Cut a length of strip wood about one foot long and using the number two blades, strip it down its length. (Just roll the blade backwards and forwards moving up the length)

Now very carefully frame the windows and doorway. To finish off the windows inside, use black thread gluing first a piece vertically and then a piece horizontally. After all thread has been applied, place behind the windows some clear plastic to represent the glass. (I very often use kitchen towel) For the doorways, cut out a small piece of card 1/16 of an inch larger than the doorways, and glue the strip wood to the card. Do not forget the 1/8 piece of strip wood placed at the top of the large door, do this first, and also cut out the small window on the large door.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Now glue all four sides together, making sure that the structure is square. Cut out four tiny triangles of card and glue these into each corner to keep it square, and put it to one side to dry.

The completed structure without its roof.

When your structure is dry, now is the time to think about what colours you want to paint it. I painted mine a light grey with the windows and doorways brown. You paint yours what ever colours take your fancy.

THE ROOF

Now, onto the roof. Cut out from a piece of thinner card the shape and size from the drawing. Score with the back of the knife the lines where the card bends.( you will have to turn the card over for one score mark) and glue it to the structure. (Which I hope is now dry) All that remains to be done at this stage is to cut out from the 1/16 of an inch square, small pieces to fit under the roof. These are spaced every 1/4 of an inch. When dry, paint them a dark brown. Now a start on the roof shingles can begin.

ROOF SHINGLES

There are a number of ways to shingle a roof, one is using Campbell's paper shingle which I have used in the past, another is cutting the strip wood into tiny pieces and applying them one by one, (This I like the best) and last but not least paper shingles made by cutting the paper with a pair of pinking shears. Shingles cut with the pinking shears are in fact quite nice to look at inasmuch as they have a diamond shape finish and look fine, so we'll use this method.

Shingle the roof.

Starting at the bottom of the roof, (any side) start to glue the small lengths of paper shingle onto the roof. When starting the second row, cut the left hand diamond in half, and glue this to the edge of the structure first. What this does in effect, is to stagger the diamond shape. Don't forget, every other row, cut the diamond in half, before starting the run.

When the shingles on the roof have dried, you will need to apply some 1/16 of an inch square balsa underneath the door and both sides of the structure. Then paint the roof with a light grey paint. You should now have a very smart looking structure, almost ready for the layout, all we need to do now, is weather it. By the way, don't forget to add a chimney or two, to give it a bit more character.

The completed structure

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