Thanks so much, Bob.

Its such a cool design. I don't know how prototypically correct it would be, but I'm willing to let that slide for aesthetic beauty. I hope to get a bit more done today.

Cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

Well - in the process of getting the main sub-assembly together I keep finding necessary tangents. One of these was the second cantilevered room to sit over the highest flotation bath.

I made up the small room. The sides I kept 3mm lower in height than the front for the beams to notch in. I taped the back of the gable wall and corner trim was glued on and trimmed (I always add my corner trim to the gable walls). I then cut out the opening for the door. After this was glued in I trimmed the battens and added 6x2 trim for framing. I glued bracing on the back edges of the gable wall, hard up against the corner trim. I cut a base from siding and glued this to the front with a piece of bracing added. I then cut and glued the side beams to the base and front. The sides were then glued to the front and beam. Finally I cut and added a styrene back and glued this in.


I held the room against the wall to which it is to be attached and carefully cross cut the battens. I then used a small chisel blade to remove the battens. I also notched out a small piece of corner trim for the far beam.


Here is the room held in position. This will give a nice clean join when glued together.


I liked my way of doing the small decking on the first room, so did it again. Here I am holding the center bearer showing the small notches made with a saw and a 6x2 held in position. I will glue a piece of 6x2 to the two ends of the row of joists and then glue this boundary joist the the two outer end bearers and the end of the notched bearer to the two long beams.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

Mark,

Your flotation plant is coming along fantastically. You've got me wanting to build one of my own.

Mike

Thanks, Mike.

Its all fun and games! I had to give some more stripwood a bath today when I discovered some sizes I would need that I hadn't prepared earlier! Some 8x8, 10x10 and 10x8. Support posts, beams and joists for the suspended barn. I tried to cover my bases - so more than I need and a little choice as I proceed.

Cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

A little more progress.

This photo shows what I mean about headwork. The piece of styrene to the left has to be spliced onto the piece I am holding to the right. For each piece like this I have to carefully measure off the plan - typically working off two elevations - then carefully measure my wooden piece, draw up a template sketch, double check everything, and then cut out the piece of styrene. Then the notches are cut out for the bracing and I get to check to see if I got it right. The old adage of measure twice, cut once has become a bit of a mantra.


I finally have that main sub-assembly together! I still have a small gable wall to put on the top section and then its on to the lower pieces - including that last suspended room. You can see I opted to build full height walls at the back rather than stepping the base. I buy my 1.5mm styrene in large sheets from a local manufacture - so its not that expensive - a fraction of the price of buying from a hobby store.

Photo 1 - back left

Photo 2 - front left

Photo 3 - back right

Photos 4 & 5 - above




More soon, cheers, Mark.

Mark it's looking great.

Great start on a challenging build, Mark. I like your use of a mockup to help plan the construction.

George

Mark,

What a lot of measuring, cutting and fitting. Excellent workmanship.

Mike

Dynamic project Mark. Nice work!

Thanks, so much, Jerry.

Its been a fun build to date, but the plans are sketchy at best so you have to keep your wits about you. I was looking at the tank support framework today and it took my ages to work out that there must be 12 posts rather than 8 as I first thought. Again, a floor plan would have saved me guessing (and having to prep and stain more stripwood).

Thanks for following along.

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks, George.

The mock up was a lot of work, but definitely worth it! There have been many times I have studied it to work out what I was doing.

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks, Mike.

Yep! I do think it is the second most difficult scratchbuild I have done to date. The cannery and wharf, with all its changes in height - and having to consider water level, retaining wall levels, sub floor levels, wharf decking levels, floor levels and track levels - definitely takes the cake!

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks, Carl.

Its certainly keeping me on my toes! On the first weekend with all my friends here and all the chat, I found it so hard to concentrate and keep 'in the zone'. I am away down south to Timaru tomorrow for another weekend of modeling. Four of us this time. I'm hoping to get some templates drawn up tonight and maybe a jig made for some of the tank support timber work. Hopefully that will be enough to keep my 'needing to re-find my focus' to a minimum...

Cheers, Mark.

Hi guys.

Well I got the last of the three suspended rooms together. I still need to add the window.

Photo 1 - shows the room from the front. This one has a single door - per the plans. I opted for a door without a window. Jock put in a door with a 4-pane window.


Photo 2 - shows the room from underneath showing the neat fit I got by trimming away those battens.


Photo 3 - shows the room clamped to the gable wall, gluing.


I then moved on to the next sub-assembly.

Photo 4 - shows the overall assembly.


Photo 2 - shows the sub-assembly off the sub-assembly. For this little suspended room I first measured and cut out a fold up room from a cereal box. I checked fit and then unfolded and cut the door opening. I first reduced my doors height by a couple of millimeters to better suit the room size per the plan. The door was glued into position and then the room folded up and glued together. When dry I covered the bottom, sides and front in masking tape which I painted Floquil weathered black. I dry brushed this with unbleached titanium. I added a piece of 4x2 painted unbleached titanium as a sill and I added 2x4 battens and trimmed and then made up a roof section. I glued the room to the wall (which I had previously braced) and then glued on the roof. I then added masking tape to the roof, carefully trimming and folding over the edges. I cut a strip for the back and added this as a flashing, embossing it around the battens with a skewer. The roof was also painted weathered black - but is yet to be dry brushed.


More soon, cheers, Mark.

Mark,

I started to try to read thru your thread from the beginning before I commented, But I am just going to comment.
The small layout mockup is well done and looks to be quite helpful.
Your building looks great and very intricate! Clean and accurate construction, nice job so far.

Scott