My cheap-and-easy buildings

[HonestTom]

I’m currently working, very intermittently, on a narrow gauge layout for my various Welsh quarry locos. And I thought, as a challenge, that I’d try scratch-building some structures. I’m a big fan of builders like John Ahern, who didn’t have access to the materials we do, so I thought I’d set myself the additional challenge of using as little by way of proprietary modelling materials as possible.

 

The first one is a sort of generic industrial building. I’m not really going for accuracy so much as atmosphere. The inspiration came from a visit to The Works, which had a number of wooden houses for decorating. These were about the right size, so I picked up two and a little trinket box, total cost £5.50. I removed the lid from the box, and this is the basic shell.

Here’s a better view of the box sans lid:

More to come shortly…

Edited June 25, 2023 by HonestTom

[HonestTom]

The plan is to clad this shell, and here’s how I plan to do it. In my box of crafting materials, I found some card seed trays with a very rough stone-looking texture (you get the same on the inside of egg boxes). These will provide stone blocks. The trays cost £3 for 3 from Flying Tiger.

 

For windows, I’m using cross-stitch mesh, aka plastic canvas or granny grating (NB do not grate your granny, this is very unsafe). This mesh comes in big sheets and various sizes of hole. I believe mine is "5 count," i.e. five holes per inch, and a 22x13.7in sheet is £3.30 from Hobbycraft. It can also be cut with scissors, which is just dandy. 

Edited February 13, 2023 by HonestTom

[HonestTom]

First windows stuck on, first few courses of stone. I also added a piece of balsa that will be a chimney (65p from 4D Model Shop).

Edited February 14, 2023 by HonestTom

[HonestTom]

A little more work. Extra windows, more stone. I also added a roof to the extension, using a material known as corduroy card - I don’t know if it’s no longer made or known by a different name, but I can’t find any more for sale. I like it as a way of making corrugated iron panels.

[Dungrange]

16 hours ago, HonestTom said:

using a material known as corduroy card - I don’t know if it’s no longer made or known by a different name, but I can’t find any more for sale.

 

Is this the stuff you are looking for.

 

https://www.cuttingedgecrafts.co.uk/craft-uk-ltd---craft-essentials-a4-corduroy-card-310gsm-5-pack.html

 

I assume that other suppliers will just call it corrugated card.

[HonestTom]

10 minutes ago, Dungrange said:

 

Is this the stuff you are looking for.

 

https://www.cuttingedgecrafts.co.uk/craft-uk-ltd---craft-essentials-a4-corduroy-card-310gsm-5-pack.html

 

I assume that other suppliers will just call it corrugated card.

That's the stuff, but it's out of stock everywhere that even lists it. It's different to corrugated card - that has larger corrugations, more suitable for larger scales. I've seen Warhammer modellers use it very successfully, for instance.

[Dungrange]

@HonestTom

 

Okay - where in the country are you based?  Someone has posted an advert for some on Gumtree, but it's for collection from Wiltshire - https://www.gumtree.com/p/arts-crafts/crafters-a4-corduroy-card-by-craft-uk-ltd-new-unopened-packs-/1451642921.  If that's not convenient, then I suppose you could e-mail and ask if he/she would post however many packs you want.

[HonestTom]

23 hours ago, Dungrange said:

@HonestTom

 

Okay - where in the country are you based?  Someone has posted an advert for some on Gumtree, but it's for collection from Wiltshire - https://www.gumtree.com/p/arts-crafts/crafters-a4-corduroy-card-by-craft-uk-ltd-new-unopened-packs-/1451642921.  If that's not convenient, then I suppose you could e-mail and ask if he/she would post however many packs you want.

Alas, Wiltshire is a little distant, but thank you for looking.

 

In other news, the rest of the windows have been added. Doors have been made from card, which I picked up from Poundland back when everything was still a pound.

 

And the first side is fully clad. Not as tedious a task as I thought.

[HonestTom]

The building is now ready for painting. Roof slates are ordinary white card - let’s just say that the slate company doesn’t exactly use this building as an advertisement.

 

The chimney pots are beads that I picked up for the remarkable price of 5p.

 

[HonestTom]

There was an area on the other side where I wasn’t happy with the way the slates looked. Fortunately, this being a ramshackle building, it was easy to justify covering it up with more corrugated card. I have to say, I quite like the effect, and considered adding it elsewhere, but I think I’ll leave it as is.

Edited February 25, 2023 by HonestTom

[HonestTom]

Next step was to coat the whole thing in Mod Podge for strength.

The last step before painting was to fill in some of the gaps between stones. Now, I could have used model filler, but as I was trying to go as DIY as possible, I used the old bicarbonate of soda and superglue method. The main disadvantage of this is that it dries rock hard in seconds, so you have to be sure of what you want.

 

That being done, I painted the black undercoat. I like this stage, because it ties everything together. Even if my camera can't quite see it.

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by HonestTom

[ISW]

On 27/02/2023 at 23:26, HonestTom said:

That being done, I painted the black undercoat. I like this stage, because it ties everything together. Even if my camera can't quite see it.

That's perfect for those 'night shots' over the fields and mountains.

 

Ian

[MartinRS]

On 13/02/2023 at 11:32, HonestTom said:

I’m a big fan of builders like John Ahern, who didn’t have access to the materials we do, so I thought I’d set myself the additional challenge of using as little by way of proprietary modelling materials as possible.

