Alterations and refurbishment to the Church in sleepy old Dapol.

[Deleted member 4539]

If I was Idu or any of his pals I would be getting worried about you building a graveyard as they may end up there to save you a few bob from paying them....,.........well,you have offered potential violence in the past .

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Ron
I’ve been to many of the graveyards in Normandy, and the CWGC ones such as Ranville and Bayeux contain burials from all nationalities, even Russian. The German and American ones only have their own nationality. However, your model, your rules...

 

[spanner570]

I would think that in a sleepy English country village church grounds, the various nationalities would have a separate area. They are at my own village church.

Anyway, life is too short to argue the toss on what is a delicate subject. I could well scrap the idea and just keep the grounds simple and just grassed. I'll chew it over.....See wot I rote there?!

 

[stona]

I would think that in a sleepy English country village church grounds, the various nationalities would have a separate area. They are at my village church.

I agree, that was normal at the time.

Quite often 'enemy' dead were properly interred, but in a distant corner of the graveyard. Of course, almost all German war dead were subsequently moved and re-interred at the German war cemetery at Cannock Chase.

Germans who were already interred in military cemeteries were left where they were, and are looked after by the CWGC, but that's not relevant to a country churchyard.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Don’t scrap it, keep it in Ron. It’s a nice touch.

 

[spanner570]

Thanks boys.
Best get back to the church.....

Idu hasn't turned up as yet to add the extra thickness to the porch walls, so I've started the weathering.

Painted here and there with artist's burnt umber.


This gives a better idea of the size of the model.


Adding darker shades, again here and there.


To start getting a bit more texture to the church walls, I covered the whole of the model (Before anyone points it out..Less windows!) with thinned pva and then sprinkled it all over with finely ground down bits of Cotwold Stone gravel I picked out from my drive surface. I smashed up, then ground down the 20mm pieces of gravel using a lump hammer on the concrete floor of my garage.
All looking a bit too pale, but most of what you see is dust and will brush off - Sez he!






Idu has finally thickened the porch walls




I'm allowing this to dry completely, then once dry, I will gently brush the whole model down. Bits wot stay on, stay on. Bits wot don't, fall off - Sorted!

Then I can really lay the colours on.

You might notice I haven't filled in the slight gaps between the roof ends and the gables. I did this for a reason. That being, I will fill these in later, thus giving me a nice darker shade difference or 'Shadow line' to the stonework underneath the slight roof overhang.

Cheers all.
Ron

 

[JR]

570.
That Lynch Gate and the walls are perfection .Well done.
453.

 

[Mini Me]

Just had a catch up on this 570.......one of your better builds, loving the banter so far and am relieved you got rid of that "pesky"
empty suit from the building commission... Looking forward to what comes next.
Rick H.

 

[rtfoe]

Ron, I stumbled onto this hilarious thread making a simple church build into interesting banter, craftsmanship and linguistic challenges.
I apologise for being late Father Mackenzie but will Eleanor Rigby have a headstone in the graveyard?
The boys remind me of the Indonesian construction workers who do a better job than our locals...great job fellas.

Biwilded an Gobsmakd,
Richard

 

[adt70hk]

Ron

Yet again more excellent work!!!

 

[JR]

Just had a catch up on this 570.......one of your better builds, loving the banter so far and am relieved you got rid of that "pesky"
empty suit from the building commission... Looking forward to what comes next.
Rick H.

I should like to inform you young Rick that the Building Control Dept will be closely monitoring this project, the builder has had a record of some dodgy builds in the past, and using cheap labour and flouting regulations .If you are aware of any points of interest please ring asap on the confidential hotline. Broadmoor 911.

 

[spanner570]

Yet again, terrific banter. I daresay there are plenty of 'Upturned eyes', but I'm having fun, and that pleases me.

Rick, I don't think 'The Suit' is finished with me just yet! But please don't take any notice of him in Broadmoor. Ask yourself, why is he there in the first place? Also, Cell 911 which the idiot resides in, is looked after by two matrons of rather large proportions!
I can assure you this build is up with anything built in Nigeria. Particularly The National University, which I'm sure you send regular monies to.

Regards.
Itel de Pourkees.

Richard. Contents noted.

Andrew. Thanks too for your nice comments.

I forgot to mention, I've sent the South African, Gowaan Fyn de Kwaari, our stone mason, to get more materials for the perimeter wall.

Before he went he said "Any chaunce I con borrow a kaple of blicks to lind me a hond?"
My boys, although muttering, politely obliged......


Back to Reality VI.
As the church nears completion, I've turned my attention back to its surroundings.

The base is a scrap 380mm x 230mm x 20mm piece of polystyrene.
I outlined the church and then added a band of pva around the perimeter to give me a gravel path. I sprinkled on some crushed stone and let this part dry.
I then repeated the process with the darker stuff. Thus keeping the two colours apart.







I had though to have a post and wire fence at the rear, but decided on a wall all around the church grounds.

To this end I've made me some more lengths of wall. About scale 4ft high.
Here's the wall sections ready to be cut to length. I made these from foam board strips, suitably scribed and painted with cheap watercolours. Pointless wasting expensive modelling paint on dioramas. I will weather them after they are fixed in place.


Cheers and thanks for looking in.
Ron

 

[JR]

570 , 453 here as himself.
Agree the wall looks more in keeping with a Church of that age.

 

[Jim R]

using a lump hammer

A must have piece of equipment for the skilled scale modeller.

Church walls look great.

Jim

 

[minitnkr]

Excellent wallscaping. Playing w/dirt & crushed stone. What could be better. PaulE

 

[scottie3158]

Ron,
An outstanding build with excellent banter. This is a joy to follow.

 

[Mini Me]

That wall is just what the Dr. Ordered. Will it include the cemetery or will that be outside the perimeter? Good thing it is made of stone.........that pesky inspector will have a tough time trying to light it up! Good to hear he has a couple of large beauties looking after him.......
Rick H.

 

[Alun Wells]

Just caught up, stunning
Alun

 

[spanner570]

Sorry for the late response chaps. My attention has been elsewhere.

Thank you for all your most excellent and amusing comments. They always bring a smile to me chops!

Rick. The cemetery, such as it is, will be within the walls. I didn't want to overload the place with too many headstones, as they might have distracted the eye from the church itself.

The model is as good as finished, I'm just waiting for some decent weather to take some pictures. - see you next spring!

Thanks again.
Ron

 

[Mini Me]

"On a winter's day".......might be just the thing, while you're "California Dreaming"......
Rick H.