Building a Building (Part III)

Now let’s put on the roof. Just like the walls, they are cut out of cardboard; we do not have to paint them black because the shingles will cover the cardboard surface entirely. The shingles where made with 80lbs paper stock. I first put on my workbench a dozen sheets of paper held down with thumbtacks, I then drew parallel lines to guide me on the height of the shingles. Each shingle is cut out with the Xacto knife, I determined the size by eye, and to give the effect of a cedar shingle I vary the size of the shingles.

We can now cut the shingles along the line that we drew, this process may seem tedious but remember we have a dozen sheets so it makes the job quicker. As can see in the pictures only half the line is individual cuts while the other half holds it in place. As for the installation on the roof, you must trace the lines the width of our shingles. The remaining task is to affix the shingles to the roof using white glue. Now you could use commercially available shingles, but I did not have any in my magic box. Nevertheless, by doing it yourself it is so much more satisfying.

Have you ever looked at real cedar shakes, you will notice that they turn grey very quickly when exposed to the elements. A big mistake made by a large number of modellers, is that they paint the roofs brown or beige when in reality it should be grey. I started painting the roof with acrylic grey paint, you must be sure to cover the paper well and don’t forget the roof line. I then went about painting some part lighter and other parts darker with a Dry Brush technique. This is a process where you wipe the brush to a point were there is little paint left. Once this process was completely dry I applied a very diluted black wash made with aquarelle paint, acrylic paint would have the same effect. In some areas, I used less diluted black and even added touches of burnt sienna. Once finished I did notice that the roof had gone a little darker then I had planned, but the effect overall was quite interesting, so I left it alone.

The chimney is made out of a small bloc of balsa wood, using an Xacto knife I traced out the brick décor. I then painted it with red acrylic on some of the chimney; I used lighter and darker colors to simulate different brick use on the chimney. At this stage you must use as little paint as possible, you must not fill in the tracings you have made for the brick. When the red is completely dry, I apply some diluted grey wiping it immediately after painting it on, this grey will fill the gaps in the brick and simulate mortar.

The gables were finished with small pieces of wood. I found a sign on the net and I was able to rework it in Photoshop so that I could get the words Canoe and Lake in French. The posters also came from the net and were made on my printer.

I hope you have enjoyed this series of articles and perhaps I have given you a slight push, so that can try these simple techniques for yourselves. We have a tendency to think that a project like this is difficult, but as I have attempted to show, it can be quite easy and very rewarding. Using these, techniques allow you to build unique structures that cannot come from kits. I must also say that the economics are also an advantage. This building unbelievably cost me about $10.00 and about the same time as building a kit.

Building a Building (2nd Part)

To finish the assembly, you must hide all the cardboard on the corners of the walls. To accomplish this step all you have to do is add a small piece of wood on the exposed side and sand it so that it blends in with the rest of the wood.

Once you have finished assembling the major portions of the walls, I built a small stairway that gives access to the office on the second floor. I had in my bag of tricks a small plastic stairway that I had salvaged from another kit. The only thing I had to do was build the structure to support it. Just like the walls I started with a cardboard base, next I covered it with wood. The work was going along to well, I had forgotten to take pictures of this step. As you can see in a photo that I did take I extended the wood to form the railing, and as a finishing with the help of a Xacto knife I cut some wood pieces 1x3 in HO scale that were glued on to make the handrail.


There are two large sliding doors from were we get a look inside. It is obvious that if we do not treat this portion of the floor we will see only cardboard. It is not necessary to cover the whole inside, only cover the portion that we can see. To achieve this look I covered the floor with wood only on the portion visible from the doors. I then stained the floors with a mixture of India ink and alcohol, to give them a greyish tint simulating more or less being exposed to the elements.

Even if I did not intend to do the interior, I still would have put floors on the second level if for no other reason but to add strength to the structure, this also has the added feature for anybody looking through the windows, as if the building has two floors.

Before going any further, I had to do some painting. The windows also came from my bag of tricks; they were painted by airbrush with Tamya paint. The walls for there part, were put through an aging process to give them that aged look. For most projects of this type, I use inexpensive acrylic paint that you find in most hobby stores. In this case, I used Delta Creamcoat that I bought at Omer Deserres. The first coat must be grey and put on in a haphazard way. The more brush strokes you see the better the aging at the end will look. I look for ways to get irregular shapes. To really be successful at this step do not dilute your paint.

Once this coat is dry, you then apply your desired color. I used white; this coat must put on with more care, and always have the brush strokes follow the length of the wood strips. Please make sure that the paint is completely dry, before moving to the next step.
We have now arrived at the magical step. With the help of a piece of 220grit sandpaper not any rougher, you must always sand the wood along the length to reveal the grey beneath the white finish, and where ever you put the grey on extra thick that is what will show first. The windows were put on with cyanoacrylate glue (Super), I then added the

Les fenêtres ont été collées avec de la colle cyanoacrylate. J’ai ensuite ajouté les vitres que j’ai découpées dans une feuille de styrène transparent. Pour donner plus de vie au bâtiment, j’ai simulé un carreau brisé avec la pointe d’un X-acto. Dans le bureau au deuxième étage, j’ai créé des stores avec une pièce de ruban cache (Masking Tape)

Construction of one of the first buildings on the “Timesaver”

I started construction of one of the first buildings of the Timesaver. The construction will be entirely in modelling terms “scratchbuilt”. This will be a hybrid construction made of wood and cardboard. This is not a standard method used by majority of modellers, but once mastered you can get some amazing results. I am hoping in this series of articles will inspire you to try this simple yet effective method of construction.

First step you have to choose a model and create a drawing. Most of the time I do not go this route but it is a question of habit. I start with a photograph and do a simple drawing to see where I am going. If you are just starting out you need to work with a plan that you create or find in one of the modelling magazines.

The next step is to glue the slats of wood to the walls. Once that step is done, you will see the black that was painted previously through the cracks this give the perception of depth. You can use slats of wood that is commercially available but in this case, I cut them myself with an Xacto knife and inexpensive wood. Going this route keeps the cost low and the material is readily available, with one sheet, I can create dozens of buildings. The trick is to cut all the pieces lengthwise all at once using masking tape to hold them together. You transfer the pieces to your wall that have been pre glued with a thin cote of white glue, if you use to much glue it will run out between the boards. The final step is to put some heavy object on the wall while the glue dries. I normally leave it overnight.

Before proceeding to assembly, I cut out the openings for the windows and the doors; it is so much easier to do on a flat surface. We are now ready to assemble. There are no photos for this stage, but I hold the building together with masking tape while everything dries.