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I love the building on stilts. Excellent rice paper house.

Thanks Graven'. I didn't know when I started with the mound, but once it started heading in that direction I have had Bushido in the back of my mind. Though, all I've seen of it is from the blogs here that I follow; such as Gits' and Theo'. I may have to do some research before final detailing.

Speaking of Bushido... Thanks Gits'.

Thanks Riddle'. Keeping my options open for how I will realise the final lighting for the time being.

Thanks 'boss.

Roof in progress.
Just the basic structure so far. Once strong and flat-ish, these will get tiled.
Small roof should work nicely as a handle for roof removal.


Onwards.

That is a grouse little Japanese house, Doc. You're grasp of miniature architecture is superb. The base for it though, did you make that or is it available for purchase somewhere?

That's a sweet little Japanese house.

Beautiful little shrine (?). Nice work man.

Snrub wrote:That is a grouse little Japanese house, Doc. You're grasp of miniature architecture is superb. The base for it though, did you make that or is it available for purchase somewhere?

Thanks Snrub. I just make it up as I go, and use whatever I have to hand. The shapes just follow that.
The base is made, see below from quite a few pages back:

 Dr H wrote:
...You will remember me making a couple of prop replicas in clay recently. While doing these I used polystyrene foam to bulk out the shape to save on weight and clay. This left me with a pile of foam off-cuts. I also was using an old tea-towel to wipe things down. This became soaked in clay. I noticed that when the clay dried the cloth became set in a shape. This gave me an idea.

I piled up the loose foam lumps (all shapes and sizes, no larger than an inch cube) into the centre of the damp cloth and then folded in the sides of the cloth to the centre.
I then turned this over and formed it into a shape and let it dry.
I then further coated this with leftover clay sludge and a layer of PVA to seal it all in.
This is the top two pictures below.

I have then mounted this to a sheet of card, cut that to shape, and then filled in the edges with a bit more clay.
The edges will get a bit more tidying later.
This is where we are in the bottom two pictures.

With the usual basing treatment this will serve as a good base for something.

I'm not sure what I'm going to build on this, some kind of structure, likely ruined, and plenty of platforms / ramps / steps for tabletop gaming use.
It's taking up a lot of desk space, so this is the next project...

Thanks aku-chan.

Thanks Gits'. Not sure if it'll be a shrine, it's not quite "fancy" enough for that But maybe some vaguely important hut that can be used for whatever is necessary in-game.

Speaking of not being quite "fancy", the tiling is now done.
Since last time;
The smaller roof section got small tabs inside to aid in attachment to the larger roof.
That was then glued on and vents/slats were added to the little walls (it has to serve some purpose after all).
The underside of the roof got detailing.
Then tiles... many tiles...

And that's the structure done, I think.

Now to look at what I might want to put inside and plan how these lighting possibilities are going to be realised...
Any thoughts on what you might like to see inside a vaguely important hut on a mound?

Bla-bla-blah. It's lovely and there are many simple shrines. Are you free to work on MY roof next weekend?? Shingles on the house are getting old.

I think it needs a Ronin, a bowl of rice, and a baby cart.

Thanks Gits'. I know what you mean, but it doesn't feel fancy enough to me to be "a shrine".
However, it might well get a little (personal?) shrine inside to hide the battery/switch. The rest of the furnishings will be fairly simple to keep it open for gameplay.
If you want your roof done with card and PVA, then by all means...

Lo Graven'. The eventual owner will have to add their own (in universe) Ronin. A bowl of rice is likely (you know how I like a lived-in look to my builds)... I don't get the full reference to be able to give a smart reply to the baby cart though...

Doors!
Took a bit of planning for these and the furnishings, and I've bought some batteries and switches for the lighting.

