THE SHELL
With the paper templates as a guide, each of the wall and roof sections were then cut from 1-mm card. The card sections were "dry fitted" with masking tape to make the rough square of the building.

Once I was happy with the look of the building, glue was then applied to the inside of the joins. At this stage, triangular gussets were added to the corner sections to help the building maintain its shape during the rest of the building process. The assembled piece was then left to one side to dry.

WOODEN TEXTURE
The next step in the process was to create the wooden texture for the walls. Planking lines 5 mm apart from each other were scored into the surface of a sheet of balsa wood with a pencil and ruler. This process was repeated over the whole sheet. The templates were then used again to mark out the wall and porch sections in pencil on the scored balsa wood.

Masking tape was applied to the underside of the balsa wood before the sections were cut out to prevent the wood from splitting during the cutting. Each section was then cut out, including the windows.

Once the card shell was dry, the balsa planking was then glued to the walls. Care was taken to align the planks such that the doors and window matched those of the card shell house. Strips of 5-mm balsa wood were then used to add simple vertical details to the corners and wall sections of the building. The strips were simply measured against the side of the building and cut to size. The planks were then glued in place to cover the corners and wall sections.

WINDOWS AND DOORS
The templates were used again to cut out the balsa wood door and window shutters. The planks ran vertically on these features. The balsa wood doors and windows were then mounted to oversized pieces of card and glued into place.

The windows were detailed by adding a simple frame to the top and bottom of the window with 3-mm strips of balsa. The door was trimmed with two hinges made from strips of card 3 mm wide. The door was finished with a handle made from a thin piece of wire bent around a paintbrush until it made a circle. The handle was then held in place with a small amount of modelling putty.

Next: Finishing The House
Previous: Introduction