The extension has been progressing - but of course it is behind schedule (by about 3 weeks). However there is progress:
- IMG_3082.JPG (5.11 MiB) Viewed 2936 times
This section of wall incorporates a double width shelf for the railway which will accommodate a passing place.
Dinah has been getting enthusiastic about planting around the railway, the result of this years Peterborough show, and garden railway visits. So we have been looking at the pile of rocks in the middle of the trestle viaduct:
- IMG_3084.JPG (6.14 MiB) Viewed 2936 times
Our first thoughts were about a pond in the middle, which could have included a stream with rocky waterfalls going under one of the trestles. We have reconsidered our ideas and now think that a castle on the pile of rocks might be more appropriate.
Castles. We started looking at the Welsh castles we are familiar with (castles - a passion of Dinah's). Firstly Castel - y - Bere, appealed. Look it up online loads of photos and a plan easily found. I won't add them to this as I am sure they are copyright. The immediate problem was the realisation that castles are HUGE. A scale representation of Castel-y-Bere would be 6m long. Stokesay Castle (on the border between Monmouthshire and Wales) was our next thought. That led to the realisation that a 13th century castle, both a Welsh one and a Norman one of the period would have a round keep in the centre and walls with towers at the corners surrounding it.
The inspired bit was the realisation that I don't have to build the whole thing. So this will be a ruined tower on top of that mound, and the (even more ruinous) remains of walls and towers in various places lower down the mound surrounding the main tower that SUGGEST the rest of the castle. That will form the basis for the planting on that mound. Dinah is hoping that plants which give the impression of brambles and bracken overgrowing the walls will create a suitable background for the viaduct.
So the keep of the castle is designed and I have started to print it:
- Screenshot 2023-06-08 at 15.36.54.png (119.09 KiB) Viewed 2936 times
The tower is about 300mm diameter at the base. You can see that the bottom section is "battered" (it is tapered - to a smaller diameter at the top). So that is printed in 4 parts - 1/4 at a time. The middle Layer has three identical parts and one unique section which has the door in it. The top layer is again in 4 parts, but only two are the same (mirror images of each other), and the other 2 are different - on higher and one lower. That top section is intended to look as though the mortar has decayed and stones have fallen off.
Another big building - each of the bottom tapered layers are taking 24 hours to print. Updates as this progresses.
Trevor
