Plan B....

 

Build It Better....

I am Happy to Report, Dear Readers, that I was wrong on at least two occasions in my recent posts! I had mentioned that the only light in The Tower no longer working was the Stable's lantern which would need to be entirely re-built. So I was very pleasantly surprised, as I was fidgeting with the lantern trying to decide how best to re-build it, to discover that the only thing wrong with it was a very loose light bulb! Once it was properly screwed in, I plugged in the cord and It worked! No need for a major re-design. My initial wiring did leave me room to access the socket and tighten the bulb. And you can see in the above picture, However dimly lit, that I had also patched over all those screws that were used to attach the exterior stairs. It was a simple matter to re-paint the rocks....

Can you see any screw heads in this picture?

All that remained to fix were the grout lines....

 

As you can see in this shot....

 pretty difficult to tell the screws are there!

But the second place where I was mistaken, 

Dear Readers, required a little more work to fix.

My lovely Stables "door bar" which seemed to work so easily

 with just the screw to turn the bar.... stopped working.

I was going to have to re-design the method 

for raising and lowering the bar from outside the Castle.

This took some serious thought!

But I came up with a solution!

 

I reasoned that the bar would need to be attached firmly to the pivot,

 and that would need to be attached to a lever from the outside.

Since the metal screw became loose in the wood after only a little use,

 I decided the whole structure needed to be made of wood.

I needed to use a wooden dowel, of sufficient diameter to be sturdy, 

(in this case 1/4 inch) and I would need to "square it up

 where it attached to the bar so it could not easily slip when turned.

The hole in the bar needed to be squared too,

 so it fit snugly like a tenon in old fashioned post and beam construction.

Like so.

The hole through the wall needed to be enlarged to take the dowel width...

I needed to be very careful that I left enough "wall" beside the hole..... 

(this might be a weak spot, but it doesn't get stressed by the turning)

 

This is the bar in place.....

And in the "up" position. It works, it fits.... 

but I need to build the "lever" for the outside.

The other end of the dowel would need to 

be "squared" to fit into the lever bar....

And I needed to start the "rocks" which surround the door on the outside

 so that the lever could be positioned at the right depth

 to be able to turn and not catch on the rocks.

The new "lever" basically sits on top of the rock surrounding the door.

When the "lever" is down, it means the bar is in

 the "up" position and the doors can open.

When the "lever" is pointed up, the bar is down.... 

here you can see it because the doors are still open.

If they were closed, the bar would grab into the holds!

See?  

The lever and the bar are both securely tenoned on the dowel!

It works!

And you might have noticed, Dear Readers, 

that while I have been wrestling with this complicated little lever,

 I have also begun painting the rocks on the Tower walls!

Well, first the primer coat....

Then the base coat of light gray....

Then the darker detailing of the "stonework" surrounding the door...

 

 Still in the just "roughing" it in stage....

Gradually trying to define the "rocks"......

And with the magic "grout lines" added....

Wow.... what a difference they make!

So you can see what a difference

 Plan B makes, Dear Readers,

Building it Better is always worth the effort!

Wiring Upgrades....

 

 Progress....

It had been a Very Long time, Dear Readers, since I had actually made any new "torches" for my castle! I had to research the methods I used when I first constructed them twelve years ago, digging back into my ancient blog posts. And I dug around in my boxes for all the likely jewelry findings to see which ones would fit together the best. The sculpey was still in good condition and didn't take long to bake up into a couple of "sticks" with a good hole down the middle to run the wire through. (This was made by wrapping the sculpey around a piece of coat hanger wire to shape it, then carefully sliding it off being careful not to collapse the central hole while baking.) Then the "sticks" got a coat of paint and the base jewelry finding "caps" glued in place. The bulb and socket piece needed to be threaded through the "torch" piece and into the "stick" before the "torch was glued in place without getting glue on the wire.

 

This is so the wire can be slid through the torch when needed to change bulbs.

 

Here it is getting tested in the Lord's Council Chamber. It works!

 

 

And both the new torches!

 

And in case you needed to "see" them... here with the flash...

 

Meanwhile, Dear Readers, the inside of the entry to the stables needed

 to be painted to resemble "rocks".

 

Sorry, I have to use the flash or you can't see much!

It is drearily dark here on a cloudy afternoon!

 

If you look carefully you will see all the wires are just temporarily "twisted" together.

 They all needed their joins "shrinktubed" to protect the joins.

 This took an entire day!

 

But it got done!

Notice all those wires with the shrinktubing at the joins!

The only light that is still in need of attention is the lantern in the Stables.

It has problems and will need to be completely dismantled.

 But considering that it was among the first lights in this Castle,

 I'd say that's not too bad!

Progress has been made, Dear Readers,

with the Wiring Upgrade!

So Many Details....

 

 Glue, Glue, Gluing....

One of the complicated parts of this Castle Entrance, Dear Readers, is figuring out which little detail needs to be taken care of Before another one is accomplished, because attempting to manage it later would be too difficult. And since it is really the door And the Electrical systems I am building, it requires that I jump all over the place! So it is that Before I can attach the outer wall to the stairs and electrical box, I need to finish the doors themselves (as well as the electrical wiring, but more about that later!). Above, you can see I have "painted" the boards for the doors and the hinges too. This is following the same method I started years ago, and while there are surely more sophisticated methods of making doors, this is the one I have used for the Castle. I am, after all, just building a Castle Dollhouse from plywood! And after painting the brass hinges, I baked the sculpey "hinge straps" along the same model as for all the doors. And glued them in place. I use basic wood glue for this.

They are big, bold and bulky, and meant to be

 wrought iron and therefore strong as a defense.