The doors were made a similar way to the walls/windows were, but use plasticard and tracing paper so that they are a bit more resistant to handling.
To create the sliding "mechanism" I used L-shaped plastic-strip:
One strip each side of the door, on the floor, and a flat strip in front of the door to keep the doors level when closed but not introduce a lip for "people" to trip over when entering. Used the doors to position these correctly; did not rely on the walls being straight.
The doors are wide enough to meet in the middle and remain within their respective slots.

The top door-guide is one long L-strip with 2 additional pieces to create an n-shape and attach to the walls.
These short pieces are outside the guide so that the doors can't catch on them.
Again the doors were used to position this piece correctly.

Because of the gap in the middle, and that the doors can open wide enough to allow it, each door can be removed and replaced from the frame.
All should become clear with pictures:


Furnishings and lighting to go...

That's fair. Looking beautiful. Love the doors!

It's beautiful work, really stunning. I was referring to Lone Wolf and Cub, btw.

建物はヤバいカッコいい!

posermcbogus wrote:建物はヤバいカッコいい!

Way to make me break out my old textbooks and I absolutely agree, it is

What's the footprint of the base?

Thanks Gits'.
Thanks Graven'. Curious, that one seems to have passed me by, I don't recognise any images.
Thanks posermcbogus.

inmygravenimage wrote:

posermcbogus wrote:建物はヤバいカッコいい!

Way to make me break out my old textbooks and I absolutely agree, it is

I just used Google... and then checked that with another source because the big G put in "dangerous" rather than "crazy". I won't risk Google for a reply.

Gitsplitta wrote:What's the footprint of the base?

As an odd shape there's a fair bit of leeway with the measurements, but roughly 20x24cm (8x9.5").
Photos for ease of seeing...

That's a centimetre scale on the board there.
And a slightly smaller metal-bodied space marine, with an Eldar wraithblade sword.
Total height of the peak of the roof is about 6" too.

Could it dominate a small board or a corner of a larger table? Maybe if the rest of the terrain is small and/or not on mounds.
Interesting and varied line-of-sight blocking possibilities.

Very nice.

Thanks Gits'.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will be happy to know that I've fixed the relative heights of the door handles.

And I've created the battery/switch housing that is to be hidden in the shrine-thing (this means I now know how big to make it).
I used a piece of wood as the base because I wanted it firm to allow a spring-like battery holder.
I also used a couple of pieces of metal formally used as battery contacts. What better to use for battery contacts?!

Slots were cut into the wood to position the metal pieces so that they just touched at the mid-point of an inserted battery (2025 in this case).
Around the back, the metal pieces were bent away from each other; one towards the "floor" and one up to the switch.
A hole was cut for the switch and that was screwed in to look professional.

The upper metal piece will be connected to the switch with a short wire and solder and another wire will run from one side of the switch to the "floor". A circuit will then be made on the floor of the hut to the two lamps (as yet to be made).


Ta.

So, I did a little investigating and think that structure is actually called a minka or "small house". Of course I'm sure you knew that and just refrained from mentioning it to be nice.

The electrical bit is really cool. Something else you do I couldn't hope to replicate!

Nice book nook.....but how do people have room for them? There are too many books to fit on all the bookcases anyway....

Cool little robosaurus, nice work on the gubbins.

Excellent little house, very evocative.

Oh yeah, of course Gits', I knew that... definitely... just, as you say, refrained... Good to know.
Although, good luck using "minka" as a search term in Google. Dunno who she is, but she's more popular than traditional Japanese houses.

Bah, anyone with 2 brain-cells to rub together could do this for one light. Just think of electrons as water and the wires as pipes. But a circuit (especially one that includes diodes) is only one-way (it's not, but think of it that way, unless you have diodes... which is the "D" in LEDs, they are definitely one-way).

Two lights, and the circuit becomes more complex and needs a bit more electrical knowledge. See below, because of course I'd do something in the more complex way.

Hey MT. Good to see you.
Thanks. I dunno, there is precious little space on my bookshelf (I literally had to clear shelves to take the photos). But the recipient did have quite a bit of space.
And you could always buy a new bookshelf to make space... That's why you build these the size of one large book, you can just keep the deposed book on your side table or something.
Thanks again on the things.