I just found these quirky images on The Guardian web-site. It's art rather than modelling though it shows what can be done with limited materials. The harbor side house looks nice as do the trees in other pictures.

[HonestTom]

Been getting to work on the paint. I started with some of the smaller details like the window frames and chimney pots, but in retrospect this was a mistake. Then I painted the walls and roof grey, picking out the odd stone in different shades and slightly different colours.

Then, dry brushing in light grey to bring out the texture…

Then a dark wash to tie everything together, weather it down a bit and add depth to the recesses.

[HonestTom]

I think… it’s finished.

Mostly the final stage was weathering. Somewhat frustratingly, the wash I used to create a mossy effect turned out shiny, so I would have been better off using watercolour or something, but hey ho. On to the next project!

 

EDIT: Here’s Dolgoch with a pair of slate wagons to kind of demonstrate what the building will look like in context.

 

The idea is that it will sit by the sidings, mostly to make it look like the sidings are there for a reason.

Edited March 8, 2023 by HonestTom

[The Evil Bus Driver]

That I do like. It'll look right at home surrounded by slate heaps with the narrow gauge track winding it's way past. Great stuff!

[HonestTom]

Well, this isn’t an industrial building, but it’s my first attempt at something based on a real structure. It’s meant to be the Lea Rowing Club’s boathouse.

I used thin insulation foam for the front and back, and the more solid side walls are made of foamcore (minus paper). These take impressions really well, so I like to use them for brickwork. Thus:

The building has windows and also some odd sort of buttress things? I don’t know the technical term.

I decided to paint the walls before assembly. A sand colour as the base, with various reds and browns drybrushed on. For the windows and doors, I used card.

[HonestTom]

Next, the walls were assembled. I used some scrap bits of wood as crude internal framing.

Then, the roof. This was styrene pantiles, topped with a half-round styrene rod.

Then painting. Same technique - base coat and dry brushing, but this time with some touches of brownish-green to represent moss.

Some final details. Barge boards and notice board made from card - the barge boards aren’t quite symmetrical, but I hope they’ll pass from a distance. Gutters from more styrene rod. Downpipe from wire. Aaaaand… I think we’re done.

It’s far from perfect and I dare say anyone familiar with the building could point out a million different mistakes, but I’m pleased for a first attempt. Plus the layout it’s going on it pretty big, so hopefully any faults will go unnoticed.

[The Evil Bus Driver]

On 12/06/2023 at 23:15, HonestTom said:

Well, this isn’t an industrial building, but it’s my first attempt at something based on a real structure. It’s meant to be the Lea Rowing Club’s boathouse.

I used thin insulation foam for the front and back, and the more solid side walls are made of foamcore (minus paper). These take impressions really well, so I like to use them for brickwork. Thus:

The building has windows and also some odd sort of buttress things? I don’t know the technical term.

I decided to paint the walls before assembly. A sand colour as the base, with various reds and browns drybrushed on. For the windows and doors, I used card.

That looks phenomenal! I love the drybrushed foam technique 

[HonestTom]

4 hours ago, The Evil Bus Driver said:

That looks phenomenal! I love the drybrushed foam technique 

Thank you! I wasn’t sure how well it would work, so it’s fairly accidental.

[The Evil Bus Driver]

On 14/06/2023 at 23:46, HonestTom said:

Thank you! I wasn’t sure how well it would work, so it’s fairly accidental.

I was given some buildings for the layout I'm building for my daughter at club last night. Means I need to get the legs built and track laid pretty quickly. I might get one of those foam pizza bases from Sainsburys and try playing with it as it's similar to foamboard but without the card. 

[HonestTom]

14 hours ago, The Evil Bus Driver said:

I was given some buildings for the layout I'm building for my daughter at club last night. Means I need to get the legs built and track laid pretty quickly. I might get one of those foam pizza bases from Sainsburys and try playing with it as it's similar to foamboard but without the card. 

I think I recall someone successfully using that method many years ago in one of the magazines. 

[HonestTom]

I’m bored! So I’m turning another of those wooden houses into something more interesting. There’s a book called Lost London which has some fascinating images of ramshackle old houses, and I’ve often thought they’d make a fun scratchbuilding project.

The starting point. I have too many of these things, because they’re so ridiculously cheap and I keep having ideas on what to do with them.

I’m using blue insulation foam to add some relief to the structure. Windows are cross-stitch grating.

First stage assembly. I was able to make quick progress simply because the prototype is so “rustic,” to put it politely. Measurements were by eye with no real attempt at precision.

[HonestTom]

Further additions. The door and the planking were cut from food packaging card (in this house, they believe in recycling).

As you can probably tell, that projection at the top is more foam and mesh. This feature is not only typical of these houses, but it helps to break up the outline and disguise the origin of the structure.

 

So begins the process of planking, which is unbelievably tedious. While embossed styrene does exist, it’s just not rough enough for my purpose.

 

 

This is where I am so far after an evening’s work. Roof shingles were also card and also tedious. The chimney is low relief, being made of a scrap of foamcore I had lying around, with bricks inscribed with a pencil. There are details to be added, but otherwise, on to the painting!

[HonestTom]

Progress has been slow these last two days (thank you, migraine), but I’ve added chimney pots, given the whole thing a coat of Mod Podge and per the advice of the Rolling Stones, painted it black.

Debating whether to add guttering and down pipes. In the final diorama I could probably get away without them.

 

The chimney pots are beads from the Trimits range. They make lots of odd little bits that are intended for jewellers, but very handy for modellers.