"Great New Way To Make Buildings" Topic

Ok I'm sure other people have used this technique before but I just had the idea on my own. I tried it out and to my suprise I made some great looking buildings. Anyhoo after looking at some of JR Miniatures buildings I thought to myself "hey I can do better than that." So here's how to make great looking buildings using SCULPEY.

1) First I made a template of each wall of the building and the roof using balsa wood. This way it is easy to make mulitple buildings with out having to measure every time.

2) Next roll out a little sheet of SCULPEY to a little less than 1/4 of an inch thick.

3) Now using the templates you have made cut out the different pieces of the building.

4) You will now have to sculpt the different features into the walls. This is much easier than it sounds. I have even done a brick building. All you have to do is take your time, be patient and do a good job.

5) Now you have one of two options. You can either:
A) Stick the pieces in the oven and glue them together later.You
will have to fill any seams with filler.

B) assemble the building and then put it in the oven. I prefer this
method as you can eliminate any seam lines. You will have to
be careful so you don't lose any detail with this method. If you
do just go back and redo it. I also found that the joints may be
weak so I use a epoxy on the inside to help strengthen the
joint.

6) After it has cooled paint it how you want.

I hope this little tutorial will help you in making buildings. It is quick, easy, and very inexpensive. It would be quite possible to make an entire town in the course of a couple afternoons. Happy building and happy gaming.

~Jason

P.S. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Cool!

Another method that I've used for 15mm:

1) buy a cheap set of children's building blocks. Measure the block that is to be used for the building.

2) using a drawing program, create artwork for the building sides and roof.

3) print and glue to the wooden block.

It works well! The downside is you cannot put units inside ;p

Yeah, I have done some buildings like the way Cooldude has described. There is/was an article here on TMP with the same process you described. I liked the finish product. I made some WW2 15mm buildings. I would make more but do not have the time.

Oh I found the article.

it is here: TMP link

I use Super Sculpey. A better medium than regular sculpey IMO. But, doesn't matter really, with some patience you can achieve some great results with either.

My only grip here is that good ole Sculpey will crack or snap and the corners will break off or chip...DO NOT drop these nice buildings of yours.

That is why I use Blue Board...the foam stuff we all know about.

Also it is pricey but Plasticard bases are THE WAY TO GO on the nice building base...as the stuff is nice and flat and will not warp.

You get level building bases with it, and the foam core once secured to this plastic sheeting will stay put.

My 2 cents...lol!

BME

Cooldude . You don't mention what scale you're doing this in ?

I've experimented with oven cureing Fimo (similar to Sculpy) for 15mm cottages and had bad warp and shrinkage problems . I might have another go someday.

You know those expanded foam trays you get your meat and veg in ? A sort of dense polestyrene foam ? They are brilliant at taking a pattern drawn with a blunt soft pencil. Especially stonework and bricks .

Try Drawing your building sides on one ,and cutting out the windows , doors, and outline with a fresh scalpel . The surface hardens with paint and drybrushes well .

You may need to reinforce the structure with balsa strip . Mine came out pretty strong and very light so dropping one hasn't been a problem .

This is a great idea. I had seen a model railroad layout once years ago that was set in the southwest US. The builder had used Sculpey for the adobe structures on the layout. Polymer clays are also good for things like trees and large plants. I remember finding a web site where a woman who made jewelry from Fimo had started make "alien" plants out of the stuff. Using colored poly clays also means that the finished pieces won't need to be painted. You can also get some neat coloring effects that might be difficult to acheive with paint.

Never heard of Sculpy cracking before. Seems like a great material to me. Anyway, forget the heavy buildings.. just use paper and card stock foldup buildings. You can make a city for the price of one heavy cottage building and you can even crush them like Godzilla.. who cares. They're only paper and you can make hundreds more for pennies. If you use foamcore, you can even stucco them like real buildings.