KITS COTY - The base

The polystyrene has stuck - now for the fun part.

First though we sorted out the wood for the floor so that these flats could be stood into their correct positions.

Leigh, Louise, Chloe and me

First the back 550mm width flat was placed onto the board and drawn around. The next (610mm) flat on either side had to be at 45 degree angle to that , as this is going in the corner of a room.

45 degrees was found, lines drawn, the flats placed , one at a time and drawn around.

The last two flats (500mm) are at 90 degrees to the base (550mm) flat.

We then , with a great deal of jiggling ( it is very heavy now) moved the 'stone' arch into place on the board. We put a board on the other side as well so that it was balanced.

There is going to be a small shamfered slope made for going into the chamber. This will stop it from being a trip hazard - a definite no no.

We prepared a template with brown paper, so that we knew the exact width of the arch and the length we wanted the slope.

We also drew around the edges of the 'stones' on the MDF base so that it can be cut out and slotted in around them.

The base MDF being cut to the correct size by Andy. This machine must be turned off in between each cut.

We then used the jig saw to cut the base out.

All cut out and ready to have the flats added to create the chamber at the back.

Once all the flats were put in place, holes were drilled through them into the base. Two holes on each for dowels, so that the flats can be located. These were13mm holes. Either side of that we drilled 6mm holes for metal threaded inserts to screw the flat down into when it is in place.

I cut 10, 1" dowels ready to go into the holes and rounded their ends off, so that the flat could slot smoothly into place.

The flats for the chamber up and in place. At the moment they are secured with screws, driven between each flat.

Next we used the floor as a template to create the roof. (Leigh and me) What a busy day!

Now was the tricky part - making it fit snugly up to the top stone when it is in place.

We used the same method to mark out the undulating curve of the roof, as we had for the side panels. This was getting a sharpened stick and a pencil and running the stick along the edge of the stone. We made sure that the nearest point to the outside edge of the wood was the same amount that needed to be cut off from the wood.

We cut this off with a jig saw and then made other minor adjustments as necessary.