Ken, this is gonna be good. More and quick!

What a great start to the project. I can't believe how perfect the brick wall looks. The carving is near perfect.

Peter [:-kitty]

Ken,

This is one project that I will follow closely.

I can only imagine what you will be able to do with something this big.

Wow, Ken, that is some nice carving. Now don't throw your back out when you try lifting the structure.

WOW..nice work.

That's a good-looking wall Ken. What did you use to carve it?

George

What kind of plaster exactly did you use?

David

Ken, the carving did come out perfect. Everyone else already asked the questions I wanted to ask, so I'll just sit back and wait for the answers.

Ken:

Looks real good.

Karl

Ken, could you explain how that jig holds the wall? I must be missing something here. What material did you cast the wall from?

Ken, this looks like something I would be very interested in learning more about. Besides the questions already posted did you use any reenforcement in the skinny garage door post, why not cut out the window first or do you plan to use it as a plug later? How thick is the plaster and the bar for the carving jig, for which I would like all the details you can give and pics. Alright that should keep you busy for a while, will be waiting as patiently as I can for future results. Thanks alot, Pat.

PS sent you an email.

Wow Ken, the wall looks terrific. With everyone else seemingly moving towards smaller scales you go and start something big. Eyes OK?

Ken, looking forward to watching this progress. Knowing your modeling skills, I'm really looking forward to seeing the welding shop truck take shape too!

Thanks for the interest and compliments[:I]

After watching Virgil and Ken H. and Chuck D. do their thing in large scale, I thought I would give it a go. Yes Chester...the eyes are getting old

This is the plaster I used. Just mixed with water. Thinned it enough so it's pourable from a plastic cup. I added the plaster to the water which helped with air bubbles. Need to gently mix.



The bottom of the mold contains a piece of 1/8" thick tempered glass. Before pouring I mixed a couple of drops of dishwashing detergent to a cup of water and brushed it lightly on the glass. This makes the plaster easier to remove from the glass and gives the face a very smooth finish. The walls are about 3/8" thick.



The cardstock glued to the back of the walls make them very strong. I do the same to the Downtown Deco kits I build. Never had one break...at least not yet

This is the tool I used to carve the bricks.



I let the walls sit for 48hrs before removing from the jig. Then I let them sit for another 48hrs before carving. You could probably carve them sooner, but they will be softer and the carving not as crisp.

Also, if you know where the doors, windows, etc. will be, you can cut plastic sheet to size and thickness and glue to the glass before pouring. Since I really didn't know if the walls would turn out I cut them out later.

If you look at the jig I used for carving the bricks, the aluminum bar is spring loaded. All I did was use a 6 inch rule to lay out the width of the bricks along the wall, tighten the nuts down and carve away. Just turn the wall the opposite for the lengths of the bricks. The wall never moved. Also, it took about three passes with the tool to carve each row of bricks.

Hope I answered everyone's questions. Will post more progress later.