WEST ORTON

[Steve M]

Very occasionally we all have moments of clarity and lucidity - I had one when I woke up this morning and realised that I had put the wrong amount of catalyst in the silicone.
3% of 400g is not 4, it’s 12.
No wonder it wouldn’t set!

Right, let’s start again.

[RogerB]

Ha-ha, all part of the journey Steve. R-

[Steve M]

Some success but still some challenges.

I successfully removed the masters from the second mould. It had set perfectly overnight. I have cast a few sides from it already but I am casting very thin panels (13g per panel) and this particular resin is proving to be very brittle - the first five all broke into various sized pieces. But, by warming the freshly cast sections while still in the mould , I have been able to release one completely intact. I should be able to churn them out at the rate of four panels per hour.

I have also ‘tarmaced’ the platforms using Rustoleum ‘aged iron’ spray paint and stuck on the ramp sides ready to start on the main walls once the factory has produced enough. And then there are the flagstones to add to finish it off.

2021-05-03_12-06-53 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[Walkingthedog]

They look good Steve. Worth the sleepless nights.

[bulleidboy]

I agree with WTD - expect to see it all finished by tomorrow

[Steve M]

This has to be the most unorthodox way of building platforms.
Finished casting the stone sides last night and tidied them up with a bit of sandpaper this morning. The platform cores have been screwed upside down to a sheet of spare ply to give a consistent datum point for the coping. I then put the resin sides in very hot water to make them malleable and gently curved them to fit the cores. Held on place with small ply offcuts while they cool and set into their new shapes.
I’ll use the same jig to hold them in place while the glue sets.

2021-05-04_11-03-39 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[bulleidboy]

It appears to be a rather messy and drawn-out way of producing a platform Steve- but it's the end result that matters. Nice gentle curves - it's going to look impressive - and all your own work, and not out of a box.Barry

[Steve M]

It appears to be a rather messy and drawn-out way of producing a platform Steve- but it's the end result that matters. Nice gentle curves - it's going to look impressive - and all your own work, and not out of a box.Barry

I prefer the term ‘custom’.

[Walkingthedog]

Bit slow for you Steve, usually the buildings and people would be on the platform by now.

[Steve M]

This has not gone to plan.
I completed the primer coat for the sides and coping stones yesterday and tried applying the laser cut paving slabs this morning. They come in short straight strips but I always knew I would have to trim each slab to accommodate the curved platforms.
Having stuck a few on with PVA, it was obvious that at 0.8mm they were too thick. I was able to thin them down (the technical term is ‘skiving’ ) to about 0.2mm. That lead to another problem as they started to curl up when stuck down.
So it was back to basics and I added very thin strips of DAS clay, pressed into place then smoothed out with a wet sponge. Finally I marked out the edge of the slabs with a blade.
These are being left to dry overnight to see if there is any cracking or shrinkage before pressing on with the others and final painting.

2021-05-05_01-44-06 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr