Thought I'd try something other than styrene, so I made the wooden doors out of wood (what a concept). The reason I usually don't use real wood in my projects is the grain is too large to look scale. These thin coffee stirrers had very fine grain and, after vigorous sanding (to the point of polishing), turned out very well. The 'metal' straps are some .020 strips I ran through my riveting press.
From the back you can see the piece I glued the individual planks to. It is made from a 1/8th" shim I cut from some southern yellow pine over a year ago. SYP is a very stable wood and, even after more than a year, showed no signs of warping. I felt confident using it here. The working hinges I made from brass and aluminium. I subsequently covered the top of the arch to hide the gap. I worked very hard to make the doors even and everything line up properly, and was disappointed in the gaps introduced by the hinges. I will probably address this problem in the future.
The finished flagstone roof. I am very pleased with how this turned out, though there were many doubts during the creation. I started by priming the beige sheet white. Then I colored individual stones with light washes, applied liberally and not worrying if some color sloshed onto a neighboring stone. When I was done I had a light, pastel, not very flagstone-lookish mess. Time for some black washes. I put on the first wash, and was encouraged by the improvement in appearance, only to be disappointed when it almost disappeared upon drying. But I know that applying washes is a 'build-up' process, so I sloshed on the second..........the third.........the fourth............the fifth. I was starting to wonder if I needed to scrap this technique and go in some other direction. Oh well, let's try one more. BINGO! The sixth wash POPPED! I finally had the effect I wanted. A seventh sealed the deal.
Questions or comments always welcome. Don
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