I had intended to do quite a few wargame-related things today, but real life intervened ... as usual!
When I got up this morning I noticed that water was dripping down from the inside edge of the roof of our conservatory and onto the windowsill. Despite going up the stepladder and having a minute search of the area where the drip was coming from, I could not find any evidence of a broken seal or a crack in the roofing; the water just seemed to be seeping through somehow. I then went outside and saw that a large piece of ice had formed along the outside of the roof edge, and that the guttering seemed to be full of ice. I did my best to clear the ice ... and the dripping gradually diminished and finally stopped.
All I can assume is that the weight of the ice was pressing down on the sealant and that this was allowing the water to seep through. When the ice was removed it allowed the sealant to close up again and this was the reason why the dripping stopped.
Having done my bit of emergency home maintenance I was able to begin the two most important wargame-related things that I wanted to do today, namely to begin painting the 1:1200th-scale merchant ship I built yesterday and to try to perfect my method of forming Plasticard into curved shapes using boiling water and my recently acquired stainless steel tin lids.
I cut two suitable lengths of Plasticard that I hoped would become the sides of my first 'Monopoly' battleship's hull. I chamfered the ends of each piece before clamping them between two of my tin lids thus:
I placed the whole assembly into boiling water for 45 seconds before removing it and allowing it to cool. When it had cooled I undid the clamps and removed the Plasticard ... which was perfectly formed into two matching curved hull sides.
All I have to do now is to glue the two ends together and then I can begin constructing my first 'Monopoly' battleship.
When I got up this morning I noticed that water was dripping down from the inside edge of the roof of our conservatory and onto the windowsill. Despite going up the stepladder and having a minute search of the area where the drip was coming from, I could not find any evidence of a broken seal or a crack in the roofing; the water just seemed to be seeping through somehow. I then went outside and saw that a large piece of ice had formed along the outside of the roof edge, and that the guttering seemed to be full of ice. I did my best to clear the ice ... and the dripping gradually diminished and finally stopped.
All I can assume is that the weight of the ice was pressing down on the sealant and that this was allowing the water to seep through. When the ice was removed it allowed the sealant to close up again and this was the reason why the dripping stopped.
Having done my bit of emergency home maintenance I was able to begin the two most important wargame-related things that I wanted to do today, namely to begin painting the 1:1200th-scale merchant ship I built yesterday and to try to perfect my method of forming Plasticard into curved shapes using boiling water and my recently acquired stainless steel tin lids.
I cut two suitable lengths of Plasticard that I hoped would become the sides of my first 'Monopoly' battleship's hull. I chamfered the ends of each piece before clamping them between two of my tin lids thus:
I placed the whole assembly into boiling water for 45 seconds before removing it and allowing it to cool. When it had cooled I undid the clamps and removed the Plasticard ... which was perfectly formed into two matching curved hull sides.
All I have to do now is to glue the two ends together and then I can begin constructing my first 'Monopoly' battleship.
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Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI have got to say that this looks a very intriguing and novel idea. It seems to give a very nice and usable curve - I presume you can vary the degree of curve to an extent. This would be useful for smaller vessels. Either way though I am looking forward to seeing the end result!
All the best,
DC
All the best,
DC
David Crook,
ReplyDeleteI have two sets of tin lids that fit like this, and they should give me the range of curves that I will need.
I hope to begin constructing the 'Monopoly' battleship tomorrow, and I will write a blog entry about it when it is completed.
All the best,
Bob
Bob
ReplyDeleteWhat you have is an ice jam - a common occurrence in for a Canadian Winter. I'm up on the ladder a couple of times every year doing the same thing. When there's a lot of snow (not this year) I clear it off the roof with a roof rake. Just the make sure the neighbours think that I'm nuts, I put snowshoes on when raking the roof.
Love the merchantmen by the way!
PD
Peter Douglas,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for explaining what the cause is!
We don't usually get that much snow in the UK, but this time the gradual daytime thaw has been followed by a series of very cold nights, hence the build-up of ice rather than snow on the roof of the conservatory.
The roof of the conservatory is made of a double-skin of rigid plastic with an air gap of about 2-inches between each skin. It therefore works like double glazing ... but I doubt if it is heavy enough for me to walk on. That said, I am sure that now I know what the cause is, I can try to find some way to solve the problem if it occurs again.
All the best,
Bob
PS. Thanks for the comment about the merchant ships. The first coat of paint I have applied to them is currently drying, and I hope to add a picture of them to the blog when they are finished.
Bob
ReplyDeleteHere's the roof rake - you don't need to climb on the roof you can use it from terra firma
http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045/0596961P/no-yardworks-roof-rake-reviews/reviews.htm
PD
Peter Douglas,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great bit of kit!
I will see if it is sold anywhere in the UK as it should make it possible to avoid this problem in the future.
All the best,
Bob