Another Popsickle House (1 Viewer)

[mikemiller1955]

I'm doing a large diorama (7x4) of an artillery battery for Jenkins 1812...

I wanted a build a small structure that might fit in with the 1812 era...

so I made this popsickle stick house to house the US officers behind the embankment...

I never did a straw roof before...this one turned out okay...but I figured out a way to do it easier and better once I was almost finished...

so...I guess I know better for next time...

 

[mikemiller1955]

Amyway...here it is finished with some Jenkins 1812 US Army...

 

[thebritfarmer]

That's awesome Mike !!!!!!! Thatched roofs are hard to do and I think you have made a good job of it.

I think I remember there was also a tutorial on thatched roofs on the site you bought the castle moulds from.

 

[mikemiller1955]

here are a few pictures of what I have done so far on the battery...

it's very similar to one that I made some time ago...only much bigger and framed out in a stained wooden container...

the little popsickle building will go behind the battery...

I put a river (creek) on both sides...feeding to the embankment...

I put a lot of shrubs...well over 100...

I sculpted the battery and a mound of dirt to protect the infantry firing...

still a lot of work to do and a long way to go...

I want to make some muddy puddles in the middle of the battlefield...add a lot more shrubs and need to figure out a ground work...

gonna have to start chopping limbs off neighbors trees to finish it off...

 

[mikemiller1955]

Thats awesome MIke !!!!!!! Thatched roofs are hard to do and I think you have made a good job of it.

I think I remember there was also a tutorial on thatched roofs on the site you bought the castle moulds from.

Thanks Scott...

I wish I had looked at it before I started on mine...

I was the one that actually posted that link...

Doh!!!!...

I literally did one inch sections...one at a time with hot glue...then tinted the roof with a yellowish paint...then sprayed a matte clear coat on it to help it all adhere firmly...

I think it would have been easier to make 4 or 5 long pieces of 10 inch roof strips...

made of popsickle sticks...

and then glued the straw to them...

and then lift them up and glue the whole thing to the roof...

allowing them to overlap like shingles...

it would have been a whole lot quicker and way less messier...

I figured that out when I was almost finished...hahahaha...

so I learned something...for next time...

 

[GICOP]

Superb Michael

Cheers

Martyn

 

[wayne556517]

Brilliant mate cant wait to see the end product.

 

[Scott]

Next time HOT Glue gun. Thanks!

 

[marco55]

Looks like ya got another winner Mike.Your too hard on yourself.Great job.
Mark

 

[mikemiller1955]

Thanks...Martyn, Wayne and Mark...

Scott...I did use a hot glue gun...in fact the whole thing was made using a hot glue gun...look at the 1st post...if you're familiar with a hot glue gun you will recognize the glue on the frame...maybe you didn't notice...I mentioned it in the 5th post...thank you...

 

[Scott]

Popsickle House..Sorry

Mike,

No.... No .......I meant next I'M going to use the hot glue gun. My thatch was set down with Elmers and it took days to dry. Sorry it read that way.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Scott...try this next time...

make some long flat wooden strips (4-5 of them)...

strips the width of the roof...made of popsickle sticks or paint stirrers or something similar...

glue the straw on them while they are flat on a table...

then transplant the entire strip to wooded roof...one section at a time...

starting at bottom just like putting shingles on a house...

then overlapping each layer...

if this makes any sense...

overlap should cover any glue spillage mess...

you know how "stringy" those glue guns can be...

I think it would be a lot easier...

 

[The Lt.]

Missed this thread until just a few minutes ago an it's nice seeing the progress you've made since you and I chatted about it Michael and can't wait to see it when your done adding the finishing touches and playing on it...........Papa Zulu

 

[Scott]

Thank you Mike! That's "Neat!" Thatch works in a number of theatres of war. Even early New England.

 

[debrito]

Very nice indeed...What do you used for the vegetation, trees and bushes?

Cheers.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Very nice indeed...What do you used for the vegetation, trees and bushes?

Cheers.

Thanks...the tree I made, a twig and some Sweet Annie I believe...same thing on the bushes...just painted them a different color...the groundwork is mulch from my garden...run through a coffee grinder..,.

 

[Nick Nasta]

Your battery, redoubt, pointy stick fortification is fantastic!
Great work!
Nick

 

[desk11desk12]

Gees Mike:

I wish I could do that, very nice work in deed. I can't wait to see the finish product.

Carlos

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Just fantastic, Mike! I'm really looking forward to seeing the final product. All the little details you have been working on these past months are clearly going to contribute to the overall effect of this diorama. I can't believe that house is made of popsicle sticks. Is that wood grain the popsicle stick grain? Only problem is everytime I look at the house, I get a hot flash and my mouth waters...odd.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Just fantastic, Mike! I'm really looking forward to seeing the final product. All the little details you have been working on these past months are clearly going to contribute to the overall effect of this diorama. I can't believe that house is made of popsicle sticks. Is that wood grain the popsicle stick grain? Only problem is everytime I look at the house, I get a hot flash and my mouth waters...odd.

That's funny...yes they are all posickles sticks...sugar free banana is my poison...

we diabetics are a little limited on our store bought desert selections...

each stick is "hand grained" with a nail for detail...it's a little time consuming...but adds to the final look...

I'm getting pretty good...or at least better...on the popsickle structures...this is my fourth and my best yet...I'm getting much better with the glue...the painting...the realism...and the sturdiness of the buildings...

the one I made for this thread was literally a one day project...very easy and very cheap...this was my first attempt at a thatched roof...

everytime I do a new structure...I try to figure out ways to correct the mistakes I made on my old ones...which there are plenty of...

I have not done much on the project itself in a couple of weeks...but I am going to buckle down and get to work on it soon...I'm really waiting for John Jenkins to release enough artillery crew members to man the 4 stations I'm adding...