Workshop with David Neat

Learning never stops! 

I have followed David's Blog for quite some time and there is always so much to learn from them that I wanted to see the man in action!

14 of us took part at his 1-week summer course at the University of Arts in London. Ronnie and I were the only ones from the miniature/dollhouse scene - it was super that we met each other.
And University of Arts (UAL) is a very inspiring location with all the students and fantastic architecture.

David thought there was not much to learn for me - ah, but he was definitely wrong! Just look at the length of this blog...



Day 1:
We built a house facade with foamed PVC, 2mm and 1mm version. I learned today:

sanding made easy: attach the grinding paper with double-sided carpet tape to a piece of wood (90° exactly). This makes sanding much easier and gives you dead straight edges!

 

• Only glue foamed PVC with super glue
• First time I used a scalpel (instead of a Japan knife) - wonderful to get into corners..
• No need for hunting thin strips of wood - use veneer and cut your own.

Day 2:

This is the kind of scalpel work David does....    

And it was training day for working with the scalpel

Making of furniture 1:25

The simple chair made with 1mm foamed PVC was enough for me...

Fauteuil made with 5mm foam board

To top the day, Ronnie and I went to 4D Modelshop at Leman Street!!  

EVERYTHING a model builder could use and want. They even make 1:12 trees on order! 

We now have so many ideas - we will be busy for a while.. 

Check out their website - they are delivering internationally, too.

Day 3:

Today was about making shapes with styrofoam, making figures with wire and... 

Since figures are not really what I want to make, I stuck to making small, fiddly things with styrofoam (to get to know the handling of this), managed to bend the foamed PVC (works with a hairdryer) for a stool surface and using Super Sculpey which is much easier to use than Fimo (bakes at 130° as well).

Not much I can present photo-wise  - except David in full action!

We all loved it when he tried to find the words to tell one of us in a nice way that 'this is not good enough' ;-)

And a great tip from a classmate David: instead of using the usual super glue that has the tendency to run: use super glue gel and then apply punctually with a toothpick. Much better to control...

Another classmate, Ronnie Bailey, found the solution to making knobs for the stove! That was a bit of a challenge: over after-course Prosecco(s) we evaluated various solutions, from making moulds to cutting metal rods. Typical model maker attitude: why buy it for 50p if you can make it for £20 ;-)

Day 4:

Big surprise: David, the model railway builder, brought me some NOCH synthetic grass, which he suggested as bristles for my scrubbing brush. This and a dab of super glue gel worked like a charm!! BTW: the handles are carved from foamed PVC.

So, today was all about surfaces! I made a stamp sample with Super Sculpey using real pebbles from outside the building, we imitated wood on foam board, some of us made trees from chicken wire (I turned this into an 'organic' chandelier..) and we carved shapes into blue Styrofoam (the stuff used by builders for insulation). 

This stamp would have to be concave so that it is easier to press it into the foam board and that there are no obvious boundaries in the pattern.

..something like this...

David manipulating a photo to make it look 'used': make area slightly damp with water, then use wire brush to scrape it

A commercial vinyl wallpaper with 2-3 color washes

Spent the evening walking 2km along the Regent Canal (yes, a real canal with boats and all in the middle of town!) to Camden and landed up in a huge, lively market with an open air cinema, loads of food stalls and plenty funky people and shops - fantastic atmosphere!

I want, I want!

Day 5:

Painting surfaces was the main theme today. And this is something that only comes with experience... I considered myself a total failure! I finally got the concrete look ok, but the stones?? igitt...  

Even David battled to get it right. Here dry brushing it - but much too yellow...

Here the different facades on the sample we made

Concrete, yeah!

Doing 'freestyle' stuff like my 'organic' chandelier was much easier - now it just needs lights ;-)

Unfortunately I had to leave a little earlier to catch the flight back and I missed David's demonstration on soldering. But it is pretty well described in his blog and then there is a book he wrote as well. He reckons that he does some of the things slightly different today but the basics are still right and valuable for model builders. 

All in all: it was a great week and I will definitely do a short course with him at UAL again!

Tiny bathroom

Not much space for the bath - and the washing machine! Exactly 3.5 m2. And there is a large window as well...

I first made the 'laundry tower', then the dividing wall for the geyser and electrical mains in the back

Instead of building IN the house I made an element.

