Greetings my fellow lovelies!
I started working on a 1:10 scaled model of a bespoke house I wanted to self build for me 18 years ago. Not only did I never build the house, but I never finished building the model - no surprises there you might be thinking!
I started building this model shortly after buying Merlin the wizard who's been residing in my workshop for the last few years, but he's coming home soon. I've always loved oak framed buildings and this build was going to be constructed using green oak, so the model is made from pine and balsa wood to replicate a timber construction. I did also prepare some drawings, but I don't know where they are.
The first floor was going to be larger than the ground floor with a Tudor style overhang and front porch. The roof was going to be 50 degrees. The inside was going to be open plan of busyness with balconies in the vaulted roof as bedrooms. Access to these balconies would have been via their own walkways along the first floor joists and a small flight of stairs leading up to them. Heavily carved figures of a man and woman looking at each other supporting both corners of the front porch (I hadn't decided on their expressions) were also on the agenda. Merlin would have taken prime position pretty much in the central area of the ground floor. The staircase is a feature within itself, consisting of red brick construction, maple treads and a central column with a carving of a naked lady elevating up in to the roof - carved with a scalpel. I named this figure lady Kahlan. The red bricks in the model are small pieces of balsa wood cut to the length, height and depth of a brick, each one stuck on to a circular balsa wood plate to support each tread and up through to the first floor. I removed the arris on the balsa bricks and once they were all laid, I applied a thin coat of pva and filler mixture. I then painted the whole thing in a creamy yellow paint and then painted each brick individually in red. After this, I cut/fitted all of the treads. The first floor gallery did have it's newels and balustrade fitted, but these have now gone.
Anyway, the model has been under the central bench in the workshop for the last 6 years and today, I pulled it out to be reunited. It now looks like the aftermath...
The dilemma I'm in is this: Do I take it to the tip or finish building it at home as a hobby?
I'm never going to build it in reality now, I let that opportunity go by years ago.