Had a few distractions, but have some progress to show.
Starting top left you can see my ugly soldering. It won't be seen (other than here) so I wasn't bothered to make it pretty.

Then there is the important bit (for dual lights): skip for those not interested in the electrics

This meant I needed a crossover of one circuit over the other. This isn't so easy to do with conductive paint (it's like laying a bare wire on another).
Rather than mess about with layers of varnish as insulation and being a pain to fault-check, I used a length of wire for the crossover.
You can now see the 2 circuits exiting the base left and right.

I've been checking and re-checking this circuit all the time, but here's one for you; 2 LEDs off one battery, though my circuit.
Card for insulation as those are metal clips and would short-circuit the LEDs without it.

Bottom row:
The lamps are made from a disk of plasticard with holes for the LEDs legs.
The uprights are going to be 2 lengths of I-beam, placed so that there is a channel down the middle for the wires.
Wires were soldered to the LED legs (not shown) and these protrude from the bottom of the lamps.

You should see an "R" on one side of one of the lamps, and this corresponds to one of the circuit's "wires". Just join "R" to "R" and "L" to "L".
The lamps ended up as mirror images with the L and R reversed, by accident (or neglect, I didn't check or care), which conveniently will make the circuit painting much easier later (you will see later).

Final photo to show all that you will see of the circuit once complete.


Now to create the tops of the lamps (no they are not going to be bare LEDs). and then install it all in the hut.

Getting your electrician's license soon eh, or at least studying for it? Have you done a test lighting yet, to see how it would look? Like with those self-contained LEDs, tea lights and such?

It looks pretty good so far. Plenty of room for details...

I did do the first year of an electrical engineering degree, and only ultimately failed one prerequisite module.
I did show a test of sorts on the previous page, just to show my intentions with the tissue windows. a better example is below...
Thanks, Red'.

Progress.
The tops of the lamps took 3 attempts at construction, with 2 methods. This is how they've ended up.
They're not particularly neat or pretty, but they are together and I'll just make the rest of the furniture a bit "rustic" to match them.
The roughest parts are, of course, hidden around the back. Some is visible from above, but I don't think anyone will notice once it's all together and there are pretties to look at.

The metal rings were made first and the uprights were glued into them.
That construction was then glued onto the lamp base, and the top disk was then glued to that after a cylinder of tracing paper was inserted.
The first lighting test of this construction showed that there needed to be more material on the tops of the lamps to hide the light bleed. Bit of putty...
Now you remember how I said the 2 LEDs were installed opposite ways to each other and that this would help with the circuit? This shows what I meant; If they were identical, one trace would have had to run around the front of the lamp to avoid crossing the second trace to that lamp. This way they are short and straight.

This positioning was the result of the 4th attempt to install the lighting. Involving the removal of the lamps and battery housing each time.
Getting the electrical connection over the edge of each plastic base piece to complete both circuits proved tricky.
The main problem, I think, was seepage of the conductive paint under the plastic and the 2 connections joining and shorting the circuit.
I needed to put enough of the paint on to make a connection, but not too much that these shorts occurred.
As I said, 4 attempts.

But...

...Success.

They don't look blue at all in person.

I have a brief side-project to get done this week, and then we'll be back to this asap.

In other news:
I'll be temporarily closing my Etsy shop for April and May. Re-opening in June.
This is the quietest time of year for my shop's views anyway, and the human malware is not going to help with that. Plus it'll avoid me needing to go to the post office (I am living with two 70+ year olds), and taking a chance on whether the postal service will be running anyway.
Plus Etsy is starting up a questionable new money-making scheme in April, so this will help me miss the introduction of random +15% fees for sales, and I can opt out without a surprise loss in profit (total fees possible; 5% + 3% +15% +VAT from the total price I set, including postage cost).

So if you have been thinking of buying something from my shop, get it now or you'll have to wait at least 2 months.

