The problem was that I made the concrete block before I had more accurate measurements courtesy of Bobby's trip out to the bridge. This meant that the block was too narrow and when fitted in place there were two steps as the embankment narrowed rather than just one. Originally I thought I'd be able to love with it but once I could see everything blended it was just wrong so it had to go. Of course by this point the block was glued and plastered into place so took a bit of getting off.
I've now cast another, wider, block. In fact I've cast a block that is slightly wider than the real one so that it better matches the rest of the embankment and stonework that I'd already built.
Personally I think that looks like a fairly good representation, but it does mean that I still haven't done any greenery yet.
What a fascinating comparison between those two shots. It's almost a shame to add greenery to those nice rock surfaces, but it has to be done of course.
ReplyDeleteYes I was a bot worried about messing it all up with greenery, but so far it seems to be going okay.
DeleteWell done for having the courage to go back and correct your earlier mistake Mark, if you had left it as it was it would only have annoyed you, even though the original looked damn good. The water looks very good indeed when compared with the real thing, your patience and perseverance has certainly paid off there. Once the greenery is in place I reckon you will have a wining entry for the challenge, good luck :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Geoff. For once I had no reservation with ripping out the first attempt. One look once everything had dried and it just looked wrong, not just nothing like the prototype but just in general no one would ever have built it like that. It was still slightly nerve wracking though taking a scalpel to the model so close to the deadline.
DeleteBobby's bike lends a surprising element of scale in the piuc, it's smaller than I thought, but of course it is, this is narrow gauge... yes it was brave to scrap work already done, something that always smarts, but it's good for the soul and always feels better afterwards! I too think this is looking like a winner.
ReplyDeleteHmm, that's a good point, it would probably be useful to add something, like a bike, to the model to help give a sense of scale. So, anyone know where I could get a 4mm scale mountain bike, or am I going to have to try fabricating something from brass rod?
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