mikes marvellous models and miniatures: October 2014

papier mache

OK so now I have to cover the tree with papier mache. The reason is that the top surface of the tree is made from plaster and filler( the type used for interior repairs) and it doesn't grip the foam very well without something to key into hence the use of papier mache. I make mine using 50/50 water and PVA glue and I keep a pot of neat PVA glue handy for any bits where I need a bit of extra sticking power. we only need to get a couple of layers on, though in some places I may build up points of layers if I want to change the underlying surface height for instance. I am finally inside the workshop now, but clearance is very tight!!! This is my mark 2 ,workshop, technically its my mark 3, but seeing as the mark one was the kitchen table I don't count it!! I build up the papier mache with a mixture of newspaper, tissue paper and kitchen towel. The trick is not to go for a smooth surface but one that has plenty of wrinkles to help the plaster stick to it. I have used this technique now for quite a few dolls houses and model railway scenery building and although time consuming does give a solid and well textured surface that is also lightweight and should it ever need it, easy to repair or modify.

I should just mention as well that I
Like to stipple the papier mache into place place with a large paintbrush. This helps to get the paper to conform to all the nooks and crannies.

now all I have to do is wait for this to dry, so far we are on day 5!! It doesn't help that my workshop is in the shade all day long. With the papier mache work complete we have rolled past the halfway stage. Just the plasterwork, doors windows and lighting then the final painting and detailing.

more tree vicar!

I have finished up the foam work and cut out the openings for the doors and windows. now its possible to get a feel for how the dolls house is going to work.

I have started to add paper onto the branches and will begin the papier mache stage next.

more foam!

Here's a couple of pictures of the rest of the foam work.

the opening sections get a bit stuck with foam and need to be released with a hacksaw blade.

part tree, part triffid...

faraway tree foam party!

So its time to start giving the tree some solidity. Up until this point the tree was an exercise in woodwork, originally I had intended this build to follow down the same path and my smaller houses using cardboard tubes for the living areas with a small amount of wood to attach hinges too. After a bit of playing around it quickly became apparent that this wouldn't give the flexibility to the different rooms I wanted to create and also, with out a substantial frame work, it would be difficult to make something that will come apart for transporting. Anyway, with the frame complete I can carry on as originally intended with the foam. I use 2 inch thick foam sheets that you can buy from builders merchants. They come in 8x4 sizes and are very economical at around £10.00 per sheet. They cash be shaped with a hacksaw blade, hot wire or Stanley knife(score and snap) and will provide most of the thickness to the tree. The foam can be glued with PVA and also pinned together with bamboo sticks.
One of the reasons for using the foam is its both light and strong. You could do a similar thing using crumpled newspaper, but the foam will provide a solid underpinning to the papier mache and plaster coats.The pictures shown how the grey foam is cut and glued into all the gaps, I mainly used a hacksaw blade to cut the sheets, then glued in with some pva. I leave gasps between the sheets so that I can stick everything solid with the expanding foam. A word of warning about the foam, WEAR GLOVES! I have been using expanding foam for years and still manage to get it were I don't want it, it will stick to anything and if you get it on your skin its unbelievably tricky to get off. My very first go with the foam years ago saw me trying to push about great erupting clouds of foam engulfing the trackwork of a model railway I was building. It was suggested that the expanding foam would be good for making hills in my inexperienced hands I Managed to empty a whole can of the stuff onto a 3 foot square baseboard and then watched in horror as the neatly applied foam did exactly what it said on the tin and expand with amazing rapidity all OK over my track, my clothes, the kitchen table and the floor. The experience left me with hands covered in the stuff, which wouldn't wash off, and the residue had to be scraped off with a razor!!
So step one, put on gloves, step two, only put a small amt on at a time. It is tempting to really squeeze out loads in one area, particularly if you have big gaps too fill but the foam keeps expanding for up to half an hour and you can easily walk away from the job only to come back forty minutes later to find that the foam has started to take on the appearance of a 1950s horror movie and consumed everything in its path!!. I am using the foam to help stick the solid foam chunks together and for a bit of gap filling. When it is all cured I will then carve the whole lot and cover it in papier mache.

This picture shows a sheet of the foam and some tins of foam and some PVA. I use the larger cans of foam and these are better value.

far away tree branching out!

The biggest problem with building the tree is its size. Its too big to do ,much to it inside my workshop, being mainly a figure modeller I built my workshop to suit. Anyway progress though slow is managing to carry on between rain showers. I have made branches. These are more plywood cut to shape with the jigsaw, then glued and screwed to a piece of pine, so that they can be removed for transporting.

The piece of 2x1 attached to the shed is a marker for the overall height of the tree, which is 93 inches. The branches, like the rest of the tree will be covered with polystyrene foam and expanding foam. Then covered over with papier mache, then I brush plaster over the whole thing to give a bark effect. Anyway with the woodwork finally complete, I am now 1/3rd of the way through the build and note importantly onto the exciting !