[Rupert Cordeux]

Originally Posted by bernoullis

Rupert, you are obviously comfortable with your methods, which seem to involve a lot of 'eyeballing' of dimensions. Obviously, it works, for the most part, and your existing models prove that.

However, I do wonder if much of the angst of getting proportions and dimensions correct would be removed if you had acess to 'authoritative' plans. Have you ever tried contacting the folks that manage and run these buildings to see if such plans exist? Yes, the buildings you create are all very, very old, and plans may no longer exist, or there may only be relatively basic ones available. But you mmight be able to get the fundamental dimensions pinned down quite accurately, form which much of your 'eyeballing' would surely be easier? Just a thought.

I guess I am the type of person who just wouldn't have the courage to undertake the beautiful modelling that you do without way more in the way of good measurements, angles, profiles etc as a starting point. I suppose I just don't have the artistic flair to do this sort of thing, heh heh!

Before the internet, I used to cocoon myself in Birmingham City reference library for a day and use the official plans and drawings in their records. The snag was, none of them agreed with the other. The draughtsmen from different eras, often worked in quite sloppy ways and were not averse to adding a bit of symmetry if they felt it were lacking in the real building. Sometimes they did worse and in the end I lost faith in that approach. I found that my own measurements, at least for the ground plan were best. I used to go and pace round the cathedrals and fill notebooks with figures.The one exception was Southwell Minster. The Clerk of Works there send me these stunning prints of bang-up-to-date drawings which I still have, as they're a true work of art. My current method is far and away the best I have used and is decidedly more hit than miss!Oddly enough, there is a dearth of photos on line which show the northern parts of Lincoln, so a trip there is planned within the next few days.