Another Blog change?

What's happened now? Have 'they' been changing things again! I used to be able to see all images from one post if I clicked on just one. Then I could easily go from one to t'other. Now only one comes up so you have to return to the main view to see another and click again. Or is it something I've done?

Rohan Donkey Mill 1

 

I'm determined not to muck up this construction.

so I've Bluetacked everything down while the glue dries.

Only to discover that the darn thing has a pronounced lean backwards.

Nadgers!

Inscribing the roof timbers before gluing in place.

However, the scoring tends to make the timber curl upwards.

Straighten before gluing!

I'm going to need more stirrers.

Rohan Donkey Field almost done

 

What a pile of .....!

A mix of dry grass, Brown Earth, glue and, the perfect ingredient -

tea leaves supplied by the one and only, John Curtis.

Tea bags wouldn't have done the job John.

It has to be proper old tea leaves.

Above is one for the pot.

The gate hinge corrected.

The 'rope', once coloured, is too stiff, unfortunately.

Overhead view showing what is supposed to be wheel tracks

of the little hay delivery handcart

(yet to be built)

Blake and Gracie's donkey hut.

Deeja's and Tarli's donkey.

Must get them to name him.

Homemade tufts but I don't like that blue colour.

Rohan donkey field

 

The 'donkey field' is coming along nicely.

It's taken time because I'm fixing the fencing to the base with 'Dark Earth'

which takes time to set.

The other reason is that the fencing comes from several kits

and is supplied with one side piece to every pair of corner pieces.

Result - if you want this kind of straight run,

is lots of carving apart of beams from posts

and then gluing them on to the next piece.

On a couple of occasions I've assumed difficulty getting a post in

and have put two together.

The building is the one that Blake and Gracie put together.

I've tweaked it, hence the elastic bringing the ridge down.

The next job was the fully opening five bar gate.

What larks!

Carefully constructed of split coffee stirrers inscribed to look like grain.

In this shot it's just propped up in place.

However, last night, that's where it was fixed.

Till 1.30 am when it crossed my mind

that it was upside down!

Even now, despite checking images, I'm not sure.

However, it makes sense to me

that the diagonal ends low on the hinged side.

So I carefully took it apart and inverted it.

That left the protruding hitching post pointing downwards!

Next, drill a hole for a pin on what had been the underside.

What have I done with the gate?

2.15 am and for the next ten minutes I'm crawling about,

feeling around on a grey carpet for a miniature five bar gate, also grey!

Found it.

I'd put it safely in a drawer.

Now, can I find a pin!

Eventually find some pin heads kindly donated years ago

by good friend, poet and rubber truncheon collector,

John Curtis.

Old bottom (now top) of gate drilled,

pin head glued in, painted, varnished.

Dark Earth drying.

Now I wait.

Rohan 'Semi' finished

 

Well, at last the damn thing is finished.

Thatch painted, washed ands dry brushed.

I have to mount it and sow some grass etc but that's it.

Above shows the conventional style of porch.

This is the sideways mounted one which caused such bother.

The only one in the whole of Rohan?

After all that fuss, it finally worked!

Tufts

 

I had a try at using the grass applicator to produce tufts.

Tin tray underneath connected up.

Two different thickness of glues used.

They don't look too successful, do they?

A bit like a youth's first beard.

I was using 6mm  grass and wonder if the only grill supplied is too small a gauge?

Or should I made an effort to pull apart the clumps of grass before using?

Rohan semi - another error!

 

Nearly where?

I'd put on the second porch roof last night - badly.

How many mistakes can you make on one building!

I thought the roof was then holding up on the wall edge.

It may have been, slightly, but grinding off the edge of the wall didn't help much.

I levered it off, leaving glue scars and on it went again,

hopefully in the right place.

I think many of the problems stem from that poor roofing job.

More Rohan scraps

 

From other leftovers, I've made up some small shed roofs/wood drying areas etc.

A shed wall too,

Made from leftover wall joiners.

What's the betting I'll need one?

Scrap horse heads

 

I've removed the joining flange from these horse heads.

I have six remaining horse heads and an old six sided pen.

Watch this space.

