Scratch Building 101: Section House
About a month ago I added a set of plans for a section house as a free download. To my surprise it has been a little more popular than I guessed it would have been. So I have decided to tell the story of how I built them and teach you how easy it is to work with basswood.
The structures were built about a year ago and were not documented to the extent that I do with my current projects. So I will do the best I can to describe the construction process as I can.
Download
Construction
In our first installment of Scratch Building 101 we built a small Sinclair service station using sheet styrene for the walls. Now I will teach the basics of modeling structures in basswood. While both methods have their pluses and minuses, both work great and have scenarios that one shines above the other. Construction methods are little different for both but the same basic rules apply to both.
A few key rules to remember when working with basswood, balsa wood or even styrene are as follows:
- Measure TWICE cut ONCE! (I picked this up from shop class and the New Yankee Workshop)
- Make all of your cuts in gentle passes. (when you use too much pressure, you risk injury and poor cuts)
- Always use sharp blades. (this also applies to #2, you will use too much pressure with a dull blade)
- Ensure your pieces are cut square. (if you are out of square from the beginning it will cause a waterfall effect down the whole construction of the project)
- When cutting basswood sheets, it will take more passes with your knife to cut against the grain. Although it is easier to cut with the grain, use caution, your knife will want to follow the grain pattern.
- 401 – N Scale 7′6″ Strip Corrugation
- 1/32 x 3 1/2 x 24″ – .040″ spacing – Scribed Sheathing Sheet
- 1/32 x 4 x 24″ – Basswood Sheet
- HOSCAL1411 HO Scale 1 x 4″ – Strip Basswood
- HOSCAL3311 HO Scale 3 x 3″ – Strip Basswood
- HOSCAL3611 HO Scale 3 x 6″ – Strip Basswood
- HOSCAL3811 HO Scale 3 x 8″ – Strip Basswood
- 2509 – 2/2 Double Hung Windows
- 2513 – 4 Panel Door
- 2518 – 4 Pane Window
- Black Card stock
- Yellow or White Glue
- Cyanoacrylate Glue (CA)
Materials Used
Builders in Scale
Northeastern Scale Lumber
Titchy Train Group
Miscellaneous
In no way are any of these materials required for construction. These are what I used to build my section houses and you are free to use whatever materials you chose for your building. In fact I encourage that make them your own unique structure, but if you want to make an exact replica – thats fine.
Walls
Often times large sheets of basswood are not cut square. They probably were square at some point in time, but because wood is easily influenced by moisture, things change. Using a small stainless steel square I check to see how far off my sheet is. If it is off I will go ahead and square it off with my X-acto knife and a ruler. Even if the end is square I still will cut a little off so I have a good clean edge.
On the back of the .040″ spaced sheathing I measure in from the short edge 2 5/32″ and make a mark, I then do the same on the opposite side. Take your ruler and place it on both tic marks and then cut with your knife. I also will cut any boards off if they are not a full width board. Doing so will help all of the boards line up around the structure. This piece should supply all four walls for you and have the exact width of the long walls. Now measure up about 11/16″ or 18 boards if you are using the .040″ spaced sheathing and cut at this point (do this step twice). If you cut midway through a board, go ahead and cut of the extra so the next piece starts on a full board.
For the front and the back walls, measure up 1 3/32″ or 28 boards and cut, then repeat. Next cut the two pieces to a width of 1 7/16″. Now we need to cut the angles for the roof slope. The easy way to do this is to find your center point on the top and mark it (I do all of my marking on the back of my sheets). Then I take my side walls to find to where I need to cut. Find that mark and then bump it up one board and you have your angle. Go ahead and cut all of your angled pieces.
Door & Window Openings
This is one of the trickiest parts of the whole construction but if you take your time and use care, you will be fine. Now like I said before all marking is done on the backs of the pieces, so everything you do will be backwards. Mark off the locations for all of your windows and doors, I wont give any dimensions because you might want to place them where you want. Remember that it is better to cut the openings too small and cut or file them larger than to cut them too big. I purposely cut my window openings a little small anyway, this gives me a little “room for error”. If one of the cuts is not straight, you can file it so it is correct and not worry about making the opening too large.
Bracing
Before you add any paint or do any further work to your walls, you need to add some bracing to the backs. I used some scrap basswood that I had or something no smaller than .040″ thick. I listed the HO scale 3 x 8’s in the materials needed list for this purpose.
I then cut multiple pieces about 1/16″ shorter than the height of the corresponding wall. The grain pattern is moving horizontally so glue your bracing tangent to the grain. Because of the small size of the pieces I don’t bother with horizontal bracing, on a larger project I would defiantly add it.
To glue the bracing on, you could use either good old white school glue or yellow wood glue. You could use a CA or super glue but I would recommend the first choices. White and Yellow glue work better when pressure is applied, so I just put a heavy object on top of what I am gluing. Clamps would work fine, but nothing is easier than plopping a item on top of another.
Detail of Bracing
Detail of bracing
Painting
Unlike most of my structures, I painted everything up before construction. First I applied a wash or stain of india ink/alcohol to the walls. Adding this wash will cause your walls to warp, even with the bracing added. Just add a heavy object on top of it, same as when you glued on the bracing and when when it is dry, the walls will be flat.
Next I attached all of the walls to some masking tape, so when I spray them they wont blow away. I then sprayed on a coat of flat white paint to the walls and aloud it to dry. Adding the india ink/alcohol wash before the paint creates a look of old peeling paint. The paint must be sprayed on because brushing will not work.
