Thatched Roofs

M

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
Oct 31, 2002
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Originally posted by billk
Thanks a lot, 60103. That book must be about the same place (the Pendon Museum) that the web site is from that George posted. A great site, btw. Has anybody been there?
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No, but here is the link to the Weald and Downland, the museum I visited last summer. THey have a small but good selection of links from their site to other info that might help you.

http://www.wealddown.co.uk/

Andrew
 
G

George D

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Aug 28, 2003
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Originally posted by billk
Thanks a lot, 60103. That book must be about the same place (the Pendon Museum) that the web site is from that George posted. A great site, btw. Has anybody been there?
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Yes, my wife and I visited there a couple of years ago. My wife tolerates (that’s being generous) my stops at model railroads when we travel, but she was fascinated with the Pendon Museum. I’ve never seen such a high level of detail in model railroad scenery. You can distinguish the cabbage plants from the bean plants in the vegetable gardens! If you are ever in England, it's well worth the effort to make the visit.

George
 
6

60103

Pooh Bah
Mar 25, 2002
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Pendon is on my list to go to. It's always been a problem because it's not been on a bus line (appears to have one now.) It's off the line between Paddington and Oxford, just beside Didcot where the Great Western Society has its museum. That gives you a major trade off with your s/o in return for two rail museums.
 
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billk

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Jun 12, 2001
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Thanks for the tips, everyone. I sent an Email to the Pendon Museum, and just got this reply:
Hello

Thank you for your kind comments and query.

I have forwarded your query to our chief modeller, Malcolm Smith, and have asked him to respond.

In the meantime, I can thoroughly recommend a book called 'Cottage Modelling for Pendon' by Chris Pilton and published by Wild Swan Publications in the UK. I expect Malcolm will also recommend this book. Its current price is £9.95, I think, and could be obtained from the Museum. Post and packing extra.

Kind regards

Rob Thompson
Operations Director, Pendon Museum
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I'll keep you posted on any further replies.
 
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billk

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Jun 12, 2001
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Just got this from Malcom Smith at the Pendon Museum - what a great bunch of people!

Bill

You emailed us asking about the construction of thatched roofs at Pendon Museum.

The basic material used for thatching is plumber's hemp also known as tow. It is a fibrous material which is normally supplied in large hanks and used by plumbers to seal screwed pipe fittings. The hemp is cut into small bundles about 1 inch long and about 0.25 inches thick. These bundles are glued (using PVA glue) onto the card base of the roof in rows working up the roof and overlapping each row. This is similar to the way that real thatch is laid, although it isn't glued! When the apex is reached, more bundles are laid over the ridge and glued in position top form the ridge capping. Real thatch is typically about 2 feet thick so in model form should be 0.25 - 0.5 inches thick (all dimensions are given for OO scale 1:76).

When the glue has dried, trim the thatch using a small pair of scissors, cutting with the blades pointing up the roof to avoid putting straight lines into the thatch. Liggers (the hazel spars used to tie the thatch down) are made using brown cotton soaked in PVA glue to stiffen the cotton. The liggers are pegged down using small pieces of fuse wire bent into a V shape, by pushing the wire peg into the thatch with the cotton trapped under it.

The thatch is then given a wash of colour using either acrylic or oil based paints. An earth brown colour usually works well, but thin the paint well before applying it and allow the paint to soak in. Finally, weathering is added - typically, mosses and lichens grow in the thatch and these can be represented by thin washes of green paint. For a very heavy mossy appearance add a little plaster to the paint to thicken it and put blobs of paint/plaster onto the thatch.

Hope this helps you to create a thatched cottage.

Malcolm Smith
Development Director
Pendon Museum
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60103

Pooh Bah
Mar 25, 2002
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fuse wire

Bill
there is a reference in the instructions to "fuse wire". If you've lived in North America all your life, you've probably never seen it.
In the UK, they don't use the glass fuses that we have. But each plug has a switch (!) and two terminals (protected, inside). A fine wire (looks like wire solder) is mounted between the terminals. This is the fuse wire and melts if there's an overload.
Fuse wire comes in several sizes (measured in amps) and gets used for a number of things in model railways. I meant to buy some last time I was there, but couldn't get a suitable supply.
Some of our UK members will probably correct me on the details.
Digression:
There is an episode of Mr. Bean where he buys a television. One of the jokes is based on the UK practice of not having the plug on the wire when it leaves the shop. I think this is because they have different socket/plug combinations for different current ratings.
 
K

krokodil

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Nov 20, 2003
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Hi David,

here in Europe it is not permitted to repair fuses (we have to replace them), for that reason since some decades back the fusewire dissapeared from our shops.

However is some better HiFi shops, or Caraudio shops you can get high quality loudspeaker cables which have extremely tinny wires in boundle inside and you can use them.



:)
 
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