Skull Island Wall Construction Update

After casting the four ornamental cornerstones in Polytranspar liquid cast I moved on to working on the right and left sections of staircase on each side of the wooden gate.

A thin layer of Apoxie Sculpt clay was applied to the wood staircase. The area where the cornerstones would be installed was left bare wood.

When the stone work was finished on the staircases I used Zap a Gap instant glue to attach the cornerstones. I added more Apoxie Sculpt clay around the cornerstone to help blend it in with the rest of the stonework.

When everything had cured overnight I took the staircase outside and base coated it with grey auto body primer.

Skull Island Wall Cornerstone

While sections of the stone work on the wall itself was curing I turned my attention to the ornamental cornerstones.

The staircases to the right and left sides of the wooden gate each have a pair of cornerstones. I began by making a wood frame to sculpt my cornerstone on.

The wooden frame was notched out to fit over the staircase steps. This way as the sculpting progressed I could test fit my cornerstone exactly where it would later be mounted.

Using Super Sculpey I modeled my cornerstone. I textured it and added a few cracks then smoothed down any rough areas with a stiff brush dipped in 91% alcohol. Since I would be needing multiple cornerstones I decided to make a latex mold of my original model and cast the four pieces.

Working On The Gong For The Skull Island Wall

The original gong platform was cut out of plywood and was painted to give it a rock like appearance. It needed to be built up. First I hot glued pieces of styrofoam board over the plywood.

Using Apoxie Sculpt clay I covered the plywood section from which the gong hung. The clay was textured to look like rough wood. I left the clay to cure overnight.

The next morning I used a rasp to shape the styrofoam to resemble stone blocks.Starting at the top I began covering the blocks in Apoxie Sculpt clay and tooling it to give it the look of aged stone.

Making the Gate Slides

I made a cardboard template of the catch of the door the bolt slides through. After tracing the outline on a block of balsa wood I cut out the catch.

After painting the wood with acrylics to fill the grain I sealed the wood with varnish. Next I hot glued the wooden catch to a piece of glazed tile. I brushed on a thin coat of Vaseline as a separator and began applying liquid latex to make a one piece mold.

Here is a photo of the mold and original wood catch.

Working on the Gates

To make working on the gates easier I first removed them from the wall. After studying screen grabs from King Kong (1933) provided to me by Eric Kessler I decided to add two crossbeams to each side of the gates.

I used wood glue on the crossbeams and clamped them in position. The next day when the glue had dried I removed the clamps and drilled holes in the crossbeams to accept short pieces of hardwood dowel.When I finished adding the dowels I painted the gates with brown acrylic paint.