Rushmoore
New Member
Check it out:
Now onto the build write up!
A picture of the Gohliser Windmill.
I began this project build by first constructing a sketch model. I used mountboard to create the base and sails and card to create the head and body.
I used folding techniques to create the housing for the sails which sits upon the roof.
I drew out the reefing deck on card and stuck it to the base using PVA and then made the railings from mountboard.
I decided I would make the body of the mill out of 12mm mdf rings. I drew out a scale
drawing of the mill then made a mark every 12mm. The mill tapers slightly towards the
top so every ring would be slightly smaller than the previous one. I then
created a template for every ring in photoshop and glued it onto the mdf.
I then cut out all the disks out with a jigsaw - a lot of disks went into the making of
this mill! After cutting all these out I realized that the mill was going to be far to big
so I had to cut out all the disks out again. After doing this I glued the disks together in sections of 4 or 5.
Now it was time to sand the angle on the disks to create the tapered body of the mill.
I figured out what angle was needed using my scale drawing and a protractor.
I then cut out a piece of mdf with this angle and used it as a guide to set the disk sander.
I then hollowed out the sections using a pillar drill. I could have done this using the bandsaw however I would have had to cut into the disks to get the blade inside which I did not want to do.
I then sanded the inside of the sections, I needed the angle on the inside to match the one on the outside so I made a jig which would allow me to sand this angle using the bobbin sander.
After the sections were hollowed out I began the construction of the head of the mill.
I first cut out another mdf disk which would be the base of the head. I then stuck a
block of chemiwood to this which I would put on the lathe and turn into a cone shape.
After this I hollowed out a space in the roof for the motor to sit in
and I also cut a hole in the mdf base for the wires to go through.
I then needed to make the housing for the sails. I cut out another smaller piece of chemiwood
and used the disk sander to sand it into the desired tapered shape.
I stuck this onto the roof and then made a hole for the motor to slide into.
I needed to create the tiles for the roof. I used 0.03mm styrene and cut out loads of
tiny (0.4x0.5) tiles using my scalpel. I considered many different
methods, but decided that this would achieve the most realistic effect.
The sail housing was quite an awkward shape so I first stuck the tiles on a piece
of styrene that was the same shape as one of the sides. I then
trimmed off the excess tiles using the styrene underneath as a guide.
Two days later.. more tiles stuck on.. and a bit of my sanity lost along the way..
I then went back to working on the body of the mill. I marked out the placement
of the windows then used the pillar drill to cut out the holes for the windows.
I then used a selection of sanding sticks and files to make the holes the correct shape.
I used the laser cutter to make the window frames and then used a pen to mark
how far the windows needed to go in. I used PVA to glue the windows in and then
filled any gaps with filler. Once dried I sanded the filler
and any remaining imperfections on the windows and mdf.
Once the windows were in, I stuck all the sections together and began to paint the
body of the mill. I primed the whole thing with around 8 coats of grey filler primer
(It took so many coats as I was covering the edges of the mdf rather than the sealed surface).
The actual mill is covered in plaster so I decided to apply my paint with sponges to achieve a
slight bumpy texture. The first time I did this the surface
was way too textured so I had to sand it all off and start again.
On the second try I pressed the sponge a lot less firmly onto the surface and did
around 4 light coats. Once this was dry I very lightly sponged some browns and greys over
the surface to add some color variation. I also masked off the windows and sponged
on a base coat of grey and then a few darker/lighter tones to bring out the texture.
The base of the roof is covered in cladding so I used some teak veneer I had left over
from a previous project to make this. I painted the tiles with a
base coat of matt grey then dry brushed dark greys and white on top.
I then began to make the reefing deck. I could have used the laser cutter to make
this however I wanted to use traditional construction techniques as I thought this
would match the style of the model better. I drew out a scale drawing of the deck
and used this as a guide for cutting and gluing all the pieces together. I used a hacksaw
to cut out all the pieces then sanded the angle on the
bandsaw (I made a jig for this). I also made the sails in a similar fashion.
I then cut out the windows on the laser cutter in 2mm styrene and engraved a
diamond pattern onto the surface. Once these had been cut out I covered the windows
in black paint, making sure it went into the engraved lines, I then wiped the surface leaving
the paint in the cracks. This gave me the effect of a leaded window. I installed the windows
and backed them with reflective card to prevent viewers from seeing though the mill.
Once this was done I constructed the base which was made from two mdf disks with
the top covered in miniature grass. I covered the edge of this with pine veneer
and then added a switch to the base and connected this to the motor via a battery.
I then placed the mill on top and.... voila! We have a working model of a windmill
Thanks for reading guys
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