And… a couple of shots of the inspiration and research for the build, and my attempt at mood lighting photography lol.
So no one gets bored, or maybe it’s my ADHD, but here are some pix of the beginnings of the debris piles that I decided to place in the front of the church since there seems to be quite a lot of damage to the structure.
With the basic layout for the debris piles laid out I airbrushed them with an initial layer of clear gloss varnish to seal in the foam to make an impregnable surface for the black primer coat and subsequent paint layers to come. This allowed me to test the process as I’ve not really worked with XPS foam before and didn’t want any surprises later on down the road.
This is just a work of art! I don’t know what’s more impressive, the speed at which this is progressing or the rate at which you’re posting photo updates!
After seeing your work, It reminds me of this famous picture.
Cologne Church with destroyed Panther.
thanks Sam. Everything I’ve posted so far is the progress I’ve made over the past couple winter seasons. The photos have been on my phone for a while now. The roadwork is the latest bit of building I’ve done over this Christmas holidays, and I’m currently also working to complete the stonework on the front side of the church. I’ll be heading back to work at the end of the month again, so I’m trying to get things to a place where they can rest on my workspace until the rush of preseason work at the course I work at settles enough that I can continue on the project. As far as the frequency of my updates, I’ve gotten pretty good at eating with one hand and inputting text with the other all the while watching videos on YouTube or the Habs game on Sportsnet.
That cathedral would be a logistical nightmare to recreate in 35th scale; well outside the scope of my abilities. It’s definitely a well documented piece of history though, and many modelling ideas can be gleaned from the pictures of the battle outside of it.
I visited that church when I was 6 years old and we went all the way up into the towers.
The stone steps were well worn from all the people who had walked up/down during the centuries.
The cathedral wasn’t completely finished until 1880 (started in 1248).
The last bit was a narrow spiral of steel steps …
It was a long trek for a 6 year old but the view was totally worth it
The cars down on the street looked like they came from a H0-scale model railroad.
I had never been so high up before except in a single prop Cessna at the hometown airfield.
That must’ve been awesome to get to have done that. I’m jealous. To climb stairs in a cathedral that old would be a dream for me, I’m glad you had the opportunity. Perhaps a day like that will come my way sometime. Never say never right?..
Fantastic work, it looks so solid. I’m not sure if it’s architecturally accurate, but I’m so hoping you’ll knock our socks off with some slightly damaged stained glass 
Try this one in Salisbury, Wiltshire (UK) - my home town; tours up to the base of the spire available daily!
Thanks again Tim. Yeah I’m sure it isn’t structurally correct, it is made out of cereal box cardboard afterall … the facing stonework is probably way too thin for accuracy’ sake. As for some damaged stained glass, I’m working on it sir… well, I’m thinking about it almost constantly anyways.
There are so many exquisitely built and beautiful cathedrals all over Europe and the UK. Not as many over on this side of the pond, but some.
That is looking fantastic.
Thanks Ralph. It’s getting there.
I’m a stonemason… well, a scale model stonemason. So I cut cardboard into rectangles, and burr beveled edges onto them and glue them to the facades of the church. You know, like a stonemason does…
Just a few random shots so people don’t think I’ve abandoned my project lol. I’m still very much working on it, albeit at a much more snails pace. I’m currently rethinking a couple things, and potentially going to restructure a couple areas as I become more familiar and competent at working with foam… time will tell how far I go and what the results will be.
