Three roofs

This is an unusual project in that it is really made up of two buildings - the gate and the cottage.  This gives it four 'normal' roof sides plus the conical roof on the round tower.

I love Richard Stacey versi-bricks and tiles for finishing buildings and I have used them on my 1/12ths.  This photo is part of the roof on Bentleys.  Even the wonderful RS doesn't make 1/48th slates; no-one is daft enough to want to stick those on a roof, one by one.

Then there's me.  I just can't imagine finishing a roof any other way and liking it.

I took one of their 1/12th slates and divided it down to 1/48ths to have a little play with it.

My first thought was, I just had to cut it into four.  They were fine but looked a bit large?  I realised 1/48th really meant dividing its length into four and its width into four.  In other words I would be operating with a sixteenth of the usual area.  The slate is something like 3/16ths by 3/8ths of an inch.

I am still up for it though.  All it needs is a lot of patience.  







The real challenge rests with the conical tower.

I did some research into the real life slating of such a construction and even on that scale it is a very skilled job. Each row of tiles has to reduce in size and be shaped correctly to take in the reducing curved surface.

Some site gave me a mathematical formulae to calculate the sizes needed.  I couldn't follow it in RL size and wasn't prepared to countenance it quarter scale.  I am cracked but not that cracked.

So I have the original (lack of) size problem plus re-cutting to accommodate the cone plus a very shiny surface to glue to.

I could cover or paint it to look like a lead or copper roof instead but then it is asking for a better model builder than me to finish the metal so that it looks right.  All that verdigris!  

I could do a complete cop-out and settle for snow!