I then took a strip of HO scale 3 x 3 strip and painted the whole thing a light blue. Using the same light blue, I painted the trim on the windows and doors. I then painted the details with other various colors.
Assembly
I now took the 3 x 3 strip that I had painted the blue and cut ruff lengths that were just a little taller than the ends on the front and back. I then glued these to the walls edges. After the glue dried I then cut and filed the excess of, be sure to keep the same angle as the roof. Next I glues in the windows and doors using CA glue. Then after all of the parts were secure I glued up the walls. The way I did this was to glue the right wall to the front wall and the left wall to the back. When the two joints have dried I glue up the two wall sections to each other.
One down one to go. (note the trim on the front wall).
Walls and widows done.
Roof, Rafters and Trim
For the roof I took the 1/32″ basswood sheet and cut it so I would have about an two scale foot eaves (1/8″). Each of the two roof sections measures 15/16 x 2 9/16″. I then glued the two pieces to the structure. After the glue dried I painted the underside of the eaves a light grey.
Next I took a strip of HO scale 1 x 4″ and painted it the same light blue as before. After the paint dried I began to add some trim work at the tops of the walls, this will also disguise any gaps as well. I first added it to the the side walls, and again cutting it just barely longer than the wall and then trimming it after. For the front and the back walls, I extended this piece just beyond the eaves. You will also need to miter the one end where the two pieces of trim meet at the ridge. Leave the excess sticking out from the roof for now.
Now we will add the rafters to the eaves. I made a mark every three feet for the placement of the rafters. I than poured a little CA glue on a piece of paper, I want these pieces to set fast, hence the CA. Now using the same pre-painted 1 x 4’s as for the trim we cut our rafters. These do not need to be uniform and it is easier to cut them long (about a 1/4″ is good). I just used my X-acto knife to make all of the cuts. First I cut one end of each piece at an angle that matches the roof pitch, the other end does not matter as it will be trimmed off later. I then pick up the rafter on the scrap end with a good pair of tweezers and dip the piece into the glue, a little goes a long way. Now I position the rafter on to the mark I made on the eaves and then move on to the next. You don’t need to simulate rafters, on most buildings you cant see them because they are hidden with trim. I just think they add allot to a simple structure.
Bright Idea!
A great item I always have on my work bench is a stack of Post-it Notes. I cant claim this idea as my own but you can messy up the top note with puddles of glue, paint or quick notes and then peel it off when done and have a fresh note for later. I even used the things for masking when I ran out of tape once, they did a good job.
Now I take some more of that 1 x 4 strip and add rafters to the front and back of the roof, I also added some blocking that will never be seen by any one but me – oh well! After all the glue was dry I trimmed all of the rafters to the edge of the roof and touched up the ends with a little paint.
Rafter Detail
Decking
The building needed some kind of foundation and you could take this many ways. You could use brick or stone sheet for the foundations and cut little windows so I looks like there is a basement. Or you can build it how I did by building a simple post and lintel frame. I used HO scale 3 x 6″ strip for the frame work and 3 x 3″ strip for the posts. I basically glued the strips to the bottom of the building. The side pieces were cut about 5/8″ longer than the house so I could build a porch.
After the frame was built I added some of the same sheathing used for the walls in place as decking. I simply cut it to fit with just a little overhang. Lastly I cut a few 1/8″ long posts on my Chopper II, if you don’t have a Chopper, you can do this with a knife, try to keep all of the pieces uniform. I glued the posts on and after the clue dried I added a wash of india ink/alcohol to all of the frame and decking.
Covered Porch
I cut a small roof from the sheet basswood we used on the main roof. I wanted it to overhang the porch a little on all three sides and I wanted it to slope down as well. It was a bit tricky to find the right height and with that would fit under the eaves but with a little playing you will get it. My roof is 1 1/2″ wide, 11/16″ deep and is 5/8″ up off the porch’s decking against the house. The roof slopes very little only about 1/32″, but is enough. Next I added rafters to the underside of the roof and painted the whole thing white. I also added some black card stock to simulate tar paper on the rooftop.
For the roof support I took some of the 3 x 3 strip we painted for when we built the walls. I cut two posts to the height I wanted and then added a beam that spanned the two posts that the rafters would sit on. I then sanded a very gentile bevel on the roof edge that would but into the building. Next I glued the roof assembly to the beam and building with CA.
Roofing material
For the roof you have dozens of ways to top it off. I chose corrugated metal but tar paper, shingles or slate would look great. I used Builders in Scale product because its ridge to ridge dimension is exact for N scale. Many people make their own in other scales but what I have seen in N scale looks too big. The material comes in strips that I cut into smaller pieces with scissors. I then add a bead of CA glue to the roof top and add the small sheets of metal. You can do this so it looks new or you can have the sheets wandering around because of the elements. I did a in between approach. I made a ridge cap from some of the metal and glued in in place.
I then attacked the roof with different colors of browns and rust colors to age it, even if you want a new roof you will need to paint the product because it is way too shiny.
Done!
This is a fairly basic structure to build and it would look great as a section house, miners cabin or a small home in a town on your layout. It is a good building to wet you feet with before you dive into a much larger structure. It took me a little less than eight hours to build both houses, I don’t expect a beginner to do it in that amount of time but it should not take too long.
I still need to add some steps for the porch and back door but I will be waiting on that until it gets planted on a layout.
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