The Lighthouse - Part 1


I've taken the last month off from Sandy Shores both to take a break and because the conservatory that the layout was housed in was getting pretty cold!

Yesterday was a rare sunny day and I decided now that the house was a bit emptier (long story which I will not go into!) that I could move the layout into a warmer room. After that was done, I began to turn my attention to the structures on the layout - specifically the lighthouse. I tasked my dad with finding a large bit of wood to turn the basic shape of the structure. A few minutes later I came back to see this on the wood lathe:


Suddenly in a flurry of wood shavings, my dad was quite happy whittling down this huge block of wood into something more cylindrical. In the photo below we see him using a parting chisel (I think that's the right term) to mark the length of the lighthouse.




Above: With both ends parted most of the way, he continued working away on the piece with a C-shaped chisel (I forgot to ask the technical name for it).

Below: Once the final diameter was reached, he used this "scraper" chisel to smooth the wood on the lower section of the lighthouse.



Above: And here we are with the finished profile! A knot in the wood did fly out at one point, but as the whole thing will be covered in clay and then scribed it was of no real consequence.

I might actually ask if the join from the straight section at the bottom of the tower to the beginning of the taper can be curved a little bit as per the prototype at Sturn Point, but apart from that I'm happy with it so far. Next job is to drill a hole down the middle (for wiring) and also cut out apertures for windows.

I've also begun work on the wooden jetty/pier at the end of the layout although I'll show this in better light tomorrow!


Comments