Moien Claude,

Fachwwerk is fascinating...and I try to avoid it whenever I can! A real can of worms if you ask me!

The photo you have is not a super reference either! Easy to make a mistake then!

Doesn't change anything on the overall superb quality of your work!

Thanks for letting us watch and comment!!!

Cheers

Romain

Merci Romain

As it is a rare sight in Luxembourg i thought it to be an interesting addition to the dio history wise.
It also ads a bit of a change to the overall dio look.

If i only had this few centimeters morè! I will also try to squeeze in a outside toilet between the house and the river.

I am right now laying slate as ground cover for the kitchen and the small room( same as in the castle kitchen). It's made from the cardboard of a Corn Flakes box.

Greets to you

Claude

Claude, every time I come back I stuck here for an hour to watch all the details. (Now it was even topped with the lot of reference pictures, thank you cheyenne!)

Thanks Lazlo!

Hope you are doing well. Are you going to Mosonmagyaróvár Expo this year?

Greets
Claude

Fully agree! Makes for an unusual sight indeed!
Capital choice thus!!

Cheers

Romain

I hope so, though I'm not sure yet. Are you coming?

Claude,

You are absolutely a master! Period!

I'm going to need more hours in the day to study your work.

Thanks Frederick

Well, seeing myself sometimes improvising for basic work, i often feel like a beginner. I guess at the end it's the end result who counts.

Lazlo


No , i don't. I would like to, but you know may travel terms. A rough estimate tells me that transport costs alone would be around 1500 Euros!
To get me to drive 1100 km (one way) with the castle the costs must be covered and a bit more.
You know also how long it takes, imagine that with the van and my fragile load.
If you have the opportunity, you can ask someone if they would like to have it in 2014. That's when i hope to have it compltely finished. They can start to put aside the money :-)


Claude

PS.: Hope the books sell well

Claude,
All the work is coming along nicely. Love the reference photos. Have been watching your blog as well. The bike shop is awesome! You have really outdone yourself. Look forward to the next book and updates!

Thanks Brandi, glad you like it.
Unfortunately the bike shop willl be so dark inside that live viewers will hardly recognize anything from the interior.

I already covered the floor with slate tile.
These are cut from Kellog's cardboard, glued, sanded a bit (very fine grain), prepaint, sealed with a varnish, then grouted with coloured plaster

The grout has the same colour here, but is a lot lighter when dry. The tiles will get some more paint later, but the most is done and the risk to spoil the plaster minimized

I am also building the second interior wall. A chimney is going from bottom to top and i will fix it on the wall.It's made of Balsa up to the desired measure. I had 12 and 7 mm thick Balsa boards to do that.

The servants room will be on the right side (behind the chimney). It's very small, i know, but just enough to be correct.

I also started with other woodwork, intermediate levels and roof, all highly improvised and slowly glued together.
The structure is not fixed to the walls at this point.


Hopefully i will achieve a good enough farm look. That's the main goal.

Claude

It is looking good from my vantage point Claude. Is your slate floor really just cereal box cardboard? Doesn't it get too wet when you grout it or do you seal it first with something? I would probably use it more if i wasn't afraid it might just disintegrate. Way cheaper then buying plastic.

Dave

Sorry. I just reread your last post & realize you said you seal it with varnish.... it's been a very long day at work. Our pump-house sorta blew up as we were pressuring up the irrigation today.... gonna be another long day tomorrow.....

did I mention it looks good. I like your ad-hoc framework.

L8r...

[quote] Doesn't it get too wet when you grout it or do you seal it first with something? I would probably use it more if i wasn't afraid it might just disintegrate. Way cheaper then buying plastic.
quote]

I am pretty sure that it would not warp even without the varnish. The contact with the plaster (who is not thinned to much)is very short.
The varnish is essentially to protect the first coat of paint as much as possible.

The advantage is not only cost, but also look, as the slightly coarse surface is better suited to hold color as the smooth plastic.

The interior is coming along nicely brother! Love the timber work.
J

Yo Claude,

Nice updates.