Laters.

The build is terrific and the lighting effect is simply perfect! The detail is extraordinary.

I've messed around with LEDs a bit over the past year and also had to (re) learn the basics of wiring that I used to use so casually as a teenage model railroader (flashlight incandescent bulbs, back in the day). Lots of fun. I'm hoping one day to build a vehicle with the lighting integral to the design, instead of retro'd on.

Here's the link to the basic article I used to re-remember how to wire things so they don't blow up:

https://www.instructables.com/id/LEDs-for-Beginners/

It explains all of the things to be able to match batteries to bulbs to resisters; I was able to make something light up, so it's darn near idiot-proof!

Can't wait to see the small house of Ichi-buro painted, Doc. And perhaps set in the Glade of 100 Poets.

That's amazing. Nice work on the electronics.

Totally understandable DrH. Keep those close to you safe.

Beautiful little hut Doc! The wiring works a treat.
Thanks for the recap on the base too. I'm guessing I glossed over that when I was catchingup. Rather clever use of remnant materials!

Bit of a shame about Etsy. I know of a few people who have pulled listings, or in one case, their business from Etsy because they don't like new thing.

Hello again, how are we all doing with your respective isolations?
Very little has changed for me (the "advantage" of unemployment), but there has been some minor interruptions of plans.

Thanks Meer_Cat.
Seems like a good article.
I have no way of knowing the ratings of the LEDs I'm using (liberated from something electrical in the past), and the painted circuit probably has a fair amount of resistance built in, which again I can't know without a multimeter. But they seem to work for now and I've only lit them for testing to keep whatever lifetime they have left to a maximum. If there was a major problem with the relative voltage requirements, I'd have probably killed one of the LEDs already.
It's quick (wasn't that quick), it's dirty (but will be hidden), but it works... for now.

Thanks Gits'.

Thanks Snrub.
Yep, I'm all about making use of scrap and junk.
Yeah, a lot of what I'm seeing in the Etsy forum is that most shops are seeing a large drop in sales and only certain things are still doing well (e.g. knitting patterns).

Anyway, progress...

Building the box to hide the battery/switch and it's been tricky.
It started off too big and has been cut down as far as possible, and is still quite big. But it is what it is, we'll all have to deal with that.

From a framework of sprue, it was covered in card and then made a bit prettier with more layers. Think "wood panelling"
Then I made the door for the front to access the battery compartment. I'm aiming to make it not look too like a door, hence the "fake" hinge on the right.
Even as small as I could make it, it can prove difficult to install the battery, not impossible but could be easier. So I attached some of the box structure to the door.

I had intended to install shelving for vases and candles into the door, but with the battery's position they would be in an odd position; very low or very high.
So I hit upon the idea of a stained glass window that could have candles placed on the "shelves" within.
Therefore, frame, clear plastic and a printed out picture of some stained glass were installed.

I'll need to install a magnet to hold the door shut, but that's it.



Now to create some more furnishings to fit the rest of the hut.

Missed the last update with the lamps installed. Very nice, good work indeed

Fiddly little battery cabinet turned out nice. But if it's for putting candles behind shouldn't there be another light source in there

Right, quick blast through the blogs and a quick update here.

Thanks MT.
I did think that once I had the idea about stained glass, but too late to be attempting to add another LED.

Some little side tables I knocked out today.
Fairly simple;
Find a cylinder of sufficient diameter,
Cut rings of desired thickness,
Cut in half,
*If material not thick enough cut twice the number of rings and glue 2 halves together to increase thickness.
Glue back to back to get an X-like shape,
Add flat top.

These should add nice shadows to the windows once populated with vases and things.


Now to craft a load of small knick-knacks...

Nice, simple, effective. Good little tables, and an interesting shape for shadowplay.

Could always thread a few strings of fibre-optics down the 'back' of the lamps through the floor and back into the cupboard.

Very nice work on the tables! Very swish!