Materials Research

Beech, the wood I've chosen to use is 's strong hardwood with a fine grain, and is light brown in colour. It is available in a range of thicknesses... a very suitable modelmaking material.' (Dunn. N, 2010, Architectural Modelmaking, Lawrence King Publishing Ltd, London)
I bought a selection of four various sized off-cuts from Columbia Timber for £5 which I hope to be able to make all of the walls of the model with.

I did also research whether it would be possible to buy ready cut strips of beech that would be suitable for the model but found, to my slight astonishment, that it's not available in 1mm thickness. I found a selection of lengths and widths but none available in 1mm x 10mm. The closest I've been able to find online are 0.6mm or 2mm x 10mm x 1000mm strips which, considering the scale I've chosen (1:40), would mean I'd still have to do a lot of sanding to get them to the correct thickness. I could alter the scale to suit the materials available but I think that would be a little lazy, however practical. It would also result in a drastic change in the size of the model. If I were to switch scale from 1:40 to 1:20, allowing me to use 2mm thick strips then the final model would be over 1000mm across… a little too large, in my opinion. 

A few sources of beech strip:

www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk

www.model-dockyard.com

www.slecuk.com

Instead of changing scale, I've taken to sawing various lengths of 10mm wide strips on the bandsaw. I'm using the bandsaw rather than the circular saw because, although the saw marks are more pronounced, I run little risk of losing the strips on a bandsaw. The circular saw has a gap running alongside the blade that is just the right width for thin strips to fall down as soon as they've been cut off the main block.

I'm sawing the strips between 1.5mm and 2mm thick to allow for discrepancies on the surface - saw blade tooth marks. After sawing the strips I need to remove the saw marks and thin them down to 1mm. This is done by sticking them to a piece of MDF, with double-sided tape, and then putting them on the flat-bed belt sander. After I've removed all the saw marks from one side I turn the strips over and repeat the process. I then remove them from the MDF and measure the thickness. I'm aiming for about 1.2mm thick after the first two sanding runs. This allows me to then hand sand them down to exactly 1mm with three grades of paper. I'm using a coarse (120) and medium (240) grit sandpaper and 400 grit wet and dry (without water). This gives a smooth surface ready for any finishes I might need to add.

Materials Testing

Beech

Cedar - end grain

Mahogany (imitation)

Maple

Oak (misc)

Teak

White Oak

This is a selection of the hardwoods that I've looked at. I'm trying to find a reasonably pale, tight-grained wood that saws and sands well into narrow pieces.

Of the woods I've tested so far I've found beech and maple to be the most suitable. Beech because its grain is very straight and organised and not overly elaborate. 

Maple seems a suitable choices as well because of its very dense quality and nicely regimented grain structure. Although a little curvier than beech, the grain on maple would probably scale very well because it's not too bitty.

I will, once I find some, also analyse the properties of ash and, if possible, basswood/lime which, is a standard modelmaker's wood.

Sketch Model

Grey Card sketch model of Street Per_Form venue.

This model is primarily to help me gain a greater understanding of what the final design will look like. Because of it's peculiar shape and the drawings being a little difficult to interpret, making a sketch model is the simplest way of grasping the designs strengths and flaws.

Street Per_From - Sketch Model

The sketch model of my design is now complete (structure only). I haven't made any of the surrounding buildings to set it into but might do at a later date.
What I've discovered from making this is that there are a lot of the 'domino-tooth' pieces to be made and put in place. It's taken me approximately 3 days to make the maquette, using only grey card and PVA glue. The purpose of the sketch model is primarily to gain a greater understanding of how the structure will look when complete and outline obvious difficulties I might have in its construction.
One of my greatest concerns is actually the shear number of 'domino-teeth' that I'm going to have to make. I'm yet to count them out individually but I should think there are at least 100+, all of varying sizes, angles and slant - all important things to be considered while making them.
Another concern I have is the possibility of using the laser-cutter being gone. I had originally planned to laser cut each piece of the structure's walls but, since I've chosen to make them out of wood, possibly cedar or oak, this is less likely because of the unavoidable scorching from the laser. With that in mind, I think it's now much more likely I'll make them individually using the circular saw and hand-sanding.
Although more time consuming, I think I'll be able to make it as accurately as the laser and avoid ruining the wood.
This might, however, mean the baseboard will require a laser cut outline of small holes for the teeth to slot into at their respective angles - the angles being created by making a two-tier base with the lower board shifting the teeth in one direction or another by being offset from the top surface's holes.
(picture of sketch model to be added)

Street Per_From

This is the design that I will be creating in model form in the weeks from now leading up to Christmas. It's a complicated-looking thing but, providing I make it well and re-learn how to use Rhino, should look pretty nice as an architectural piece. I'm still trying to decide the scale but seeing as I'm leaning towards using real wood to represent the wooden 'domino-tooth' walls (as I'm calling them), I think a larger scale would suit it best, probably 1:100 or there abouts.

I shall be updating fairly regularly from now on, provided I remember.

It's nearly upon us

The new term, first of third year, begins on Monday and I'm not ready.

We were given the task this summer of choosing our first project of the year and doing the majority of our preparation research for it before we start back. Well, I haven't done quite enough yet. I picked the subject matter for the project back in June, only a week or two after the end of term, with the intention of getting a head start on it and being ready to start making as soon as I got back to uni. This was a little optimistic of me.

I have the model subject matter, which is good. It's a concept design for a temporary venue at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It's designed to stand in the square outside St. Giles Cathedral just off the Royal Mile. It's a contemporary and very sleek design, utilising the space wisely by splitting the area it cordons off into two level by use of a ramp. It's a university piece by freelance designer Jonathan Knox and is named 'Street Per_Form'.

I looked into a few other designs, both architectural and product design-based but chose this piece quite simply because it's an interesting design and would, I think, make a really nice model at the right scale and with the appropriate materials.