Grinder in Rohan

 

I recently treated myself to a nice little piece of kit -

a mini electric grinder.

(I binned the old steam driven one)

I'd thought of using it to make a 'rough wood' look on the stables roof.

So far I've only used it to chop up some pieces of scrap thatch.

(Watch yer fingers)

Perhaps handy for lean-to stores of some sort?

The right hand pair are cut downs.

Producing a decent looking bottom edge is tricky.

Rohan Makeshift gable ends

 

The end gables made from scraps look OK when painted,

though the right hand corner might need some work.

T'other end.

Rohan sideways porch

 

When I said  'nearly there', I was wrong.

This avoidance of the narrow doorway led to problems.

The joint arrangement I concocted was wont to come apart when I sneezed/

I changed it to this after three goes.

Not pretty and the doorway is narrower but at least,

it doesn't fall apart.

Helped by some extra bits of frame where it can't normally be seen.

Jim 'the lodger' at the shop front.

This is the modified side on porch.

Rohan side-on porch - nearly there.

This was the original idea for the side entrance

but clearly, the opening is too narrow.

I took one more plank from under the beam

and cut out the lower part of the LHS.

I figured it could do with an interior (hidden) support.

It's pretty much assembled.

Once firm, the piece in front, cut to shape,will go in.

That piece alone will comprise six pieces.

The main construction comprises 15 pieces.

I may add two more before I'm done.

Must be mad.

 

Rohan semi porches

These are the left over pieces that I'm trying to use

to build two identical porches - with a difference.

It was so tricky that I'll produce two different ones or only one.

 

Rohan roof and Green Stuff

Here's the result after a dab of recently purchased Green Stuff.

I'll have to see how it looks once painted.

The other side.

Damn dormer slipped a bit.

Here's the botch job roof ends.

Perhaps some Green Stuff wanted in that gap.

It took yonks, cutting and filing down spare pieces to fit.

Again, I'll only know if it's OK once painted.

Rohan roof problems

This was the side I was concerned about

as the problem was caused by my attempt

to close the normal gap on the ridge join.

By closing that gap, the ridge no longer remained flat

leaving a more difficult gap to fill.

This side is even worse.

This time caused by the lack of 'key points'

at the end of the roof.

This came from using the cut off 'extension' pieces.

Finally, a good look at the ridge end joint.

Creativity OK. Practice dreadful.

 

Rohan stable doors

 

Finally worked out a fix for them after about three stabs and a bout of Covid/Asthma.

Still very unsure about them. What do they represent?

I thought they'd look like wicker.

Rohan Semi roof ends

I've also realised that I only have one complete roof end.

To produce a copy of the three part end at the top of this shot,

I'll be using about twelve scraps cut and filed to fit.

Rohan Semi-detached 1

 

I was surprised to find that there were fewer spare pieces available

after the Mead Hall. Just one long wall.

I've hacksawed that in two and extended the length of this building.

As you can see, it's an almost perfect fit for the additional spare roof piece.

Rohan stables - floor

I've decided that the stables should have cobbled flooring.

Wallpaper with mumps.

Rohan Bee Skeps and Mead Hall

I tried for a little raised ground at the rear of the Mead Hall.

This gives the bees a little height to start their day.

Just three layers of card.

I've also given them some flowers.

Thinks of them as Spitfire starter motors.

Front entrance.

How many times have I told those bar girls to put the empties at the rear!

Rohan roof improvements and Bee Skeps

Happy New Year everyone!

Easing in gently after another bout of Christmas Covid, a look at how the roof should have been done -

The roof should have been made in two parts and based on stirrers,

rather than card, to avoid warping.

Two verticals at each end to cover to any unevenness of the timber ends

would also provide better fixing for the fascia.

The verticals should have tucked under the ridge at the top

and protruded slightly at the bottom to hide the non-existent gaps.

A little progress too.

The barman at the Mead Hall would surely have produced his own

booze, on site, as well as stocking the imported stuff.

For that he'll need bees skeps.

So, small blobs of Green Stuff wrapped in twisty thread should look OK.

There's one there that is too small

so I'll use the last of my Green Stuff to make another. 

I'd suggest coiling them one at a time

to avoid the spare thread getting in the way.