"There's an old mill by the stream, Nelly Dean!"

[Gern]

You could spin the wheel with a hairdryer, but I don't know about the water - unless you use the real stuff of course!

Gern

[spanner570]

do you work off any real size for the stones or just what you think looks ok for your scale ?or not so import for stone , but more necessary for bricks

Sorry Monica, I forgot to answer you question........

I just make the stone to what I think looks right, but you are right, bricks have to be the right scale- which is why I hate 1/72 bricks, hence my preference for stonework!

The only reference I use for making buildings is to get a doorway the right scale, and then I just make the rest to look in proportion.

[monica]

look great Ron, coming together nicely,just simple washer work so well for you,and looks so good,

lov the little foot bridge, once again very nice build, and your use off water colors turns out so well,

I think you should try the spinning one will look great,

ta Ron i was thinking along these same lines stone work is much easier over big areas ,

[Lee W]

Wow the bridge turned out great! The footbridge is fantastically simple and effective , as for the wheel, I'd say that's your choice, I couldn't make up my mind

Lee

[Guest]

Great build I would like to see a working mill wheel keep it up.

[spanner570]

Thanks for all your encouraging posts, they make for great reading.

Thanks for the input regarding the wheel - dead or alive? It looks like it's a working wheel simulation then..It won't be actually moving, just giving the impression of movement...I hope!

Rather than do a bit more to the buildings, I have made inroads into the shaping of the river bank and the water itself. This can then be going hard whilst I do a bit more to the structures....

For this I used tile adhesive, but anything suitable can be used....polyfilla, plaster or anything similar.

Here's the 'Before', complete with that plunge pool! I've given the white polystyrene a coat of brown paint.

[ATTACH]82614.IPB[/ATTACH]


...and the application of the adhesive to add some shape to the river bank, smooth the river bed and salmon steps out a bit, also generally fill in any unwanted holes......

[ATTACH]82615.IPB[/ATTACH]


[ATTACH]82616.IPB[/ATTACH]


Also a bit of work down stream......The bridge is still a loose fit.

[ATTACH]82617.IPB[/ATTACH]


We need a sluice gate to divert the water into the mill race. I made this from coffee stirrers and copper wire from some old electric cable.

Again I've tried for that rustic look and also cut some notches into the mechanism.....

[ATTACH]82618.IPB[/ATTACH]


and weathered......I've modelled the sluice open, so no turning back now, the water is pounding down the mill race!

[ATTACH]82619.IPB[/ATTACH]


Loosely fitted, ready for more painting etc.

[ATTACH]82620.IPB[/ATTACH]


[ATTACH]82621.IPB[/ATTACH]


Next it's a bit more work on the river bed and also adding some more colour to it.

I hope you approve of progress thus far, and enjoying seeing it come to life....I'm getting a bit of a buzz on for sure!lol

Cheers all,

Ron

[Centurion3RTR]

Holy moly Ron, just catching up mate. This is awesome, and it's giving me ideas too.

Have fun, John

[monica]

superb, Ron, looking great, lov the sluice gate, nice attention given to detail,that makes it looks real,

great work on the steam as well,its all fitting together nicely, cannot wait to see what you do next,

keep the great work and pics coming do look forward to the updates,

[spanner570]

Bit more of an update...

I've tiled the mill roof...As I've gone over my way of doing this on previous builds, I won't bore you again!lol Suffice to say I still make my tiles / slates in a single strip.

Here is the roof ready for painting. I purposely dipped the ridge line to make it a bit more sagged and old looking. Also, I am never fussy about getting the tile lines just so....it's an old building.

[ATTACH]82898.IPB[/ATTACH]


I've started work on the stream. I use paints to convey depth to the water....Light to the edges and getting darker to the middle. This gives a sort of illusion of depth.

[ATTACH]82899.IPB[/ATTACH]


Here a second darker coat has been added to the deeper middle.

[ATTACH]82900.IPB[/ATTACH]


Here's two more views - before and after.

[ATTACH]82901.IPB[/ATTACH]


You can just see the painted roof too....It looks bl***y awful and constantly takes the eye away from the wheel etc. I really don't know why I painted it like that....Logic says it should be about the same shade as the surrounding stone - Locally made and all that! Time to re-paint!

[ATTACH]82902.IPB[/ATTACH]


This is the lower mill race and stream. I've tried to show how the race has scoured out the stream bed. Also the stream is deeper on the outer edges of the bend caused by the water always running quicker in this area.....

[ATTACH]82903.IPB[/ATTACH]


You might remember that very early on in the build I removed the left hand side of the building. Here I have made another building and this will be stepped back from the mill, but attached, making a kind of dog leg, which I hope will help balance to frontage a bit better. Some might recognise the design - It's the derelect farm from my Group build 'Flush him out!' I always keep the paper templates, so I was able to more or less copy the same building again....

[ATTACH]82904.IPB[/ATTACH]


I'm not too sure about this building, it might be a bit too big and dwarf the mill. I'll glue it together and see......

That's all for this post.

Thanks for looking in,

Ron

[colin m]

Looking great Ron, and thanks for the building tips as you go along. Really useful stuff.

[Guest]

This is so inspirational Ron (sorry to sound like one of our cousins from across the water!)

Could you plonk something down in the next update to get an idea of scale?

Thank you!

[monica]

liking it Ron, you have done a great job on the roof, looking good,

and what a good ide to dip it as well alot would not think off doing that, well done,

nice use of water colors also to show the water deaths,

just give the roof a few washers with gray/brown will bring down the toning alot, but to me its not over bright,

and is a nice color o_O

looking very forward to next update

[Ian M]

Still watching. Still fascinated. Still wondering how you make it all look so easy.

Ian M

[yak face]

Ive been piking through a knot hole in the fence at this one matey, I'm just amazed at the whole thing . Its a superb exercise in scratchbuilding and ingenuity , like most of your builds. Its a pleasure to watch ,I just hope i get to see it in the flesh sometime. Looking forward to seeing the water effects go on , cheers tony

[Alan 45]

Top work as ever Ron I still say this will be a master piece