I figured out a method for (potentially) rapidly producing lots of houses for scenery. I’ve never seen anyone having done it this way before so here’s my attempt at a tutorial.
Scroll down to step #18 if you want to the finished house.
Tools:
Tablesaw (Craigslist frequently has table saws for $75-100)
Clamp
Bevel gauge (optional)
2x4s
Thin pieces of wood such as popsicle sticks/toothpicks/balsa wood/drink stir sticks etc.
Sandpaper/files/razor saw
Paint
Thin cardstock
Textured Plastic card
1. Glue 2x4s together or use a larger piece of wood to make a single block Clamp the halves together and allow to dry thoroughly.
http://i.imgur.com/GKv2q.jpg 2. Use the table saw to cut the sides flat.
http://i.imgur.com/6yUP8h.jpg 3. Mark where you want the roof to be.
http://i.imgur.com/Tro4Zh.jpg 4. Use the bevel gauge to transfer the angle from the roof to the tablesaw. Alternatively just eyeball it.
http://i.imgur.com/CECbgh.jpg 5. Use an auxiliary fence to keep your fingers away from the blade. Clamp the block to the fence in order to safely cut one side of the roof.
http://i.imgur.com/ZspJZh.jpg 6. Turn the block around and cut the other side. Take care to align the block so the two sides of the roof are symmetrical.
http://i.imgur.com/GhLqOh.jpg 7. The finished basic house.
http://i.imgur.com/pgV6nh.jpg You could stop here and just paint on windows et cetera. If you want to make a lot of buildings rapidly. You could also make a very long block, cut the roof angles then slice across every few inches to rapidly make a whole pile of houses.
I searched google for reference pictures and ended up copying a resin model from a company which I don’t recall.
8. Draw where you will have windows and doors. Cut the thin wood strips to length and glue onto the building.
http://i.imgur.com/2V2qbh.jpg 9. Use a tiny screwdriver or other similar object to scribe boards onto the sides. Use a ruler to ensure the boards are parallel.
http://i.imgur.com/RXJMkh.jpg 10. Once a side is done, use a very sharp knife or the razor saw to cut the strips flush to the roof.
http://i.imgur.com/tFqUyh.jpg 11. For the half timber framed portion, start by splitting the thin wood into roughly square pieces by holding a ruler to it and cutting lengthwise.
http://i.imgur.com/WmMlh.jpg 12. Glue on the top and bottom pieces first.
http://i.imgur.com/hQeAqh.jpg 13. Hold in place while the glue dries with clamps. If your clamps don’t have rubber jaws, put cardboard between the model and the clamp.
http://i.imgur.com/CBP8Hh.jpg 14. Once the long pieces are dry, fill in with the vertical pieces.
http://i.imgur.com/xm9qFh.jpg 15. For the lower story, cut pieces of thin cardstock to size, then cut out windows and doors. Glue these on. Add small strips of card below windows as a sill. Use the handle of a knife or paint brush to slightly burnish the corners of the building.
http://i.imgur.com/Umu6vh.jpg 16. For the roof, cut a rectangle of card and then glue it to the roof. Glue plasticard to the cardstock roof and hold it in place until it dries. Plastruct makes some with a scalloped shingle texture. I covered the gap with a strip of paper, though I’m not entirely happy with how it turned out.
http://i.imgur.com/4JZWvh.jpg 17. Mix sand, paint and sawdust (or use texture paint if you have any) and dap this onto the lower story and between the timbers. Wipe off any that gets onto the wood or windows.
http://i.imgur.com/oHXSCh.jpg 18. I didn’t take photos during the painting. Base coat with black spray point. Paint the roof with blue, grey and black, drybrushing with more and more grey in each subsequent layer. Paint the wood with dark brown then with increasing yellow and white. Paint the stucco part grey and dry brush with increasing white and just the barest hint of yellow. For the windows, I painted them grey and drew the panes on with a pen. I realized at this point I forgot to add a chimney
Finished:
http://i.imgur.com/kK9r4h.jpg http://i.imgur.com/PxXq0h.jpg