You must recall that this castle is a fortress,

 and these are the only ground floor doors,

 so they need to be really sturdy!

And as I was thinking about how they would have 

"barred the doors" from the inside in a real castle,

 I wanted to try to make a way for it to work here!

After a whole lot of fiddling and no picture taking

 I came up with this...

 

This is the inside view. 

The long bar is screwed from the outside

 (so I can access it if need be!)

and so I can turn the screw to make the bar go up and down.

When down, it slots into both the door "holds" 

and prevents the doors from swinging out, or open.

And when it is "up", the bar stands vertically at the side, 

allowing the doors to open.

(It also fits under the stairs which step right up above it)

Here is the view from the outside with the bar in the "up" position.

You can imagine how giddy I was that it actually worked!

The bar and the holds will get a coat of paint, 

but they can be seen better in photos this way.

I began to paint primer on the lowest part of the walls... 

and cut the remaining side wall for the bottom section of the stairs.

I will need to paint the "rocks" on the interior

 of the entry area before gluing this wall in!

I added the one door "handle" that would be needed

 on the outside of the stable doors.

The black sheetrock screw head you can see

 just to the left of the door is the control for the "bar".

It will remain uncovered and accessible.

 All other screw heads will eventually be spackled over and painted.

I also added the door handle to the inner stables door.

The wooden "bar holds" on the doors are

 only glued together, using wood glue.

I have debated adding screws for strength.... 

but for now I am relying on just the glue!

Here you can see where the bar goes down...

(it is tightly attached with the screw so it doesn't just "fall" down.)

And from inside the stables, you can see it when it is closed.

If it is ever necessary, I can reach in

 and manually lift it to the "up" position.

But we are still a long way from being ready

 to glue this wall in place, Dear Readers, 

as the electrical wires have not been finished.

And as they are still all dangling off the back wall of the Tower,

 I have been trying to complete a few other little details

 while the glue for the wires is drying and the back wall is available!

Specifically, the exterior windows "rock" trim has yet to be added!

I started with the "sills" for the windows.

And much to my chagrin,

 I realized that I'd done a terrible job of it

 when I built the little window way in the corner of The Lord's Bedchamber!

You can see the way the "inner frame" sticks out from the wall...

 when it is supposed to be flush!

This means all the new Outer "rock" trim

 will have to be notched to fit over the uneven surface.

A tedious and finicky process!

Here they have been glued on.

 I have not even begun to cut the arched window "caps"...

 and still need to design them!

The exterior window frames are exposed to the elements... 

and also are part of the "look" of the castle as a whole!

(I am working on it....)

Meanwhile.... there are a whole lot of wires needing glue... 

and before I can glue them, 

I need to be sure they are positioned correctly and function right...!

I am glad to say progress is being made!

The Lord's Bed Chamber lights all work beautifully

 and are exactly what is required for this room!

In case you needed a reminder,

 this is the Bedchamber (using flash)

There are two candles and the fireplace flame... 

for a total of three 12 v. bulbs.

(The outlet strip is designed to hold twelve plugs, 

so I need to be counting!)

 

Knowing that all those lights were "perfect"

 meant I could confidently glue those wires

 into their newly carved channel!

 I am using Aileen's Quick Dry Glue for this step, 

in part because it dries quickly 

but also because it doesn't get too brittle.

It also dries semi-clear and will not "yellow".

For now I am leaving all these buried wires uncovered.

The next chamber down is the Lord's Council Chamber....

Which you can see here (in case you haven't seen it before!)

It has a fireplace and two candles in the mantelpiece,

 and holders for two torches along the wall.

Alas, those torches have not yet been made!

I had made all the lights for the lower rooms of the castle

 waaaay back in the beginning... 2011 to be exact...

 and had not made any more torches since! 

(I will need to research my methods.... !)

So I cannot glue the torch wires in place for this room....

 But I did glue the hearth wires.....!

I know.... it is dark and gloomy!

It does need the torches on the side wall.... 

and it is a Medieval Castle!

Meanwhile, the Guard Room Torches,

 the first ones I had made all those years ago, needed repairs.

I designed them so that the light bulb, which is changeable,

 can be removed by lifting it up 

pulling the wire through the "torchere" at the top.

 But it is intended to only have to lift up a short way,

 because most of the wire will be glued into the walls

(I leave a small amount slack at the base of the torch).

What you see on the floor above, 

will not be possible once the wires are glued in!

What you can't see here (because I had already fixed it!)

is that the "torchere" part of the torch

 had been knocked apart and was crooked, only held on by the wire.

It needed to be reglued.... but I needed to be sure no glue

 got on the wire which needed to be able to be pulled freely through

 the "torchere" to change a bulb if necessary!

I had originally made these with superglue.

The solution was to very carefully wrap the wire

 in a tiny collar of cardstock where the two parts would be reglued. 

Then add the superglue and push the two pieces together

 over the cardstock collar!

It worked! (Whew!!)

And while I was making repairs

 I thought I would finally try an idea 

that I had been thinking of for years.... 

upgrading the look of the torch "flame"!

So that it actually looks a little more like "Flame"!

And for comparison with the original "flame"...

Really no comparison!

Now I just need to make more of these "flames"....

And just for reference... the whole Guard Room

 with the flash turned on...

And with just the torches lit!

I think the new flames will be an improvement.

The new flames are just plastic packaging painted with acrylic paint,

 wrapped in a cone shape and placed around the bulb in the "torchere".

Here I am making another with a slightly yellower flame....

As always, I like the first one best.... 

and will work on "upgrading" all the torches in the castle!

So you can see, Dear Readers, 

I have been dealing with So Many Details....

And jumping all over the place

 with Glue, Glue and More Gluing!