I had a hard time deciding what tiles I should put in: my favorite were mini mosaic ones - but in this small room it looked a bit too busy. When I finally made up my mind I tried my best - but it is obvious that I have not done much mini tiling yet..  I worked with fractions of millimeters because the tiles need to rest on the rim of the shower base. 

And the shower base in itself was a challenge because my benchmark was the one in Carol's last blog.  I made two from foam board, one from thick PP sheet, one from cardboard, one from foam rubber covered with gesso and finally settled for 1mm PP sheet material I sprayed glossy white. 

This after the very promising cardboard model was ruined because I left it outside to dry - and was caught by a sudden downpour, grrr

Then to my absolute favorite: the lights! More spots will eventually be installed in the lift-off ceiling.

Next step is putting the two containers together, doing the wiring and then lay the floor.
Keep u posted..

Venetian wood blinds

The logical next step would now be to do the bathroom while the two containers are still not attached. 
But sometimes things just work differently! I found Gary's blog and is working on the same as I do! So, we could exchange experiences and that really helped.

The first try was with cutting 5mm veneer into slats. But the wood split badly and of course at all the crucial places ;-). I then got 5mm wood strips I only had to cut to the length.

Gary's idea with keeping the slats in place by drilling holes was excellent! I had to off-center them at the top piece because I had to consider depth of the window frame as well as being able to attach a cord to it for lifting and lowering the blinds (not working though like Gary's...).

But instead of making the ladders myself I found some curtain material with 5x5mm holes, hung them with a weight attached at the end. That made it all somewhat easier.

All looked great! But when I wanted to fold them the result was GRRR!! 

My curtain material was to thick to fold nicely. 

I decided to only add as many slats as I want the blind to be high - this way you cannot really take it up and down ... but it looks great as well. And threading them at the side keeps them in place. 

Windows, windows, windows...

The last 2 weeks were all about windows and sliding doors!
The most elaborate one was the bathroom window: how to be able to open the top part and find a blind that creates some privacy. Tried some really fine fabric first, but paper not just looked better but was easier to work with as well.

Choice of handles... finally I used the grey curtain plastic curtain hook.

Glueing the metal strips around the windows had me mess up a few perspex windows. This stopped when I started using 3mm double-sided tape! It seems to take failure before one thinks of alternatives.. next time I would use proper 2mm glas rather than perspex ..

All windows in now (not glued yet) and all walls painted.

The tiny white thing on the table is a prototype for the edges of the container.

Now, here to great collaboration between Carol Mitcheson and me: I made some sort of a pattern for a small table and she laser-cut and sent it to me! Looks absolutely fabulous :-)

I placed it into the house to remind me that I do the wiring before laying the floor.. grin, Carol..

Entrance door is the next step - and the locks for the 'real' container door. It has a lot of hinges and small stuff...  looks like a shallenge.

Working with plastic

Because the container is metal I noticed that I worked with plastic rather than wood! Curious, because I prefer wood. It is probably because I really want to maintain the industrial looks - very smooth and metallic.

The siding has arrived and it is wonderfully easy to work with. Now I finally know how thick the walls will be.
Decided that the 8 corners of each container with holes for the crane and all could only be done in 3D.

I needed to put on my thinking-hat because I did not want the windows to have outside frames. After three different and fiddly concepts I opted for L-shape ASA profiles for the frames in the wall openings. Wonderfully easy to spray paint as well - they do not even need a base coat.

The windows frames are a question of patience: cutting 3mm strips of 0.5mm polystyrol sheets, spraying them (all round - mind you - because otherwise some white is bound to show up..), and the glueing them ever so carefully to the perspex. Needless to say that I messed up one window really good...

And now I need to decide on the color of the siding - no mean task...
Let me know what you think. I will 'age' it later one though.

More plastic: my new under-counter sink model has arrived from Shapeways! But I am not happy because of the printing lines inside: not really possible to sand them. So, I need to find a better solution...

 But the tap has turned out rather nice... if you need one, you can order it from my shop

Note the dishwasher brushes. If anyone has a better idea for bristles, please let me know!

Update July 30, 2015: a model railway builder friend brought me some NOCH synthetic grass, which he suggested as bristles for my scrubbing brush. This and a dab of super glue gel worked like a charm!!