Canal Archives » BlokeCrafted

Canal Barge

Si — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 14:59:00 +0000

Done some more work on the canal board. Spent a while sorting out the various boxes and crates and so on, they’re now ready to be sprayed if the weather holds.

Not sure where I saw this tip, but I tried wood stain on my balsa wood and it seems to work really well. I’ve done the barge as you can see. If then had a light drybrush of bleached bone. The cabin needs the edges touching up (stain won’t work if there’s superglue present!), and then the tin roofs need washes.

But yeah, happy with that effect. Looks almost like wood. Stain gave me a headache though, worth doing outdoors I guess.

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Canal PIP & Crane

Si — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:34:00 +0000

The painting of the canal warehouse board has begun. Really happy with the flagstones, still a little unconvinced by the tower. I might do another lighter coat to try and make a wider difference between the two surfaces.

You can also see in the above pictures I’ve started the roof. I’ve done the vertical gables and started the detailing on the hoist. All WIP at the moment of course.

Also done some work on the hamster crane. I realised when I had a proper look that it didn’t really have the reach to get across the path at the side of the canal. Hrm. So I’ve mounted it on a small platform.

The small notch in the supporting beams sits over the raised edge of the canal sides. This means the platform hangs over the edge by about 2cm. Gives it enough clearance to reach the barge.

Also worked out how to attach the wheel to the main post, which I have done. And even added some little stairs for detail. I plan to surround this and the cart with sacks and boxes anyway so it should need much more detailing.

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Canal Warehouse

Si — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 19:50:00 +0000

The canal board has been getting most of my attention recently. It was the small cargo barge that actually brought me back to Stadtheim from my 40k projects.

The warehouse is now up to roof level, the main doorway at the top will have a crane jib above to lower goods to passing vessels. The back door opens on street level. There’s a wooden stairway to get to the goods doorway. Then a small door opens on each side at the lower street level.

When I came back to this I noticed the tower was well out of shape. Somehow it’d grown about 1/4 inch at the back. I decided to stick with this, hopefully with a slightly skewed roof it’ll look ramshackle rather than badly built! We shall see.

The details for this board are shown below:

The first is the barge, with a couple of Antenociti’s crates and currently a single Renedra barrel. I’m going to do a couple of large crate piles covered with tarps (saves money :D).

Second photo shows the in progress crane which will be loading goods to the barge. Human hamster power ftw.

Thrd is a very quick cart I built today. Not bad for half an hour’s work. It’s a bit rough but I like it that way.

I’m hoping this will be the first complete board, though I may not do the water until all the canal boards are sorted. That way I can make sure they’re all the same.

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Canal Mouth

Si — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:11:00 +0000

Hallo. Quick update with what I’m currently working on. After the slight change to the layout I mentioned the other day, I’ve been looking at the part where the canal meets the sea or river or whatever it is off board.

This piece extends the existing canal system with one side higher than the other. Similar style all the way along. The tall edge finishes with a cliff face, which will hopefully look better when textured and detailed. The other side has a small pier thingamy which will be set up as a small canon emplacement. The idea is it should stop intruders sailing straight up the canal.

Still to do is the footbridge over the canal, got some plans but need to get hold of some pink foam.

Here are the two canal boards together, also entitled “why we build with set squares”. D’oh. Yes, I need to move the bricks on the new board and file down the edge to get a smooth join. However I like how it’s coming along, the view down the canal is pretty cool.

Still plenty to do but work is a bit insane at the moment so I’ve lost my weekends. Once I get them back things should start progressing again.

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Canal

Si — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:25:00 +0000

I’m back! So I’ve not been slacking on the actual project, but I have been somewhat lax in updating this blog. Therefore tonight I’ve taken a load of photos of the current progress.

First up is the new canal board. This is the sort of piece I’ve wanted to do since starting this project (and long before) and I’m enjoying it immensely. However casting all these blocks with only a prison tower mould is a pain (only 8 normal blocks per cast). So I’ve ordered a second mould which should help.

This is going to form the basis of the canal pieces. There will be four in total, one in a 90degree turn. The left hand side in the top photo stops at tier one, the right at tier two. This will limit the flexibility of the boards but should add some very cool dynamics to the final piece. I hope.

The building in the middle is going to be a warehouse. It will go up two storeys above the top level before being peaks on the third. I’ll do a gantry on the canal side and a simple jib to allow loading into barges.

Do need to figure out how best to do water. I’ve got a bottle of water effects but I think it could get expensive. Ideally it will cover the small walkways. The theory being they’re underwater, but you can see them and use them if you need to.

Oh and my first figure! The warrior monk duder. Just a few pieces I had kicking around from a bitz buy on ebay. I think I’ll paint him up and he can be the “barry” for this project.

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