[Tutorial] Irwinfella's building tutorial

I'm writing this for two reasons; first a few people have commented on how hard it must be to make a mordheim building [which it isn't] and secondly, I'm sick and bored and need something to do because my plans for the long weekend have been shot to shyte.

I was originally going to make this for an individual single storey buiding, but tutorials for them are everywhere, and besides, they're boring. So we're doing three completely different buildings all on the one base.

First up, you'll need materials.

Normally you'd need an imagination or a plan, but seeing you're a beginner and this is a tutorial I've done the hard work for you. Foamcore is used for the bulk of the construction. It consists of a sheet of foam sandwhiched between paper. It's light, available in a variety of sizes, easy to work with and strong enough. It's available at hobby stores and architectural and drafting supply stores. Alternatively, you could use pasteboard, but don't. I used to, but it's hard to cut and not worth the effort. Next, MDF. This is used for the base. You can get a sheet of this for not much of all, and it makes an excellent base for terrain. It's not difficult to cut, but don't try breathing in the dust. It's a bit on the toxic side. Cutting this is definatly an outdoors activity. Balsa wood in all shapes and sizes is excellent for detail. Get sheets of it, sticks of it, planks of it. You'll use a lot. And finally, gravel. This must be GW gravel [if you choose not to use GW gravel, I will not be responsible for any event that happens as a result.]

Normally, the first thing you'd need would be either a plan or an imagination. I never work to plans. I like to get stuck in, and if it turns out crap, hey, I've made a ruin. Because you're a beginner and this is a tutorial, i've done the hard work for you.

These are my drawings for the first of the buildings. It's a two storey building, with a relatively flat pitched roof. This will make it a nice spot for snipers to hang about, or as a convenient support for bridges and walkways. To make this a simple project, well only worry about the basic construction and exterior detail. If you're lucky, you may be able to read the dimensions which I wrote on the plans. Copy them on the a sheet of foam core. It's not too difficult, try get everything square. A long straight edge of some sort can come in very handy at this stage.

When this is done, cut the basic shape for the building away from the rest of the sheet of foamcore. Don't cut the different building sections apart. Then, very carefully score along the lines that mark the end of each wall. For those not in the know, scoring is to partially cut through something. When this is done, bend the foamcore along the lines that have been scored and you will see them snap slightly. Using masking tape, join the two free edges so that they touch corner to corner only. you may be able to see this in the second picture, as well as the extra tape to hold the building down for the next step.


As mentioned above, we're using MDF for our base. It doesn't have to be, but it's handy. I had a 9"x7" off cut lying around. This is another reason why we're making a few buildings- I didn't want to have to make a new base. Make sure there is a bit of masking tape along the bottom edge of the building. Then apply a nice solid line of PVA or similar craft/woodworking glue to the bottom. Turn in over and stick it to the base. Easy. Make sure the masking tape holds the building firmly to the base while the glue is drying. To make the buildings corners stronger, use a length of balsa [I use 5mm2 sticks] as reinforcing. Cut these to length, and glue them in the little gaps in the corners where the walls don't quite meet. The paint pots in the second pic are helping to keep the building shell firmyl attatched to the base.

As our next building butts up against the first, it only needs three walls. this will also be double storey, but slightly smaller and the roof will have a greater pitch. Altering heights and roof picthes is one of the easiest ways of creating variety in your buildings. Replicate the first few steps and glue the second building onto the base. Don't forget to glue along the edges where it contacts building one. Make sure you use masking tape to keep the joins close.



repeat this for the third building. When the glue has dried, it's time to start on the detail.


Strip all the tape off. If it takes some of the paper outer from the foamcore, this doesn't matter. Normally, I would bring the other buildings up to the same standard as our first, but unfortunately I ran out of my preferred balsa for this task. Ideally, the corners as shown in picture one would be reinforced. In the meantime, we'll work on the detail of our original building. Mark out where you'd like your doors and windows. I make my doors 2" tall and 1" wide. The windows are 1" sqaure. I rpefer to place the windows and doors in a symmetrical manner, but feel free to place them anywhere.


Continue this onto the sides and rear. Using a thin balsa stick, cut lengths to fit around the lines that you have marked. I prefer to use electrician's pliers for this. It does squash the ends a bit, but you don't notice it much and it does make it quicker. The second picture was only shortly afterwards, as opposed to many careful deep cuts with a knife.


