Belem Tower: Portugal / Canon [FERTIG]

Model: Belem Tower, Portugal
Designer/Artist: Kouichi Kaji
Publisher: Canon / Free Downloadable Model
Printer Setting: 65% of original
Layout: 20 US letter sheets
Medium: 199g/m2 Photo Matte Paper
Dimensions: 10 cm x 17 cm x 17 cm high (at 65%)
Parts: 84

This landmark is known as "our lady of the River Tagus" in Lisbon, Portugal. It is a World Heritage Site.

This is the first time that I have attempted to build an architectural model downloaded from the Internet. The graphics are very elementary, but the visual impact of the castle is appealing.

I have chosen to begin construction with the main fighting platform. There is a rectangular depression in its center.

Thanks Bruno.

Hi Fred,
Yes. I see that this Canon model has been fashioned with the belief that tabs are necessary for everything. More on this below.

Hello Waltair,
Thanks for the compliment, but in my mind, there is never that 'perfect' model. There is some imperfection in every build. (more than one in my case) I guess the strive for perfection, although unattainable, keeps us reaching for it with every new model. Because card modelling is so infectious, this process goes on and on...

Thanks again for the kind words.

Now to the tab issue. I have often ranted about the unnecessary use of tabs. I guess it's a leap of faith to cut them off, but the trick is to know when to get rid of them. I thought I'd try them in any case on the merlons of this castle. Big mistake.

In the garbage is the first attempt to glue seven little tabs to form a block of stone 5 mm x 4 mm. The third picture shows that reason has prevailed.

Now I firmly understand why Micromodels uses tabs with discretion.

Now the task is to give the little walls and top of each merlon something to bear against until applied glue has set. A square strip of balsa wood 3/16" x 3/16" is being used. The merlons are not square, but rectangular in cross section, so a strip of card has been glued to one face of the square balsa to achieve the required shape.

The four sides of each merlon are wrapped around this built up stick. Then the stick is cut off. The resulting merlon is rather delicate. Each one reminds me of a loose tooth ready to be pulled out. It dangles. Unfortunately, until they are all done, there is nothing to support them. Things would be different if there was a wall to support their back edges. Each one will have to be glued down independently to a raised embrasure. I hope I don't rip one off while working with the others.

One down and sixty to go...

Hi Ricardo,
You are so right. This model has stopped me in my tracks. I won't say that it is beyond my skill level, but I will say that I am having problems with the design of some of its parts. Perhaps a little head scratching will get me moving forward.

I am not happy with what I have produced so far.

I can't let this one go Ricardo. It has meaning for exactly the reason you mentioned. As well,I have an acquaintance who lives walking distance from the castle.

Cheers...John

The individual merlons did not work out for me. You can see here that I scraped the design and decided to start over.

The walls are now being built up with solid cores. A strip of 3/16 in. basswood is being wrapped with printed card and paper stock; card on the outside as seen here and paper on the inside.

A table saw was used to cut out the gaps (crenels) between the merlons. Then the crenellations were covered with a paper strip. You can see the green cutting mat showing through where a strip has been cut out of an extra printed piece of wall.

A card was used to cover the exterior wall surface. To thin the card so it blended well with the crenellations, it was skived down. An light incision was made along the back of the wall so that a layer of paper could be peeled off. An emery board is seen here cleaning things up.

Sorry Ernst,
I did not thank your for post above. You are very kind.

The inside of the wall is now covered with a paper skin.

A long strip of thick, gray card is seen in these photos. It will be used to make the shelf that will run around the interior of the walls. I prefer this type of shelf as opposed to a hanging shelf. If the shelf runs right down to the base of the wall, you are ensured that the shelf will be parallel to the base and run around all the walls at the same height. (That's why a long strip is cut to start with - it makes all the shelf pieces.)

And so we arrive at a point reached almost two weeks ago.
I am pleased with the rework.

Bruno, I applaud your work with the piers and arches of your bridge!

Good Morning Bruno,

Thank you for your comprehensive advice about paper and card stock. Very much appreciated. You are right. This is my first architectural download. It could very well be my last for a while.

I smiled when I read your observation about the heavy card. I'm often the one commenting in my builds about the paper weight of some published models. I will seek out the Canon stock you kindly show. The paper used for the crenellations was 75 g/m2.

You are very observant. The double row of crenellations on the basswood strip came about exactly as you surmised. The first attempt was made with an 8" planer blade that had quite a bit of rake on the teeth. The bottoms of the crenels were not flat. The correct blade, a 10" carbide, fine crosscut produced a nice, flat bottom.

I think one of the strengths of this Forum is the sharing atmosphere that prevails. Your posts add much to the thread.

Cheers...John

Hi Wolfgang,

Thank you so much for your compliments.

I agree with you 100%. This is an outstanding Forum. Participating in it has meant a great deal to me over the past four years. The administrators are to be commended for keeping the wheels turning.

Cheers...John

Thank you ToKro!

Actual pictures of the site add so much to the build. I am pleased that the project brings back pleasant memories for you. Thank you also for the explanation of the courtyard and gun platform.

