Woodwork time
After a good nights sleep and not wanting to do anything too strenuous, today I opened the matchstick container and laid out a few for the construction of the seats. (138).This involved laying 4 match sticks out with a tiny gap between them onto some sticky tape, upside-down. Small cross members were then cut and super glued sideways across them. When dried they were sanded smooth along their edges and wood stained. Next time, I will stain the wood first because I found, that where there was glue, it would not stain very nice, and left white patches.
The rear support pieces were then sanded at an angle and butt joined together to cause a sloping back to the seats. The original ‘backs’ were removed with a chisel and these new sections were then glued to the seats, which already had strips glued across them, and the whole lot stained again. (139)
There is a long bench affair running down the sides of the rear cabin, which is attached the wall, so I’ve made 20 sets of what looks like ‘duck boards’. These will be attached to a runner stuck on the wall. (139)
I then had a go at making the single benches. I fret sawed the side pieces and sanded them to be the same size and stuck them upright to the bench with blue-tack. I then laid out the match sticks across the sides and glued together. When dry, the edges were sanded smooth and my little people came out to try them for size. (141) (142) (143). Only 10 more to make!! with the slats a little 'squarer' perhaps.
While in matchstick mode, I thought I would fit some to the curved seat in front of the first cabin. Unfortunately, these curve all around so it was very tricky to bend them. I have gone for the wood slats to stick outwards in a semi circle and am waiting for it to dry before seeing how it looks. At the moment it looks like a sun dial, so I don’t know if I’ll get away with it.
