Marc's thread on chip board bricks keeps coming to mind. As I recall the appearance was comparable .... -- Russ

[artizen]

As Nick discovered, creating a wall using a moulded brick of several courses is simply easier, faster and more accurate. If I were ever to get down to the smaller scales, I would be looking seriously at something like this - http://www.redutex.com/murosfp1.php

[Mr Potato Head]

I just got a bunch of Diorama molds and I plan to make up walls from individual and course molds to make masters that way it will be faster to make big sections of walls. I have a module that is 2' x 5' that will be a down town city scene, that's a lot of bricks, so there's no way I am going brick on brick!
MPH

[michael mott]

A great SBS but I couldn't help but think of my own gate
http://users.xplornet.com/~macton/works%20Gate.html

Michael

[danpickard]

Of course Michael...idea borrowed.  I had looked at your gate many times (was actually one of the photos I sent to Laurie when working on the gate design).  Kept thinking there had to be an easier way to do the gate.  The hand built brass version is a much better finish, but the laser cut version was the option I took, knowing there was still all the brickwork to follow.

Cheers,
Dan

[finescalerr]

Michael, anybody who uses metal and can solder is cheating. Go stand in the corner. -- Russ

[michael mott]

Which corner this time!

Michael

[danpickard]

Got a couple of thousand bricks cast up now, so thought it was time to put them to use, and made a start on the main wall for the diorama.  Flemish bond since this is an English diorama  , with each course of bricks separated by some 0.6mm card to space for the mortar filling.  Surprised this isn't as mind numbing as I thought it would be and got the first 2' of a about a 10' fence laid up in a couple of hours.  A whole day of bricklaying might be a different thing though!  So far, it's felt quite therapeutic...





Cheers,
Dan

[michael mott]

Dan the brick wall looks great so far, and remember that Winston Churchill made a hobby out of building a brick wall, it was probably a great stress reliever, apart from being an odd subject as a hobby.

Michael.

[Bill76]

Wow ! Keep patience ...

Georges

[shropshire lad]

Dan the brick wall looks great so far, and remember that Winston Churchill made a hobby out of building a brick wall, it was probably a great stress reliever, apart from being an odd subject as a hobby.

Michael.

  What they didn't tell you is that they had to knock it down and rebuild it properly when he had gone !

  Nick