Just Seventeen

It's time to start thinking about the next house to build.

This will be the last one for a while.

If I'm honest I'm getting a little tired of building buildings, I think I need to recharge my batteries my doing something else.

I do have something in mind but more of than anon..

Anyway, the next one in line is number 17.

It is similar to the neighbouring house but with added fiendish features.

The most difficult of those features is the bay window at the side which has to be fabricated with great care from styrene strip.

I can take comfort from the knowledge that I did manage to do this relatively successfully with one of the first pair of houses for the scene.

I'm hoping I'll have some progress to report early next week.

Another One Done

I made such good progress with number 18 over the last few days that I think I can dare to declare it finished.

Well, as finished as it can be until we're in a position to mount it on the layout in any case.

There are a few details like the steps leading to the front door, a handrail and a post supporting the porch which will need to be added on much later.

The things which have been added on since the last post are the brickwork below the render line, the chimney, the guttering (what little of it is there is) and the capping on the top edge of the roof.

It was only after I'd done the brickwork that I looked again at the drawings and the research photographs and realised that this house is attached to the ones on either side meaning that almost nothing of those carefully measured and cut sections of brick on either side will end up being seen.

I've been trying to tell myself that at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing they're there but it's not working...

With The Roof On

This latest house has a mercifully simple roof.

Although it might look complicated because it is heading in three directions they are nice simple rectangles with the exception of the section which covers the garage and includes a few slates which form a porch over the front door.

Of course I wouldn't be me if I didn't manage to get the measurements mixed up and I wasted a good third of a sheet of Wills slates on my first attempt at the garage / porch piece - after carefully measuring it up I managed to chop off the bit I wanted to keep!

Next to add some brick courses below the render line.

Foundation Level

With all the main walls of the house together the next task is to make it all sit level.

I often add 'foundations' in any case because it helps to locate the model better in its final position, and to build up the landscape around it, but in the case of many of these Oberon Wood buildings it's a necessity because the base lines of the walls slope and you obviously need the model to sit level.

Of course, being Oberon Wood, it's not a question of simply adding extensions below four walls because these houses have lots of little nooks and crannies such as the inset front door, and the garage, which juts out here on number 18.

I still have to add on a couple of courses of brick work below the render but I am tempted next to cut out and fit the three roof sections because they're nice and simple with no dormer windows to fit around or anything like that.

'Nice' and 'Simple' are two words you don't hear very often when building these houses....

The Bit I Like Best

A couple of hours uninterrupted modelling time saw me complete all the window frames in number 18.

With those in place I was able to get on with the best bit of a house build - joining all the walls together to see the shape of the structure for the first time.

You can see very clearly in the picture above how the roof slopes in three directions and the main part of the house forms an 'L' shape with a gallery window which is a common feature on these Oberon Wood properties.

That long window is up high in the wall facing the east so I suspect that its purpose is not to look out of but instead to catch the morning sunlight which will shine down into what I suppose is a bedroom.

The window pillars on the big patio door are the most delicate feature on this model.

Because the bottom of the frame sits below the render line I had to butt join them at the bottom onto the sill and I've already knocked them off and had to re-bond them a couple of times.

I don't think it'll be the last time either, alas.

More Windows Than Wall

All my modelling time on Saturday was taken up hacking out the apertures in the ends of the latest house.

The architect may have had a slightly wacky sense of aesthetics (just my opinion) but you can tell from the way this house is laid out that that they had some common sense - it won't surprise you to know that the wall with all those windows faces south.

The next job is to add in all the window frames and then the best bit of the build when it comes together as a (slightly odd-shaped) box for the first time.

Shape Shift

So after spending a little time pondering it I have begun work on the next house, number 18.

I spent an evening in the week cutting out the blanks for the main wall sections.

It's quite a different shape to the other houses in the estate and these wall sections were quite straightforward to cut out.

Quite a few of them will remain blank, with no windows, while others have only a couple.

The exception is the main end section - which is the bit with two sloping edges at the top - which needs to have around half a dozen openings cut into it.

Won't that be fun!