just a steampunkish idea

[Vermin King]

I made a bit of progress today. The lower chimney piece shouldn't overlap the gutters, so I modded it. The upper chimney/roof junction piece needs to overlap the lower piece, so I modified it. If the chimney is against the wall, there wouldn't be windows under it, so I modified the east and west downstairs walls. I got the ten round dormers done (and I really don't see any reason to number them). Oh, and got the cupola done this morning. So, I think I just need to do the three sets of steps. I should be able to get that done tomorrow night.

So, as I see it, this is nearing the end. I think I can fit the three sets of steps on the Downstairs Walls page 2.

Unfortunately, the first thing that needs to be built is the Downstairs







Insert DS4_Steps file here

Next subassembly is the Porch













Then comes the Roof









After gluing the Roof to the Downstairs, you can go onto the Cupola/Dormer/Chimney parts













My gut tells me to build the Airship before building this, but I really want to see this built ...

[Vermin King]

After I finish the steps tonight, I need to look at using Eric's Steam Launch, cardboard-warriors.proboards.com/thread/7149/3d-model-submission-steamlaunch, as the passenger area of Tommygun's airship. Figuring out the connections between the two, fitting the keel onto the steam launch, and doing the mix-and-match could be fun. I want to retexture the landing mast to match the house better and adjust the platform so that the airship won't have to seem 'perched' as much. Being a bit tail heavy, to sit on the display base, it has to be placed with a larger overhang in front than aft. I might have to add some aquarium gravel in the dirigible to adjust the center of gravity, but without making it top-heavy. And I'll have to work out how to deal with the 'observation' area under the launch.

We'll have to see how it plays out

[cowboyleland]

This looks great. I truely wish I had someplace to put it so I could build it but there just isn't a shelf in my house I can clear.

[chiefasaur]

May 23, 2017 6:28:24 GMT -9 cowboyleland said:

This looks great. I truely wish I had someplace to put it so I could build it but there just isn't a shelf in my house I can clear.

The eternal problem...

[Vermin King]

I met a gal who is an interior designer who is interested in giving this a home when completed. So, I'll probably print up extra pages and layer some of the details to add some class. She's talking about having it in her office, so I want to do it up right.

I didn't get to the steps last night. Didn't do much at all last night. Been a bit puny. Got to bed at 9:20, and when the alarm went off at 6 this morning, I decided I didn't feel like picking up the free Continuing Education credits for a meeting on the other side of town, and slept in until 7:30. I needed it.

With well-placed slots and tabs, this could break down pretty easily for storage, but as this is going to sit in an office, I think I need to do the 'sturdy' option

[Vermin King]

Well, the project has been going for 3 weeks now. Hard to believe, I know, but I am struggling with the steps for four days, now. This really shouldn't be this hard. I might get to work on it again tomorrow night ... briefly, but with Memorial Day weekend upon us, it will probably be Tuesday before I can really pick it up again.

I've been bouncing around with different ideas. I'd considered the front steps as fanning out towards the bottom with ballustrades. I can picture it, but realizing it is another matter. The other two steps are straight with handrails in the same pattern as the porch railing, only skewed.

I might just have to simplify the front steps

[greypilgrim]

I'm definitely going to have to build this - right after I finish my 25mm Traveller 100dTon Scout...

[Vermin King]

I hope you aren't disappointed. We had storms Saturday and I got 2 1/2 to 3 hours of working on steps in. I'm starting to feel like Edison with all his methods of not making a lightbulb. I've probably done ten or more now that I am not happy with. Although, I think I have the two sets of back steps done. I also think I need to re-work the porch railing opening to get things to look like a main entrance. I can't guarantee much progress tonight. One of my massive mystery allergic reactions happened yesterday morning, and it took several double doses of Benadryl and Ranitidine to keep it in check. It was a semi-bad day today, so I'm only up to three Benadryls today, but I'm just a little fuzzy. I have to remember to work from copies, not originals, on the files tonight

[Vermin King]

I did get the porch railing fixed last night and redesigned the back steps again. I'm probably over-thinking this

[greypilgrim]

I printed out the files (thus far) last night. I was disappointed in the print-out quality - sort of a "dusty" effect. They were not as "clear" and precise as what I was looking at on the screen. Maybe it was my printer having problems with the PNG style of file, or maybe I mucked up a setting. But squirmydad's Flyer came out just fine. (Loved the look of the propeller!) Anyway, I'll build it as is and see how it comes out. Next time maybe I'll port it into GIMP and resave as a PDF first.

