Scratch Building By Peter Bunce.

I make my own buildings, as they are to 1/20th scale, I started with Korroflute, but first I found some new building material here in the UK; it is called Vekaplan SF, and may well be what is called 'Sintra' in the USA.

 

This is 5mm thick closed cell, and solid PVC foam. The surface is a satin finish, and it can be cut with care, but can be sawn, and drilled easily. I use a fretsaw (scroll saw for the USA?) to cut out the window and door apertures, and a DIY jigsaw for the initial cuts from the large sheets – these are 8ft by 4 foot (outside there will be bits everywhere!). Using a strong knife is possible, but there is a tendency for the blade to cut through at an angle – that is why a circular saw, or a jigsaw, or fretsaw are better for cutting.

As usual I have started a trial building to see how it performs. I chose a 1/20th copy of the Grandt Line, Reese Street row houses - otherwise known as 'shotgun' houses.



I sent a request to Grandt Line asking if they could send me an HO plan which the very kindly sent me by e-mail. My considerable thanks were passed back to them, and there will be a photo or two sent to them when I have finished this one, there are likely to be more as I like the design, which can have many different versions.

 The plan was enlarged and I started work. The walls were marked out and cut, then scored for the planks. I used my olfa cutter, which is better pushed to make the groove and it does not tear the material; later experience has shown that the best implement to score grooves in this material is a plain woodworkers ‘blade’ type scriber.  The windows were made and I decided to add to the design by adding a bay window; the basic design of this hat came from the ‘Mineral Belt’ books. A couple of different style doors were made. All these are to 1/20th which are not available (Grandt Line go up to 1/24th) as far as I know.



 The building is virtually the same size as my ‘Columbia cabin’ building and will sit on a paving slab foundation that is 2ft x 1ft, (cut with an angle grinder & bolster chisel a 2ft square one in half), more details on this later.



 I use Evostick (latex based contact cement) glue and it has worked well, but it does need some setting time to be allowed for, primarily due to the weight of the sheets I think. All the corner joints have been reinforced with the ‘Hard as Nails’ adhesive.



This building with the exception of the shingles on the roof (shed felt or tarpaper) will be all plastic, the cross pieces are made from the PVC plastic planks that are available here in the UK and will also be used below the roof. They rest on small pieces of cut down PVC electric wiring conduit which is basically a trough; cut it in half and there are a couple of right angle pieces.



 I am very pleased with this material, and have a lot of it now for the new buildings.

Peter Bunce 2005.