Spanish Windmill Tutorial November 11, 2020 17:45

To accompany the instructions what follows is a photo diary and comments for the Spanish Windmill construction. 

Assemble the door and glue to the base (pictured is the base from Kit A) once the door is sitting in it's position glue the doorstep and slide in: like posting a letter. Check it is sitting vertically and then glue in the two reinforcing and locating 3mm triangles. Set aside to dry. 

Glue on the narrower 3mm think ring around the top lip of the tube then glue on the wider 3mm thick ring to cover this and the tube top edge. DO NOT glue the card to the base yet.

Later, after you have textured the walls, you will need to place the card tube over the triangles and slide the structure to recess the door. The door should protrude approximately 1mm. This lip is to ensure a sharp and robust edge to plaster up to. This is a little out of sequence but easier to see the method without the plaster render in place. If the door recess is a little tight, enlarge with a file or nail emery board. 

Cut the window frames from the card strips and set aside. Using tape, join the two strips to make one long length. After use this spacing strip can be recycled. 

Align one window centrally above the door then tape in place. Next, glue each window to the card tube and remove the spacing strip. 

 Cut the large single window from the frame and tape the frame above the door.

 Glue on the window then remove and recycle the card frame. 

Remove two of the arms from the frame and glue into the recessed washer. Ensure they are lying flat to dry. Once dry, glue on the sails and repeat for the second pair. Although the pieces are durable, a  spare set of "arms" are included in case of mishap. Use the diameter 4mm tube as a guide and glue 3mm washers to build up an MDF tube, please see the instructions as the image there is clearer than a photograph. 

 Following the "Pantile Tutorial" I marked with a pencil the position of my flour sacks (KitA only).  I used an artists palette knife to coat the card tube with ready-mixed plaster. A thin coat was applied and fine sand glued onto bare patches.  Successive thin layers were added to thicken the walls enough to cover the cardboard windows and protruding door frame. Avoid applying sand / grit where the flour sacks will fit. 

At this stage, while the plaster is wet, take care to scrape out any filler from the window recesses. A little time spent now will save a lot later. 

Using a sculpting tool, I scratched into some of the smoother plaster areas a rough stone pattern. Describe the bricks with the point of the tool and repeatedly go over scratching away filler between bricks. This is quite time consuming so just a few suggestions of stone were done. 

When applying filler, it is best not to attempt total coverage all at once. I held onto the top rings and textured the lower part of the building. Once dry, I held the lower part to texture the top. As layers are applied, they can be sanded back if any lumps stick out too far. Apply a slight skim over the sand to bed it in.

Where I planned to place the flour sacks, I only skimmed the area with filler and sanded any high spots off before moving onto the next stage. 

Following the steps at the start of this tutorial, I glued the card tube lower edge and the recess for the doorway.  Next, I placed the tube over the triangles and slid the building along the base to align with the door. I then applied more glue around the seams both inside and out. When the glue is dry, apply filler around the base edge to fill any small cracks and fill any gaps around the doorway.  

 Cut bamboo into approx 3 x 25mm lengths and form a tepee structure using the 3 pre-drilled holes in the base as a guide. Cut and glue on 3 x bottom braces approx 23mm long.

 Cut the long arm (initially over-length to 195mm) offer up to the aperture on the roof. Align the trajectory of the roof slope and slide the stay in place. Mark off the long bamboo arm then cut to size. Repeat the positioning and superglue to the tepee NOT THE ROOF.

 Use the "Pantile Tutorial" to guide you with painting if needed. For my model I brought the colour up lighter than my other Pantile models, to an off white for the last highlight. I painted the millstones and flour sacks before gluing them on.

Once the painting was complete, I glued the flour sacks onto the base and wall and used a little filler to bring up the ground level and blend the sacks in. I glued  the flat lying millstone at this stage. 

After applying my usual basing method of sand / grit and allowing to dry, I painted the base and then glued on the millstone leaning against the wall followed by sticking on tufts. 

 

In this example Tony from  Debris of War has mounted the base onto a hill and applied a lot more scenic effects to make a really outstanding table centre piece.