I removed the forms and carved stonework in place. It was roofed, painted, and plopped on the lay- out. I promptly fell into a deep, untroubled sleep. On the way to work the next
day, I firmed up the idea with a few specifics, such as making blocks of styrene on the inside of this double-walled form to make pre-formed window openings. The commute took 20 minutes or so, and I also came up with the idea of not using solvent ce- ment to assemble the walls of this form. I decided to use masking tape, so I could easily disassem- ble the forms. There would be less damage to what turned out to be a casting that was a bit on the delicate side. I also resolved to let the whole thing dry for a good 72 hours to make it as strong as possible.
Just before pulling into the parking lot, it came to me that I should put a slight taper on the window “plugs,” cement them to the inner wall, and leave them just touching the outer wall to make unmolding less harrowing. Sure, there may well be a thin bit of flash due to the lack of solid attachment, but the inner wall re- moval would be much easier. I turned off the engine and walked into work. I spent the rest of the day focusing on Accurail work, giving no thought whatso- ever to this most interesting idea. The day over, I headed for home. The project seemed to pop back into that empty space in my
head. I spent the next 20 minutes finalizing the plans for this build- ing, refining the building process in my mind. I decided the four walls should be about ¼-inch thick and the upper gabled por- tion of the ends should be crafted of wood to simplify the shape and complexity of the mold. I had de- termined to use good Hydrocal for strength and to pre-color the mix in a light tan color. I figured that 0.040-inch styrene was stiff enough if I used some bracing in places. I made the whole thing with easy disassembly in mind. As I started the project, more ideas came to mind. I sprayed the form’s insides with paint- able mold release and mixed the plaster into a gravy-like consis-
tency. I made sure there were no lumps or unmixed powder in the mix, and then tapped the con- tainer vigorously with the han- dle of a screwdriver to dislodge any air bubbles. After the pour, I again tapped the wall forms. Sure enough, a few more of those darned bubbles broke to the sur- face and popped. As it turned out, there was only one trouble- some bubble, and a little more plaster fixed the issue.
That 72-hour dry time turned into a week, and I’m glad it did. I gently pried the inner walls of the form inward, using the flat blade of an X-acto knife to get started. Even with the mold release, the process was slow and careful, and the wall only broke in two
Stairways Occupants on the second floor needed a way to escape in case of fire; luckily, Kaw Valley Designs produces very nice-looking L-shaped stairways.
“Brick
by Brick”
I created my stone wall using ⅛-inch x ⅛-inch basswood notched at random lengths to form the stones and laid them tightly on top of each other using graph paper as a guide.
JUNE 2015 85
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