Ola mates!!

I finished my roof panel and made a mold based on it. I'm really happy that the mold turned out ok (well it's not great, but it works) as I've added too much hardner to the mix, and the whole gooish silicone stuff started hardening when I was pouring it onto the finished panel (I was really pissed!).
Here's how the whole thing looked like, when I pulled the original out of the mold:





So today I made my first cast in this mold and I have to say that it came out pretty well. Some bubbles got trapped under the plaster during casting and so there are some holes in the cast, but I will take care of that later. Here it is dryfitted on the upper tower piece:



and a side view, to show the angle:



and the cast (cut down to a triangle shape):



I will have to take out my dentist tools and work on some of the tiles, but I like the overall look, it fits with the rest of the tower:) What do you think?
I'm not sure how to construct the roof frame, that holds the whole thing in place, so if you have any ideas, reference pictures it would be great:)

Thanks for looking and
Cheers,
dsc.

Tom this turned out great.
I'm not being a wise guy or anything but I also like the first mistake cast, it looks like an old time worn roof with missing slates/shingles.
First rate.
Cheyenne

I'm with Cheyenne on this one, the first one does look really good, and when you do get the mold you way you want it to be, either would look great in my opionion

I agree with the others, that first casting looks pretty good.

Could you possibly file a horizontal groove into the back side of the casting and glue a balsa wood beam into it. Then you could attached that to the vertical beams. Just an idea. If you are looking for historically accurate, I can't help. I really enjoy watching this build of your come together. Great work!

Cheers, BillK.

An old roof should look worn and abused, ie.imperfect. Keep it just like it is.

Gday Tommy boy
I reckon she's come out a little bewdy! As others said, the irregularities makes it far more interesting... But that said, it IS going to be set back in the day right? So therefore overly worn may not necessarily be the best approach? Something to think about at least...
How will the remaining sides attach? Will they all rest down on the larger top stones, whilst coming to a central point at the top? Not sure if they had or used lead back then, but where the angled edges meet there would need to be a roll of lead from top to bottom to cover the tile edges where there direction changes for the next tiled side... Assuming it is intended to be water-tight...
Coming along great
Cheers
Brad

Hi Tom,

the cast is great! You may want to build a basic support construction to lay them on. Here is what i mean (sorry to show my house, but it helps me to explain)
Basic beams

and support for your mould



But , i don't really like to see that your openings on the walls will be placed directly under the roof. They will look no more like you intend to have them, but either like standard windows. I have a language problem to explain myself here, but you may understand what i mean, otherwise i will try again.

Good Luck

Claude

Solid work. Very nice looking. For your first try its great. You already noted a couple of things to do differently next time.
As for bubbles, pour slowly and at an angle, then jiggle/tap the mold when it is just done pouring.

Ola again

Thanks for all the replies, I'm really glad you like watching my efforts with this tower project:)

cheyenne and Mech-Maniac: I'm not sure if you know this, but the first picture of the roof panel with missing tiles is the original piece after taking it out of the mold (first demolding). I just showed it so you could see how much "destruction" the mold has made to the original roof panel. The first cast is the triangle one, which was used for dryfitting. I wrote this cause you mentioned that you like the first cast with the missing tiles and stuff, when the first cast has all the tiles, only some more damage because of the imprefect cast. So I'm not sure what you had in mind when saying first cast:)

Bill: yeah I have the same idea, for dremmeling out the back of the cast and glueing some balsa strips to simulate realistic wooden frame of the roof. Actually the only thing I must sand down is the lower edge of the roof, because it's the only place that is visible from the outside, but I might do the roof detachable, so it would be cool to have some inner roof beams also.

Rob: glad you like it mate:)

Bradley: I'm afraid about overdoing it with the damage, that's why I wasn't so happy with the first cast, but I can always say that the tower is old:) plus it's meant to be used in the medieval times, so old broken tiles would be pretty ok. As for the angle joints read on below.

Claude: thanks for the picture:) that's the basic shape I will want to copy. As for the "window" look I have to say that I like it:) I know that the whole thing looks more like a lookout tower, so I might have to change the name of the project:)

Scott: thanks for your kind words my friend:) I did tap and even used a small vibrating mashine to get rid of air, but the mold has some undercuts and that's where the bubbles like to stay. I even used the wet method, where you use some water-detergent mix on the mold to make the plaster flow better. Still got some holes though, I guess a small vacuum pump would solve my problem:)

Here below you can see a small test fit of some corner pieces, cut to fit the tiles around and dremmeled a bit to make them hallow ,should do the trick:)



Again if you have anything to say, even criticism:) just shoot:) it really helps to make things better.

Thanks a lot for all your help guys!!
Cheers,
dsc.