Beacon Hill Tower Roof (Step 6) Time will tell

The vinegar-salt mix was applied to the copper sheeting three days ago. It has dried thoroughly and the excess salt grains have been gently brushed off. It also got a blast with canned air. The copper is still a bit light, but if the test piece is an accurate guide, it will darken in the next several days.  I like the light green verdigris. It may darken a bit as well. For now I'll leave it alone. Eventually it will be dry brushed with various shades of craft paint, which will add to the age.

There are a couple of shiny copper spots where I think there may have been some glue that didn't get wiped off completely. They are not big and may darken on their own. Time will tell. 

It is not very clear in these photos, but the greenish verdigris is very near in value to the green of the shingles. When both are aged, I believe the copper roof and shingled roof areas will complement one another. 

Notice the tower roof unit resting on top of the tabs. There doesn't seem to be any hope of getting them to fit together. I believe the tabs will have to be cut off.  Haven't decided whether to add some bits of stripwood beneath the roof unit to keep it from sliding sideways or use magnets to hold it in place. I'm thinking having it remain removable may be useful down the road. 

The window unit is not glued. It needs to be caulked and painted and won't be installed until the aging process is completed.

I should probably continue working on the exterior of the house, but the staircase is calling out to me. I want to replace the flat bannisters that came with the house with round spindles for a more delicate, refined appearance. The redesigned units will still be removable. Which way will I turn? Stay tuned!

Beacon Hill Tower Roof (Step 4) Installation of Copper Panels

The copper panels are glued in place. The photos show the sequence. The panels are paper backed. I dotted Aileen's Tacky Glue on the roof and pressed the panel in place with a pad of toweling, my fingers and a burnisher (seen at right).

The trickiest panel was the front, as it had to be gently worked behind the window sill.  I don't think I mentioned earlier that these adhesive-backed copper sheets are made for copper foil stained glass projects.They are a sturdy 1.25 mil thickness able to take the rubbing and pressing. If it were any thinner, I'm afraid there would be danger of tearing.

I placed the tower roof on the house to dry overnight. I'm planning to use the salt/vinegar aging mix and will tent it with a plastic bag, so I want to be sure the glue is dry or at least well set before subjecting it to the humidity. 

The shiny copper is a bold presence. The lighting was not the best for the photo, but you can get an idea of how it will work with the green shingles on the lower mansard roof bits when it takes on its own veil of green. 

Beacon Hill Tower Roof and Window; Porch Posts

I was fiddling here and fiddling there and not seeing progress until I decided to finish the tower roof and window.  The instructions say to slide the inside unit in from the inside. It didn't fit through the tower wall. It looked too hard to adjust the opening in the tower wall, so I opted to slide it in from the front. I enlarged the roof opening to accommodate. After dry fitting, I glued the bottom of the wall and roof openings to glue in the sill.

The inside unit was tricky and needed to be trimmed and shaved in order to fit the openings in the inside wall and the mansard roof. I cut off about 3/8" from the backside and then shaved the back edge to fit inside the wall opening. I wasn't worried about the look, as it will be out of sight.

When the inside unit fit well, I glued it. I'm not worried about the irregularities around the window, as this will be covered when the roof is shingled. (The shingles will be a charcoal gray/sage green; the black is a background and is helping me imagine the house finished, since that won't happen until next fall at the earliest.)

The finished window (sans plastic "glass") is taped in place. I won't glue it permanently until after the roof is shingled.

The tower roof is resting atop the tower. I think I'll paint the rest of the roof pieces black to give the roof a semi-finished appearance to appease my need for an appearance of progress. Lloyd is working on his papier maché sculpture.

Working on the porch is the next step. I'm thinking the kitchen window bay needs to be finished first but need to reread the instructions. The porch posts were a bit of a challenge. With the three pieces laminated the surface was quite rough. I sanded and filled with Spackle to smooth them out. I didn't fill the base of the column as that will be covered by a piece of trim.

I glued the rectangular base trims on a bit too low, so the square trims wouldn't fit. I cut the squares in half and glued them at the top and bottom. The posts are gessoed. The rough spots still need to be Spackled. The trim bits in the tray are a bit daunting. Not sure if there will be time to deal with them before we head northward.