Brickworks Model Part 2

Here is the second part of the Brick Kiln project.

After the kiln section was glued to the base I could complete covering the base with clay. I used more railway track squished down into it. Some kilns had these and some had the little 'turntables' which the carts were manhandled round. They probably did work at one time but then, with all the dirt etc, seized up. So the guys just used brute force to push them round.

 Next was to paint the inside of the floor, and try out a few bricks, of course.

Now that the main piece of the model was all put together, wiring done and painted, it was time to add some embellishments.

 

The top track would have gone somewhere! I added pieces to both ends to give the impression that it did. I have looked at pictures of many kilns for this whole thing. Some of these kilns were so huge that tracks ran round like a race track. Some were built up to ramps but I had to make mine fit the space so you just have to use your own imagination. I couldn't build it with these bits sticking out, they'd have been broken. 

Next came the idea for a roof. Again, I saw plenty of images of various rooves. The Cherryton one had metal posts on the top but I had no idea whether or not it ever had a roof. These things burned so intensely that the rain didn't really matter - apparently. In illustration I was sent had a large corrugated roof that went over the entire thing. I wondered if they would have been made from timber, since I figured that would burn. Well the most certainly did have wooden ones. Lets face it, if a wooden structure on top burned, then the men working on top would have spontaneously combusted.

 

Here is the wooden construction before and after painting it. I did seem flimsy but is actually quite sturdy.

I used tiny dowels on the bottom of the legs which go into holes I made where they stood. The reason for this was to enable the whole canopy section to be removed if necessary. I had decided to light it up after seeing a picture of one with a string of bulbs along the top. To be able to remove it, I then had to make these lights plug in so that too could be removed. You can see the wire for this in the picture. I did paint it to camouflage it. 

Next was some corrugated iron sheeting for a roof. This was found online and 1/24th scale. It did seem to be rather large corrugations But I thought I'd give it a try. It came in a sheet A4 size. I needed to cut it to make it more like panels. Then I had to bend the panels into a curve.

My next dilemma was how to bend this stuff. It was more flexible when cut into the strips but certainly not enough to just bend and glue it. I drew out the curve needed and glued in some old bits of bobbins which were turning failures. Then I bent the strips in between and used a heat gun to make it bend. I let that cool which more or less set it to shape. I really didn't need to be perfect since it was meant to be a very old rusty roof. But once I had almost finished sticking on the pieces, I thought it was truly awful. I was looking about for something else to use but was given a moral boost. It was suggested that it would be OK once I had 'done my magic with the paint brush'. So I did complete the sections.

This is the point at which I became really demoralised.

Then I painted it. I cut some pieces out to make it look as if it had rusted away.
I just needed a few words of encouragement I guess. (I didn't really believe them though).

I cut more holes in the top of the roof and covered some with patches. Then the fun part. I didn't want to make people working there but I felt that I had to in order to give scale to the whole thing. The railway track gave the impression that trains would run on it, especially if anyone was a model railway enthusiast. So the men show what was actually going on. I wasn't worried about what they looked like. I had thought of just making wire 'matchstick men'.

Just showing the lights on top before the roof was finished.

The two switches work the top and bottom lights separately.

I will add another page which will be a gallery of close-ups of all the fun stuff etc.