The foam is from a pack by, I think, Busch - I bought it years ago from goodness knows where, and found it in one of the many boxes of things that will come in useful one day (see?). It's about 3mm thick and has a stiffened back, a later of paper I think, though it still seems pretty flimsy for making buildings. I considered making a foamcore board inner but the walls would be waaay to thick, so I've gone for a core of walls and a floor to give strength. There can't be a ground floor as I'll need to put windows in later.
(The card around the edge is because as first cut, despite my measuring and calculating, it didn't fit in the walls right!)
Talking of windows, I got some rather fine ones from Smart Models - I think they're laser cut. They come in 3 layers to make a sash, though in the next couple of photos I hadn't stuck them together so they may look a bit wonky.
However the thickness of the foam sets them too far back, it didn't look right to me. The wall thickness may be prototypical (probably less), but usually windows are closer to the outer face of the wall. So on this test piece I cut out a recess from the rear about half way through the foam, putting the window nearer the outer edge - it's fiddly, trying not to cut right through the foam and get an even recess, but the result looks so much better.
You can see my practice stonework too, though I'm thinking that is too regular and square for Dartmoor stone.
So here goes, cutting recesses for every window and door. I used a piece of plasticard as a guide to cutting straight and consistent slots.
More soon...