Good looking houses.

Superb work on the wooden windows and doors.

...the farm look will be there for sure...

Greetz Nico

Thanks Jerry and Nico!

As i have two weeks off from work the progress on the farm is pretty good.

I painted and fixed the chimney, inserted the front door, fixed the water pump and worked a lot on the walls and the later beam supports.%%%



The pump is 80 % scratched build with a small part of a commercial one. (i will post a better picture later. The WIP picture were taken with my old camera, so that one comes later also)
Note that all the joints on the sides and near the chimney will be closed once all is definitely fixed. At this point, the whole thing is still movable in order to be able to paint the front façade and, not sure about that, lay the tiles on the roof. I may be able to do that separately.

In a next step i placed the white washed smaller beams on the big support beam and laid the planks (with a white washed side looking down to the kitchen). No nails at this point as the whole stuff will be covered in straw, hay and so on. If a plank will stay clean i will add nails then.

Another picture of the set-up and dry fitting.

Tomorrow i will weather the planks, then fix the second level plus a ladder going up and lay the planks here.
The pole on the left side is just a dummy to get the roof stand right when taken off and will not be part of the final roof.

I need also start testing my hay and straw work and not forget to put the gutter in front of the roof.

This is going to be finished for the weekend! (except the furniture in the kitchen)

Claude

The pump and the fireplace look great. The more you build the better you get at it Claude-if that's possible

Looks good man! When can I sign the lease and move in?
J

Hi Claude,

Another year and more great stuff. The new building is looking excellent, the pump and fireplace are grand and the structure excellent looking. Real work of art Claude, keep up the great work.

Al

You never seize to amaze!!! and as always looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Regards,

Claude,
As always your work is the best. Glade to see your post and progress. Keep up the great work.
Tom

Thanks guys, you are to nice as i do not see what is so good about all this.

I promised i WIP view of the water pump.
Here it is

The resin parts comes from commercial pumps, it's a mix from two different ones. The rest is a piece of sprue as center piece with different wire and lead sheet. I made it myself because, while not a lot different from commercial ones, those are all to big for my taste.

The i promised (somewhat ) to have the house nearly finished by now. I could have made it, but ...
it occurred to me that it would really be better to look for some artificial light to allow a decent view of all this. This will even more true when the dio get's a place in the museum,viewers should then be able to see inside.
I need to wait for next week to get to a shop with a decent LED selection. I really hate electricity work, but the technique has progressed since my efforts in the castle and it really will be worth it. I will also install some LED in the bike shop so that my work with the shop window will be seen later.
Because of that i did not "close" the house yet.
This is a view of the nearly finished structure, the roof is not fixed yet


The other reason for some delay is the work i have done the whole saturday. As i am doing an open house here, the path of the electricity should be demonstrated a bit more in detail. That's why i scratched a switchboard, based on this reference picture i took in the rural museum a few weeks ago


The kitchen, equipped with a light switch and the switch board. Remember please, joints near the wall and chimney are not yet filled.



It took me 5-6 hours to do that board! I admit that it is a bit big compared to the rest, but it is , IMO, a good and rarely seen addition

Claude

The electrical service entrance panel is really nice. As you say, a rarely seen addition.

Cheers
Will

Hello Claude Joachim,
Congratulations on your impressive work. I like everything I've seen so far and accompany you to the end.

How could such a reality in this tree? I am needing to put in my diorama a tree like this, but slightly larger.

A big hug and congratulations again.




Thanks

Thanks Will, Thanks Rodrigo

The tree is made of certainly a hundred fine root, so the mystery to such a tree is finding enough roots and the patience to put them on :-)

By the way i am not sure if i will set the tree at this place any more. Just opposite the river (and i mean only a few centimetres) is the side wall of the actual farm build.
I need to check that but it may be a bit to much crowded.
I will find another suitable location for the tree.

Claude

(lying down with a severe cold and actually not working on the dio since two days)

Good job!
Birch is just beautiful!