Here's the church, here's the... Oh, hang on!

Hi, All.

Steeple and bell, lying smashed in the graveyard. Haven't we all had days like this?

It's repairs day Chez O'Truth.

Over the course of a few games and then the Call To Arms convention in Wellington, Leadwood Chapel's spire has received a knock or two.

(click on pics to view larger)

Before removal. As you can see, my original design was not very strong.

Given that this evening the model is going to be photographed for an as-yet-to-be-announced reason (ooh! What a tease!) I decided I ought to conduct a bit of a fix-up.

Left above and below: A broken plank is carefully cut out. Right: Plank glued back into place.

The steeple had to be cut from the church, cleaned up, repaired, modified and put back in place. This was actually far simpler than it sounds, but I thought, "What the Hell, Old Chap! Put it on yer blog!" So I did.

Hope you find it informative.

New supports are cut from stained balsa. Pieces of dressmaker's pins are inserted.

Left: The new supports are glued to the canopy. Right: Additional reinforcing planks are placed between the supports.

Anchor holes are punched using a pin. The steeple will then be firmly but carefully put in place.

The final new-and-improved steeple.

Et, Voila!

I'm happy with the result. The repaired steeple is much stronger than it was. I have thought about replacing it completely with a closed-in louvred design, but we'll see how it goes.

All the Best!