Stoumont Sanitarium - 5

Okay, so the next day I go check out how the windows are faring and they don't look too bad. I'm able to get three of the four off of the wax paper intact, the last one pops a frame which is easy enough to re-glue. But I remind myself that I have to make a ton of those double frame windows - for the ends, and all along both sides on two floors. So I've decided that I'd try my hot glue casting technique. So I'm going to do a test trial on the windows I've already created. I placed them face up on a sheet of metal and pressed the air drying clay onto them. I turned it over and made sure there were no stretches in the casting mold. It's still drying, and I put it on sticks to get under it. To keep it from warping as it dries I then placed one of my granny grating sheets on top of the sticks as well.

So here at left you can see the end hip roofs I somehow missed in my source photo. I repeated this on both ends. The facings are fastened to the first floor in a similar fashion to the side faces.

Now for the fun part - cutting out the roof under the hip roofs on the sides and ends. I experimented my way through one of them before I worked out a system. The key? SHARP exacto blades. I used 3 to do my cuts in the end and I probably should have used 4. SHARP blades make this task cake - try and skimp on blades and you'll regret it.

To finish off the rest I use my squaring tool to figure out how far into the roof to cut. My tool allows me to slide the ruler portion until it hits the under side of the hip roof. I then move the tool to the inside and mark off the distance, and repeat the process for the other side of the opening.

Now for the ultra scientific method used to find the peak point of my cut. I stick an exacto blade into the roof...

...until I see the tip of the blade sticking up between the hip roof and the main roof. I know, genius, right? Take a few stabs, but eventually I find it every time.

I then traced the cut line from my square measurements to my peak point and cut using those fresh SHARP exacto blades I mentioned earlier. Mind you, I'm cutting through gator board which is at least twice as hard as foam board. I then brace the hip roofs with a healthy amount of tape. Go slow, take your time, don't cut off your fingers. It will work.

You may have noticed that I had cut the third floor loose from the roof in order to work on the hip roofs. Here I've dropped the floor onto the lower floors and placed the updated roof on top. Here I take a picture through the middle side window similar to what you see across from you. A forth floor will still need to be installed - but roomy, yes? Those large gaps on the sides will be covered by walls on the third floor yet to be installed. They're coming...

Hans is sitting in the window we just looked in. He's dreaming of some G.I.s to peg with his MG-42...