Scratch-building for beginners - Epilogue
According to Wikipedia, scratch-building is "the process of building a scale model 'from scratch'- i.e.from raw materials, rather than building it from a commercial kit, kitbashing, or buying it pre-assembled."
Well, that's what we've just done: we took sheet wood, strip wood, scale lumber, window and door castings, formed metal, and styrene sheet and created a 1:87 (HO scale) model of a real house. Give yourself a great round of applause for completeing this project - and don't worry if this was your first attempt at scratch-building and your model isn't quite what you hoped it would be; it's a great start to what I hope will be a new facet of your model railroading experience. I personally am going to apply everything I learned - both what to do and what not to do - and build another, better, model of Aunt Estell's house; after the second one is finished I plan to give the first one to the current owners of the actual house.
So what, exactly did I learn not to do? Let me list it for you:
- Don't RUSH it! Work slowly and methodically in all aspects of the modeling process, from cutting the wood parts to applying the single floorboards on the front porch.
- Don't overdo it with the super glue, because it will get on your fingertips and stick you to everything you touch
- Don't try to cut window and door openings to the correct size on the first pass - you will end up with openings that are too large for the castings, and will thus have ruined a wall - and if this happens after you've successfully cut out several other openings in the same wall you'll curse yourself
- Don't work roughly - remember, parts of this model are delicate (for example, the rain gutters) and can easily be ruined
- Don't RUSH it! Yes, I'm repeating myself, because it is imperative that you take it slow and apply things like the gutters and the ridge caps one piece at a time, allowing time for the glue to set between attaching pieces
What did I learn to do? Well...
- I should have recessed the roof panels like I did the front porch floor
- I should have been extremely careful around the rain gutters, because they got all bent out of shape while I was handling the house during later phases of construction (maybe I should have put the roof on last?)
- I should have taken my time while applying the ridge caps and the shutters, allowing time between applying each piece for the glue on the previous piece to set
- I should have gone more sparingly on the super glue, because I used too much at times and when I did it got all over my fingertips - which, of course, stuck to the parts I was trying to glue into place and ruined them
- I should have measured the brick foundation walls more precisely and mitered the ends to get a more finished look; in fact,
- I should have built the foundation as a separate assembly and set the shell of the house on top of it
Well, that's it. I hope that you enjoyed building Aunt Estelle's house as much as I did. Now get out there and scratch-build something else!
| Previous | That's all, folks! |