[Vermin King]

That is probably the program that you used to print the png's. If you used the Windows default viewer, 'Best' isn't that great. I post the png's to give better resolution than jpg, but I haven't mastered posting pdf's here, and I don't have DropBox, etc. Sorry about that. They shouldn't be dusty.

I know that several folks print from Gimp without saving to pdf first. I haven't tried that, though.

As far as progress, an old girlfriend's team (Detroit) was playing our hometown Royals last night, so I spent the night talking to her. I haven't finished it, but I got a start at redesigning the back stairs and the layout for the front ones.

I really wonder if the ones I've rejected would have been fine. I probably ought to do a version of easy steps for those that don't want to go to as much trouble as I'm going to do with these. Since it's going in Taylor's office, I want it to look good.

[Vermin King]

Maybe I should have just held a contest to design the stairs ...

[greypilgrim]

I knew the fault had to be on my end for some reason because viewing the files on my screen they were nice and clear.

[Vermin King]

Are you on Win 10? The viewer in that is really bad. On Win 7 it was Windows Live, which was okay, but not great. Everything has to be printed as best through it, even things that are black and white sketches

[greypilgrim]

Yeah, Win 10. Wish I had stuck with Win 8 (which I was actually pretty happy with).
- Though what I REALLY wish is that my old tower computers were still working - they had Win XP which was my favorite of all!

[Vermin King]

For business, I like Win 7. My computer that I'm on right now is a Win 10 set up to mimic Win 7. Okay, for the most part, but there are some things I just can't do like I did on the old machine

[Vermin King]

Finally had a chance to get back to working on the steps. Remember back on May 31st, when I re-worked the railing on the front entrance? You will need that file to get the front steps to look correct. I now have all the parts for the steps, except the top of the balustrade. I need to tweak heights and widths, and change the fold edge on the back railings. The railings will look better with the fold being along the top edge, rather than on the front edge as I currently have them. I had thought I would have this done, double-checked and triple-checked, so I could build the steps tonight to verify my checking, double-checking and triple-checking.

I still hope to have the file done tonight, but I'm not posting it until I physically check it out.

Now, remember, this is inspired by the Armour-Stiner House, not a model of it. But I do want visual cues. One thing I do not like about the actual house, is that the main entrance does not line up with the two curvy main stairs. You go around to and up the curvy stairs, then come back to the front of the house to go in the main entrance. I imagine the front entrance rarely got used, except for special occasions, and they used the side entrances for most egress and ingress for general use. But everyone always gets photos of the curvy stairs


I hope attachment worked since PostImage is down again.

One side has the dying lion or whatever it is and the other has the lamp. I found a dragon that I think would look good, a couple guardian lions, the lamp, and a couple other things to go on the pedestal at the bottom of the front stairs. Just a couple options. I had a couple things from Girl Genius that I thought I'd throw in, but not for distribution, even if it could be considered 'Fan Art'

I hope to finish up the actual steps tonight (after my computer recharges a bit) and build them tomorrow

[Vermin King]

As much as I tried to not get the updates for Win 10 Creator, when I got back to the computer, it was downloading and installing. Threw me a bit behind. I did do some work on the 'decorations', though. Now I want to get them done before I print the page. Still might get to building tonight

[Vermin King]

Okay, I'm working on getting the decorative pieces cleaned up and rescaled. The steps should be good now. Being this small, I don't think I'm going to cartoonize, etc. These will be fold-overs with a tab to put into a slot in the pedestal top. No, I'm not doing backs. They will be mirrored. The dragon will have one facing right and one facing left, which is how I plan to do the water-bearer. Guardian lions have two different lions (supposedly male and female, but they don't look that much like lions to me. Maybe that's why some folks call them foo dogs), so no need to do mirrors of those. Something tells me that the lamps need to have the same perspective, so I'll do two of the same. I just like the astrolabe. It'll probably be used somewhere, just not sure where.

And yes, I realize that not everything is scaled correctly, but it is easier to work with large images than small ones

EDIT-- I think I got the decorative elements done. I didn't mark a slot on the top of the pedestals, because the dragons need to go diagonally. To have them small enough to go sideways, they look way too small. I can actually build them tomorrow night. Need to do some more greebling pieces, since this is going to be a display piece in someone's office. I probably can post the steps, but when things keep having to be changed, and changed, and changed, I am lacking a bit of confidence.

We'll see tomorrow night

[Vermin King]

I need to get hold of my IT guy. My print options on Win 10 suck. It isn't intuitively obvious how to get Windows to recognize installed programs so that they can be turned into the default programs. How far I have fallen. In college I was designing high temperature furnace controllers using Forth, and now I can't get my computer to recognize 7-zip and acrobat. Geez

Of course, back then I had a blank slate, and didn't have to get around Windows applications to install better ones.

