Fort Mantanzas Part III card cladding, Stucco and some details

     Further work on the Fort. I covered it with cardstock (actually index cards) this covered the gaps and lends a surprising amount of strength to the blue board. Even though the model consists entirely of flat surfaces (aside from the watchtower)  this took quite some time as I decided to cover the inside of the base. After the card had dried overnight I then applied a coat of wallboard compound and then added some details.

 

the base unit gets a covering of card

 

the fighting beck on top of the tower got a coping of thin blue board

 with a little practice I have learned to cut the board about 2mm thick

 

a quick assembly to be sure things are lining up

 the gundeck got a layer of cardstock as well

 I decked over the top of the base for added strength

 rether than try to cut the card to fit the gunports I simply covered them

 then cut away the paper covering the opening

 as I did this it occered to me that I could have saved a step

and waited until after the cladding top cut the gunports

 the card and wood glue gives the edges a crisp line and makes them much sturdier

 I then cut open the ports on the eastern side

 I was peacticing cutting the blue baord as thin as possible 

(OK, I got bored waiting for the glue yo dry!)

 then I realized that the tiny bits of foam could be used for something

 tiling! 

so I whipped up a hundred or so of them

 and got to work

 this whole thing took less than an hour

 I got so carried away that I tiled the interior as well

 and added a frame around the hearth

 some careful fine tunng and I managed to but some even thinner

 this just cried out for some sort of application,

 so I made window frames

 a lot of them

 and stuck them verywhere

 I always use ready mix wallbaord compound

 available at Lowe's in small tubs

 I grouted the tile

 and covered over the rest of the model with a veru thin coat

 the sentry tower was the worst,

 I will certainly be sure to cover it with card before I start the model on any future applications

 while waiting for the "stucco" to dry a dug around in the scrap pile

 for the squares I had cut out of the base back at the beginning of the project

a quick visit to the Proxxon wire cutter and Ta-Da I have a dungeon ready to go

 a tiny bit of trimming and it fit nicely into place

 then I used the other piece to make a cave  to fit into the same space

 even more possibilities!

 I added battens to the bottom of the gundeck to stop it warping 

and to ensure a tight fit during game-play

 there is enough space (just) to have the cave in place below the fort during use

 more monkeying around with the foam cutter, 1/16" square strips.....I don't currently have a use for them but it was interesting to see just how thin I can slice this stuff

 this sheets are crazy flexible, I am sure there is a use for this, 

just not certain what it is yet!

the Proxxon cutter in all its glory