When I first saw the angular front of the castle, I immediately thought of Phatsenstein Castle on the island in the middle of the Rhine in Germany. There are quite a few similarities historically as well aren't there? I knew that Phatz was designed to collect river tax, but I did not know that Belem guarded the entrance to the river Tagus. Good stuff ToKro. Thanks.

Here is a progress shot showing the front of the castle. The template pattern was taken from the footprint drawn on the pieces that will represent the water.

Bruno has wisely cautioned anyone building a model downloaded and printed to porous ink-jet paper to take care. I am very conscious of water damage as well as glue smears. I am trying a spray product called 'Preserve it!' to protect the model. It is advertised as a digital photo and paper proectant. It offers UV protection against fading and is acid-free and archival-safe.

Hi Bruno, Tom,

I have done a simple little experiment with the Preserve-it!

Bruno, I was not able to test solvent based glue. I don't use it.

It is quite surprising how this product protected the ink-jet coated paper. In the photo, I am holding a little test card folded in half. The left side was sprayed only once with Preserve-it! No coating covered the right hand side. Have a look at the right side of the card in the photo. You can see where a drop of water has bled through the ink, removing it. Beside it on the left is a smear where ordinary white glue was applied. It did not dissolve the ink, but it did intensify the colour.

I am happy to report that the left side of the card repelled the water and the glue. I'm really surprised myself. You often read claims about products, but remain skeptical. This stuff works!

It dries to a clear, satin finish. You can feel the tiny droplets of the product on the surface, but I do not see that as a problem.

So there you go...Protect-it! ; a product to protect computer generated images. It's made by Krylon.

John

The tower base is on. Now for the entrance stairs and the ramp across the gap. The only comment I can make about the little merlons is: "You've got to be kidding!"

Hello Diamantino,
I knew you would find this thread, but I was not aware that you had written a construction report. Thank you very much for the sites of the finished model and the report.

You are to be commended on the construction of your fine full sized version of this landmark. I admire your perseverance with those tricky merlons. With my model being 35% smaller, they just became something beyond my skill level.

As you can see, in choosing to go with solid walls I gave up the green portions of the battlements. I really wonder why they were green in the first place. Perhaps the designer felt that the model was so white, a little contrast with a green colour was in order. From looking at the actual photos of the castle, I don't see the green colour scheme. Would they really paint white, stone merlon backs green?

Thanks for the links. You have given me a marvellous point of reference.

Hi ToKro,
These three last photos are great. They show so much of the stone carving. I was not aware that the shields on the outside faces of the merlons were fully sculptured. They are wonderful. I also see very nice rope stone carvings around the bottoms of the fighting towers. (oriels?)

Thank you. These pictures add much to the thread.

Good Evening Fred,
Yes, it has been a bit chilly in old Southern Ontario the past few weeks. But looking at last pictures that ToKro has kindly added to the thread, I don't know that I would want to be one of the tourists in the photos braving the winds whipping up whitecaps in the background. They look cold!

Thanks for the heads-up on spraying both sides of the meduim.

Cheers...John

Very small pointed merlons adorn the top of the walls of the castle's stair landing. I find them just too small at a 35% reduction to shape as printed. I wrapped them around a 1/16" square stick. Fortunately, there was a shelf in front of the merlons. This allowed me to glue the merlons at spaced intervals along a piece of card. In the last photo you can see the shelf being dry fitted in the gaps (crenels).

The landing to the castle took quite a bit of time to build. Here are two shots of the completed assembly. I cut off the drawbridge that was attached so that it could be a separate part.

Diamantino, do you notice that the green wall at the edge of the stairs is gone? I used a skin of paper that had the rope moulding running through it to match the outer white wall.

I assume that in the 1500's, access to the castle was by water? I can see in my mind's eye a boat mooring at the base of the stairs. (Don't see any mooring rings though...)

And here we have the completed entrance to the castle. From the photographs in this thread, the drawbridge would be raised with chains.

Hello Ricardo,

Thanks for the compliment. I like your writing style.

This model has indeed been a bit of a time consuming challenge. The merlons are indeed tricky. The first shot shows how they were wrapped with paper strips cut from a supplementary piece of printed wall. (printed at 100% to provide more material.)

The fortified tower upper floor is ready to install.

The battlement assembly slid over the tower like a collar and slid down until it came to rest with its floor resting on the top of the tower. But the assembly was a little too large. It projected out a bit too far. The gaps between the machicolations and the tower walls had to be filled with additional printed material.

That's quite a word... machicolations. I learned it many years ago when teaching about castle construction. I explained how they came about in the Pierrefonds construction report in July of 2006. If you're interested, you can find the explanation eleven posts down on page two of the build. Here:

Chateau de Pierrefonds - France - / L´Instant Durable / 1:250 [Fertig]

Couldn't resist. Must be the teacher in me.

The merlons on the top of the upper tower are going to be quite labour intensive to construct. The intent of the original design was to have the merlons cut out of a joined strip. (see photo below) The joining piece between each merlon was intended to be glued under the bottom of each crenel. A very ambitious and demanding plan. Ricardo, you were wondering why the merlons were not designed in the conventional way - four rectangular segments side by side with pointed tips above each segment. This is why.

I have chosen to build the merlons individually as shown earlier on the landing of the drawbridge.

In this photo, you can see the gaps for the merlons on the roof of the tower.