Cathedral of Notre Dame

[cdavenport]

OK, here is next installment on the trees. I may need to change my avatar to a sexy woman.

The size of the tree in terms of diameter is a function of the gauge of the wire. The larger the gauge the larger the diameter. For wire sizes, the larger the number the smaller the wire diameter. I am using 14 gauge wire.

It should go without saying that you need stranded, as opposed to solid core, wire. Any hardware store will carry the stuff, or raid one of your broken electrical components. Extension cords are also made from stranded wire.

From left to right:

1. Cut to length. Since ND is such an odd ball scale, I am sizing the trees against the model itself. I am shooting for 10'-20' scale trees so as not to overwhelm the model.

2. Strip the insulation- leave a small bit to hold the wire and. Also, that small bit can be the roots of the tree. In my case, they will fit in a hole and lock the tree in place.

3. Solder the trunk- alternatively, if you do not have soldering capability, 5min epoxy will work as well.

4. Shape the limbs- You can make any tree your heart desires by shaping the limbs. Trim each "limb" as necessary. In this case, I just moved the limbs around yielding a tree that will be rounded.

5. In this second photo, take note of the fact that I have created the tree structure by successively wrapping the wire around the "trunk" giving me a continuous trunk all the way up the tree. This will give me an "elm" or "maple" shape.

[cdavenport]

Adding foilage to the trees is a bit tricky to do in pictures. I think words will suffice. You will need Clear Flat Acrylic spray paint; no particular brand. I buy the El Cheapo stuff at Lowe's or Walmart.

You will also need "foilage". You can purchase this from Woodland Scenics in a variety of colors to simulate any type of tree you prefer. Commercial Foilage is nothing more than shredded foam that you can make yourself if you have a belt sander. If you want to learn how to make your own, PM me.

Finally, you need some alligator clips or a clip of some sort to hold the stump end of the tree.

Proceeding from the last step pictured.

1. Grasp the stump end of the tree with your clip.
2. Spray the branches liberally with the clear acrylic till you see an actual buildup of clear on them. In fact, you may even get little drops of paint forming; that's good.
3. Immediately dip the branches into the foliage and roll the tree around to cover all the branches.
4. Remove the tree and tap it to remove excess foliage...but not too much.
5. Starting from a distance of 12" from the tree, lightly mist clear acrylic on the foliage, gradually moving the can to within 5" (or thereabouts), continuously rotating the tree.

This final step locks and seals the foilage in place preserving the look that you want for the tree.

One final thought: I actually test out different processes before I post them here. To whit, there are a number of different methods and products for adhering the foam foilage to the trees. For this diminuitive size tree, clear acrylic is the best alternative to the others. If you need larger trees, then I recommend the use of 3M spray adhesive applied in the same manner as the clear acrylic.

Of course, you will still want to seal the finished tree with clear flat spray.

[kenlwest]

I have been to this cathedral in Paris. You nailed it! You are right, the tree gives the model a little "scale" and perspective.

Nice Job!

Ken

[Bengt Fredén]

Hello Charles,

I also started on the Canon Papercraft Notre Dame model a couple of years ago - I have not finished yet, though.
I kind of decided it was too small and started on a Fokker F.II airplane model instead. I probably want to print it later on European A3 size paper and cardstock and finish it.

I printed two sheets of the base, so I can get rid of the advertising on it. It would also probably benefit from a less bright green lawn around it and perhaps some small HO model train trees.

Best,
Bengt :D

Addendum: I never ever read a thread through thoroughly, do I? Those trees are just wonderful, and you are doing an amazing build! Very well done!

[Retired_for_now]

Me builder - you Artist!

Yogi

[cdavenport]

I have finished building my trees, but those will be the last items installed.

First, I had to test out an illumination system which seems to have worked out well. Using LEDs I have illuminated the building walls. These are buried in the base and are covered by simulated grass so that they are barely visible when viewed from above and completely invisible when viewed from "ground level."

The supporting photos depict a simple parallel wiring setup with a voltage limiting resistor, connected to a 3 volt plug-in transformer scavenged from a discarded cellphone.

About the simulated grass: since the scale of the building is so small, commercially available scale "grass" is just too large. So, I took a bunch of spices from the kitchen, food processed them to a fine dust, filtered that through ladies' hoisery, and glued the fine "grass" to the base, which I previously painted green.

There are a number of ways to glue the grass on: 3M 77 Spray Adhesive, spray lacquer, white glue thinned 50/50 with alcohol to name but a few.

[Art Deco]

Architectural models - like any miniature, I suppose - look so much better when displayed in some kind of context.

This project is a coming along so nicely! Keep up the great work!

[elliott]

What Yogi said
This is really shaping up nicely!

It appears from your last photos that you are only lighting 3 sides of the model. What's your thinking for this, or more probable, what obvious thing have I missed that would explain it all?

[Mike Stamper]

Charles,

So, you are a bit of an electronics wiz as well as a model maker - I particularly liked the idea of using a phone transformer !

I hope this won't be a case of "Teaching my Grandmother to suck eggs".

Some of the model railway stuff is very fine powder. To glue it I use watered down PVA glue with a few drops of washing up liquid. This breakes down the surface tension in the water which means that the powder doesn't form into "blobs"

Cheers

Mike

[cdavenport]

Hah! I forgot about the model railway stuff. Oh well, when I lived in Korea, there were no hobby shops, so I learned to be resourceful when it came to dioramas. I use the thinned PVA with a drop of washing liquid, too. This time, since the surface area was so small, I got away with wetting the surface with spray lacquer.

As for the lighting, your observation is correct. I am only going to light the model from three sides only to establish a point of view of an observer standing on the Left Banke of the Seine River looking across at ND on Isle de la Citie. In fact, I am already toying with the idea of making this a boxed diorama with a tranparency of a full moon behind the cathedral....for dramatic effect.

Thanks for the interest and kind words...it's almost like being at a club meeting.

I wish there were enough of us concentrated in one area to do just that. I just love a party.