Gern's D-day

[Gern]

Hi Richi. I painted the thing originally to hide this:

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I was hoping to get away with just a couple of coats of paint and I wouldn't care if a few tiny brush marks showed up - as you say, it could be taken for the wood grain from the shuttering. Unfortunately, the cheap paint and brush has left HUGE marks which I can't get away with in this small scale.

Gern

[Alan 45]

Looking goods Dave very informative conserning the hedge hogs and they look much better than the kit ones

[Richi72]

Ok Gern,

now I know what you mean, then how about a dispenser bottle with diluted pva,?

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I use them allot to cover my ground work and stuff like that. Maybe this could be used to cover the pillbox.

Cheers Richi

[spanner570]

Dave , I'm totally baffled as to why the pva doesn't work......

Brain storm.....PVA too thin / sprinkle the filla powder on whilst the pva is still wet / prime the polystyrene first (acrylic primer!) before the 'dusting' / use powdered grey floor adhesive as a brushed on slurry.

I can't think of anything else you could try....

On the positive side, thanks for the Hedgehog how to. Excellent tutorial

[Gern]

Ron, it's a complete mystery to me too. I figured that even if the PVA didn't work, then the water I diluted it with would react with the plaster and cause it to set. I also thought the emulsion I first used would have provided an adequate seal for the polystyrene.

Anyway, I'll try one more time with neat PVA. If you hear a loud scream tomorrow, you'll know it didn't work!

Richi - I've got a couple of spare spray bottles and I had thought of mixing up some PVA in water to use as a spray adhesive. How do you stop the glue setting in the nozzle after using it?

Gern

[Richi72]

Ron, it's a complete mystery to me too. I figured that even if the PVA didn't work, then the water I diluted it with would react with the plaster and cause it to set. I also thought the emulsion I first used would have provided an adequate seal for the polystyrene.Anyway, I'll try one more time with neat PVA. If you hear a loud scream tomorrow, you'll know it didn't work!

Richi - I've got a couple of spare spray bottles and I had thought of mixing up some PVA in water to use as a spray adhesive. How do you stop the glue setting in the nozzle after using it?

Gern

I use clean water to clean the nozzle just spray true it a couple of times, that works fine. If it dries up use a needle to get it back open again.

[spanner570]

Dave, I'm clutching at straws a bit but, when you mention 'plaster' do you mean Plasterer's plaster i.e. the pink stuff or do you mean polyfilla?

I ask 'cos plaster has a short shelf life, and I'm wondering whether it's out of date?.....if it is then it might not play ball...If you have tried polyfilla powder then I'm up a gum tree 'fraid......

[Alan 45]

Dave have you tried ready made filler out of a tube ?

I use this to get a natural look on my bases for my dios , just squirt it on and smooth over with small trouel and if you get some pointy bits. Just let it go off and smooth it ver with your fingers

I get mine from poundland and you can get a cheep grease gun from B&Q for £3

[Gern]

You may just have cracked part of the mystery Ron. It is indeed the 'pink' plaster and it's been opened for at least 6 months. I'd forgotten that it has quite a short shelf life. Still doesn't explain why the PVA didn't grip it though.

Alan, I'll try that poundland stuff.

Gern

[spanner570]

You may just have cracked part of the mystery Ron. It is indeed the 'pink' plaster and it's been opened for at least 6 months. I'd forgotten that it has quite a short shelf life. Still doesn't explain why the PVA didn't grip it though.Alan, I'll try that poundland stuff.

Gern

Could well be a factor....When I was 'On the tools' I well remember the foul and prolonged language from 'The spreads' when they found out the sell by date on the bags of plaster....Even they couldn't get it to behave properly!

I agree with Alan, time to get the diddy trowel out and get spreading......

[Gern]

Still cogitatin' over my pillbox, but I don't think the day has been totally wasted.

I got hold of 6 metres of wire off ebay (32SWG - about 0.27mm diameter) as I wasn't happy with the stuff I'd managed to strip from electrical cable and I've ended up with about 15" (about 380mm) of four-strand barbed wire.

I used a piece of plastic tubing about 15mm dia and a solid rod about 7mm diameter. They should both be the same length and there should be a reasonable difference between the diameters.

Wind a length of wire clockwise along the tube as tightly as you can keeping the spaces about 1/4". Fix both ends with tape and take another piece of wire and wrap it over the first piece - this time though, wrap it anti-clockwise. Remove the tape and gently start to slide the coils off the tube. When you have 4-5 coils free, use a cocktail stick and dab a spot of glue on the wires wherever they touch. This will hold both coils together and create a single, multi-strand coil.

Do exactly the same, using two pieces of wire wound in opposite directions around the smaller rod. Again, gently slide the coils free from the rod and glue wherever they touch.

Slide the larger coils back over the tube, and slide the smaller coils inside the tube. If you gently grab one end of both sets of coils, you should be able to slide the tube away and leave one set of coils inside the other.

I ended up with this ....

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.... a single coil of 4-strand barbed wire.

Gern

[spanner570]

Excellent result Dave, couldn't have turned out better....It's a dead ringer for the barbed wire picture you posted!

Perseverance will win the day.....

[Alan 45]

That looks much better Dave I do think you've cracks it

[Guest]

i will be here to si the end. it will be something great?

[Gern]

Got a bit more done.

I gave up trying to cover up the brush marks on my pillbox. I eventually sanded them off and started painting again. Three coats later and I'm happy. I'll put some reinforcing wires in the damaged bit later. I was originally going to show it with a bomb hole in the roof but realised I'd have to do the interior if I did this so I changed my mind.

Looking at the image I found showing a cross-section of the beach, I decided I'd add a sea wall in the gap and put my barbed wire on top as it shows in the diagram.

The rocks are cast using the same moulds as I used in my Bug build - I'll paint them using washes as before once I've got them joined and sanded ready to fit.

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Gern