Enough of that.

I adjusted the steps file to have a smaller set of dragons in addition to the original one. I also gave an option to do simple handrails for the front steps. I added a second set of pedestals to see which set-up I prefer.

Since the Win 10 viewer only allows 'Fit' options, not scale options, I have ZERO confidence that these printed out correctly. So, I now have to email to my other computer and print it again.



At this point I ask everyone regardless of religious affiliation to pray for a miraculously long and healthy life for my old Win 7 computer

[jeffgeorge]

For what it's worth, I do pretty much all my printing these days from PDFs using Acrobat Reader on a Win10 machine. I do my artwork using GIMP, and while I save the working files in the GIMP native format (XCF, I believe), I always output to PDF for printing. Acrobat Reader just gives me much better control over printer output than anything else I have access to. I've tried printing from GIMP, but results are spotty; sometimes it comes out fine, but sometimes the scale is off. I know it has something to do with the Image > Print Size dialog box, but I haven't taken the time to totally suss out the problem, since Acrobat Reader works so well and simply for me.

I have a ridiculously old version of Photoshop (5.5, if you can believe it), which sort of works on Win10 (it was fine on Win7). It was fine for printing any format it could handle--JPG, PNG, GIF and PSD--for many years, but now it sometimes spits up on modern versions of those formats. Since I've learned GIMP, I rarely use Photoshop anymore. I hate Photoshop Elements, and can't justify the expense of Adobe CC.

And of course, I do most of my document creation in Scribus, which exports to PDF for printing and distribution. Acrobat Reader DC has really become my essential printing application under Win10. I hope that helps.

[Vermin King]

For some reason, I can open a file with DC, if I remember to work around the default, but when I go to default programs, Reader DC doesn't even show in the list.

[jeffgeorge]

Jun 7, 2017 16:23:34 GMT -9 Vermin King said:

For some reason, I can open a file with DC, if I remember to work around the default, but when I go to default programs, Reader DC doesn't even show in the list.

That's weird. It just works for me, when I double-click a PDF. This machine started life as a Win7 and was upgraded to Win10, though...I wonder if that makes a difference? My laptop started as a Win8.1 machine, now upgraded to Win10, and it opens PDFs in Acrobat Reader DC by default too. There has to be a way to fix that on your machine, I've got to believe...

[Vermin King]

Well, this is a Win 10, set to mimic Win 7. I think it is going to have to be one of those things where I just need the IT guy to do it rather than try to figure it out.

On another forum, folks were wondering why VK's Coachworks ground to a halt, so I had to explain my current obsession. I need to switch computers and see how a 100% print varies from the one I did from Win 10. I might be worrying about nothing

[Vermin King]

It's a good thing I checked. I also tried using the Windows pdf viewer, and it was off. I've got to get Acrobat Reader DC working on the Win 10

[Vermin King]

One Reader DC reinstall later, and SUCCESS!

I'll get the final versions in pdf and it should all be good

[Vermin King]

While I was converting to pdf's, I worked out the detail work. Files are now set to have inset windows and doors, raised panel, window and door frames, and raised details for the porch and balcony railings. After I do some shopping tonight, I'll see if I can get those steps done.

Only my neighbors had an emergency and I got called away...

[Vermin King]

Well, I had a question as to whether printing at 100% on this computer would be the same as printing from my old computer, and it lines up! Clear coat drying.

Only, I have to help cut some trees for my neighbor at 8 in the morning, then a birthday party for a 90-year-old friend, then an evening in Gladstone, so I think building won't happen until tomorrow night, after a full day. Well, there's always Sunday

[greypilgrim]

So do I understand that you updated some of the file pages - if so, which ones have been posted?

[Vermin King]

I've updated several pages. Most of the changes are to allow me to laminate parts to give depth. If you want to skip the added detail work, the only file change is the updated P5 Porch Support 1.



That is designed to fit the dimensions of my most recent DS4 Steps file. The DS4 Steps file is the one that I worked over too many times. Just so that I can keep things together, here's that file again.



But that Steps file is the one I have the least confidence in (I changed it way too many times, and every time you make a change, you increase a probability of error). Today, I'd hoped to get on doing the test build on that file and checking how it fits with P5 Porch Support 1. After all, I'd planned on having most of the afternoon and all of tonight to work on it. Only now I've been asked to help with a fish fry. So, in just a bit, I have to take off to go help set up and prep and fry up a bunch of fish. I haven't done something like that for 10 years, so I hope that I am more of a help than hindrance. But there goes today...