Revenki's photos with the keyword: nativity

The scene with figures added. The scale might be slightly off, but not quite as much as this picture suggests. It's built at 1/20th scale based on the 3.5in figurine representing a 6ft tall Joseph, so the lower sections are effectively 7ft to the crossbeams and the hammer beams (the horizontal stubs) are at 9.5ft, while the windowsills are 40in off the ground and the door opening is 6ft 9in high.

Lamb's-eye view. I clearly need to get out the Nikon and get some real pictures. And I still need to do something with the round window.

Lumber pile - the primary structural parts after cutting and sanding. I later decided to make curved brackets and slenderer crossbeams and kingposts for the hammerbeam trusses, which are not shown here. All parts cut from various sizes of basswood stock on a cabinet saw(!), finished to length using a disk sander, and notched using a 3/16" bit in a router table - yes, I used full-sized tools to do 1/20th-scale woodworking. The angles for the truss components were made using a purpose-built inclined jig on the table of the disk sander. Note the 1/32" (0.8mm) bevels on the ends of the various beams.

Lumber pile - the primary structural parts after cutting and sanding. I later decided to make curved brackets and slenderer crossbeams and kingposts for the hammerbeam trusses, which are not shown here. All parts cut from various sizes of basswood stock on a cabinet saw(!), finished to length using a disk sander, and notched using a 3/16" bit in a router table - yes, I used full-sized tools to do 1/20th-scale woodworking. The angles for the truss components were made using a purpose-built inclined jig on the table of the disk sander. Note the 1/32" (0.8mm) bevels on the ends of the various beams.

Dry-fit of the structure, backdrop, base, and truss assemblies, checking alignment and the sizing of the marble tile. The backdrop is gesso over 1/4" plywood. I glued on the door and window frames, then stained them with dye and gel. I neglected to seal the finishes on the plywood when I did the frames, so the water-soluble dye bled through the gesso, giving it a realistic "aged" look after a couple of coats diluted and spread it a bit. In the end, the gesso was just slightly dingy looking up-close (it wasn't fully painted here, so the stained frames are still covered with blue tape).

Base after grouting the tile. The marble tile pieces started as two 12" square tiles from the big-box store. I pulled the pieces off the netting, spent about two hours arranging them, and broke a few and sanded the edges straight to close out a few gaps in the edges (esp. lower right corner). The little squares are pieces of 3/8" thick MDF that I punched 1/4" square holes into using the chisel from a mortise bit. I measured, and measured, and measured again before and after gluing them in place, which paid off as they were each as close to the intended location as I could measure with the tools available. (Whew!) The grout was the premixed "silver" color paired with the tile in the store display. When I mixed it I could see it would clearly be too bright, so I added a few drops of Old Mission and Brown Mahogany wood dyes to the mix. The results when dried were just a little lighter than shown here. I then sprayed it with a few coats of a matte acrylic sealer, which was a little shinier than I wanted but close enough. It was only when I had everything glued that I A) realized I had a sizeable gap just right of center, and B) remembered that I had a box of small Petoskey stones (fossilized coral from northern lower Michigan) that I had intended to use for this project. Derp. At least I managed to squeeze in one of them.

Gluing up one of the structure assemblies, using scraps from the roof planks rubber-cemented to a full-scale print from the CAD itself glued to a piece of foamcore.

(Almost) all of the pieces, ready for assembly. "Almost", because I had to cut a few pieces later to cover some gaps along the edge of the backdrop wall.

The four lower structural assemblies in place.

Gluing up the posts and cross-beams.

Gluing up the posts and cross-beams.

The completed roof structure, minus the lower set of brackets.

Structural assembly complete, apart from the lower roof brackets.

Roof panel glue-up. Spraying alcohol-thinned dye stain on the basswood pieces turned out to have interesting results, in that the unexpected blotchiness mimicked weathering of a creosoted wood roof.

Initial (wrong) installation of the side roof panels - fortunately, the one big oops with the project and easily corrected.

Structure and rooves complete. Just needs the backdrop wall, once the door and windows are glued in place. Note the installed roof brackets under the trusses on either side. The pair in the back had to be cut back on the lower end to clear the crossbeams for the lower roof sections - this added an unexpectedly attractive element of complexity that I wish had been possible on the front as well.

Finally finished and ready for guests finding no room in the inn. When you think about it, today's equivalent of the manger at an inn would be the parking structure at a hotel. "Away in a Parking Structure" doesn't have the same ring to it, though, and I can only imagine how painful the acoustics would be with a little drummer boy drumming away surrounded by all that bare concrete.