Oh Those....

 

Electrical Woes.... 

Having Accomplished so Much on the Castle Tower last week, Dear Readers, I was eager to continue the forward momentum and "complete" the electrical box and wiring for the Ladies' Tower. The biggest step (or so I thought) would be attaching the hinged door to the front panel, and attaching the whole front panel to the buttress with the plug strip neatly nestled inside and all the plugs plugged in! I had already cut and painted the front panel and the door, but had not attached the hinges. That was easily accomplished and I moved on to attaching the whole front panel. This required much drilling and screwing (but still not gluing!... must test things first!) and that also went fairly smoothly. I was on a roll! The next step was more complicated... the attaching of the plug strip inside the box... in such a way that it is firmly in place but also removable (in case of need!)... and the linking of the plug strip to the transformer that all the Castle plugs strips use. I had decided that the plug strip could be held in place "between" screws that kept it from moving around. No glue needed and the screws can be loosened if the need to remove the strip should arise.

 Here you can see the arrangement. (Sorry my photo is a little blurry.... the lighting is not great and I was just skipping along...!) The silver headed screws just keep the plug strip from moving but are not attached to it in any way. I ran the wire under a "staple" to hold it steady and out through a notch in the side wall and then attached it to the transformer. And the plugs are all plugged into the strip there at the bottom. Are we ready for a test?  I plugged the transformer in to see how it all looked... but the lights did not seem to be lighting up..... Whaaat?????? Then I noticed the little light on the plug strip was on...!!Whaaattt???? That means the fuse has blown....!!!! I quickly unplugged the transformer... This has NEVER happened to me before! AAAcckkk!!! What to do...????? I decided I needed to just test each light separately with a different transformer and plug strip to see if they all were still functional. This gave me the reassurance that the chapel lights and the dungeon light were still functional... Whew!!!...... they are the hardest, if not impossible to replace! But The little candle in the Monk's cell did not still work. At the very least I had to see if changing its bulb would work... only do discover I had not used a replaceable bulb and socket lamp! (This was one of the very first lights I made for the dollhouses... I was a total newbie...!)

 

I was going to have to remove the entire candle

 and its wiring and start over.... 

this was challenging to say the least......! 

I could not see into the Monk's cell.... 

(this shot is the camera view through the door!)

 but I could get my hand in through that door.... 

(didn't I just recently make all those parts

 of the Castle permanently un-removable???!)

 just enough to pry the candlestick off the ledge where it sat....

 (it was only attached by museum wax!).... 

 

And I had to pull all the wiring out of the channel it was glued into... 

(the reason I use these accessible channels...!)

 actually... I had to do this first in order 

to be able to loosen the candlestick... 

so that I could remove it.

 

Here you can see the old candle on the left... 

that tiny lamp connected to the wires

 which ran through the sculpey "candle" 

I had made all those years ago. 

I had not thought to use screw base bulb lights

 that can be replaced if they burn out.

 And on the right is the "new" candle... 

this time just made from cardboard painted white.... 

the candle is very hard to actually see in place! 

I reused the sculpey "base" and re-ran it through the wall

 and glued it into the same channels as before.

 

And gave it a "test" with the alternate plug strip and transformer

 that I was using to test the lights all along. 

Yay! It lights! 

It looks "right at home" there in the Monk's cell! 

But that little detour took me most of the day 

and didn't answer the question of

 why the fuse blew on the plug strip....!

 And I absolutely didn't want to risk 

damaging any of the other Castle lights. 

This was going to take some sleuthing.... 

not so simple. 

So I decided to work on the easier stuff instead...!

 

The Postern Gate door needed to be "weathered" 

so it looked ancient and rarely used. 

I started with darkening the wood....

 

On both sides.... since it would be opened 

from time to time.... it shouldn't look new! 

And I needed to make some elaborate hinges... 

 

Just made from sculpey..... but in an elaborate design. 

They needed to be not just hinges but also

 the iron reinforcements to the heavy wooden door.

 

Which also needed to be aged... 

weathered as though it has been left in the 

sun wind and rain for a very long time... 

I made a start but need to add more "weathering".

 

And those great iron reinforcing hinges 

also needed to be weathered..... 

 

As you can see here... I have made a start. 

There's a long way still to go. 

I think I will need to see what it looks like

 tucked into the doorspace

 once the rocks have been painted before 

I will be able to tell when enough is enough.

 

Which brings us to that postern gate and the buttress

 that also has had some augmentation. 

I thought there needed to be a finial of some sort

 at the tip of the buttress there by the door. 

I stumbled across a small sculpey angel 

I had made a long time ago that didn't have a home.... 

it fits perfectly and is suitably worn and imperfect for the job!

 (I love finding those little serendipitous treasures!) 

These pieces are now getting their coats of primer and paint. 

Which also led me to deciding it was time to lay out

 the courses for the rocks on this end wall of the Castle! 

(This is momentous!) 

So far only half the exterior of the Castle has been "rocked"... 

the entire back side and the end wall on the Lord's Tower. 

It goes without saying that the courses (rows) of rocks

 across the front facade of the entire castle will have to

 line up perfectly evenly to avoid looking wrong...  

and ideally they should "match" the courses on

 the end walls where they go around the corners. 

Since I have been painting them "freehand" there is no 

guarantee that they will end up matching on their own. 

Yes, I have been using a "ruler" to guide my spacing...

 but have not been precise.

 And the front facade will be the last part I paint! 

So any "adjusting" of courses needs to happen

 on the end wall of the Lady's Tower. 

I made myself a "precise" stick to guide me. 

I held it along the Lord's Tower wall and marked

 all the courses along one side of the stick... 

a custom yardstick of sorts. And then did the same

 on the back corner of the Ladies' Tower where it met the 

back wall and marked the courses along the adjacent side of the stick.

 It tells me clearly where the adjustments need to be made! 

Fortunately, it is mostly quite close in alignment.

 

 Can you see all those lines I drew on the Tower wall...?

 

Can you see them now? (Ha ha!..... )

except for the buttress part..... where it gets complicated. 

Here I am starting to mark the vertical edges of the rocks... 

continuing the rock from the back side alignment 

so they are staggered the way they would be in real life.

 

And Just carrying the back wall lines to the buttress edge...

 

Filling the rest of the rows with the staggered block pattern... 

and adding the "texture to the buttress rocks... 

since they continue from the back wall. 

It will look more realistic when the grout lines are painted. 

 

Well, Dear Readers, It looks like

 I got a lot done in spite of

 Those Electrical Woes!