Thank you, Peter, much appreciated. I really enjoyed building Wheal Busy; when I switched completely to 13mm:1 foot, I did start again on the Cornish Engine House theme and got as far as building the ornate chimney of Kit Hill Consols Mine, which is still a landmark in East Cornwall.
The core of the tapering section of the chimney was a length of plastic drainpipe from B and Q, and the taper was added by stapling and screwing a shaped and truncated cone of chicken wire to the pipe. Over the chicken wire I added lengths of plaster bandage. The chimney cap was formed from cut and shaped plywood. Kit Hill Consols was selected because its sole remaining chimney did not have the characteristic brick extension for draught purposes, being sited on the summit of a hill with more than adequate natural draught.
The square base of the chimney was constructed from foamboard, with layers of stone-embossed plastic sheet added.
And there I stopped. I couldn't work out how to add convincing stonework texture to the chimney itself, which scaled out at around 4' high. Furthermore, an engine and boiler house made to scale (Wheal Busy in reality is a particularly massive and fine example) to accompany the chimney would be enormous, even if I had used a modest prototype. Somewhere I have a picture of the chimney at its final if incomplete state. I'll see if I can find it tomorrow.
That's a long way round, I guess, of offering a tip to those contemplating building any kind of mine buildings to scale that they will dominate their setting and occupy a great deal of space -just like the real thing.
Best wishes,
Alec K