Glue the lengths down around your doors and windows. You have the option of cutting to fit, which takes longer, or marking them all out at once and cutting everything together. The second option isn't as precise and leaves over- and underhangs, but in my opinion it adds more character to the building. And I'm lazy.


If I was making a building with a playable interior, the doors and windows would have been cut out at an earlier step. This saves on making window shutter, glass, doors, etc or having to paint them on and then figure out what a model can or can't see. When I make a building, if there is a spot a model can see or get through, it is physically there. As our buildings aren't in too bad a condition- they're not too obviously looted and they survived the comet pretty well- they need a reason for people to stay away. Plague. This also gives us an easier way of making doors and window shutters- we won't. We'll board them all up. When the building is painted all manner of plague signs and filth can be added. I used planks that were roughly snapped into piece and glued around the windows. By snapping them, a rougher end is made, and makes it look more realistic. Placing them at angles makes it seem like a rush job was done by whomever boarded up the place. After all, who wants to catch plague. The second picture also adds a little story to the building. The boards are obviously broken, whatever was in there has since broken out!!


Now for the roof. I use the cereal box packet tile method, but it probably isn't the best. It's boring and tedious, but it can look alright. Firstly, by just using the cardboard form a cereal packet, the roof will be weak. So cut a length of foamcore the size of the roof and glue that on. I have a regular opponent who loves to send his ogre after my marksmen, and I don't want the massive model to fall through my finished building.


Next, the strips. Mark out on the packet strips about 1.5cm wide. Cut them. You'll need a lot. That's the easy part. If you have a semi interested missus or child, now is the time to get them involved. Cut little traingles out everynow and then until your strip looks the one in the picture. Glue these onto the last piece of foamcore which you have added. Make sure the tiles overlap, and use enough glue so that the ends don't splay upwards. When you get to the end, use paperclips to hold them all down. You want them to be well and truly glued down.



As I mentioned earlier, you'll need a lot of the strips. I haven't been bothered to sit thee and cut them out, and have neither an interested sibling, or missus- she is avoiding me because I'm sick

More to come soon. Maybe.

Great work man! Keep it up.

Oh I'm not a goob building builder, but I'm sur your tutorial will help me ! Thanks !

Very well done!

This should be a sticky one!

Yeah good on ya Adam..

Keep updating it and I'm sure we'll all be better off.

I can't wait to play on all these new buildings we've created. Should be a very full table now. It's all going to look awesome, especially with a bit of paint.

Seeing as though you're sick and have the next 2+ days off I expect that this'll be finished relatively soon.. Then the advanced tutorial starts

Even I can understand these instructions!

Well done so far

Nicely done mate, made this an item in my FAQ thread on WAU

Well done; a fine step-by-step piece of instructional prose. Even for someone as set in his way as moi, it's enlightening; I'm going to try a couple of your splendid ideas. I hope when you get around to using your fine terrain pieces you'll put up a battle report.

And remember, if your feeling ill. CHICKEN SOUP!

So I had the motivation to go into town and get some more balso to finsih off the detail work. Unfortunately, I haven't had the motivation to finish the roof for the other buildings, just the first. I'll talk about this first.

When you get to about the stage of picture one, you'll need something to cover the gap. Cut a strip the length of the roof, and about one inch to two centimetres wide. Score this down the middle, and fold as in picture two. Glue it on the apex of your roof, and voila!! A finished roof!!



unfortunately, because of our supports for the weight of any models on the roof, we have this ugly view from the side. Not to worry, it is easily fixed through one of two ways. The first is to paint over it with textered paint when you basecoat the walls of the building. It is quite essential to coat any exposed foam in this manner as it has the tendency to melt when undercoated. This is caused by the propellant in the aerosol, not the paint. This method is my favourite, and works well. In my scenery gallery, most buildings have used this method. The second method, and the one we are using here, is to simply cover it up. I cut strips of balsa to fit over it and glued them on. Problem gone.


I continued to add detail to the otehr buidings using the methods described earlier. For the smallest building I added turod style detail; lots of exposed timberwork. This works quite well and is very simple to do. If your building was themed in a plains or forest area this would be a way to go about detailing, as stone is harder to come by in these areas. To add the tudor style beams, it was simply thinking where one would look nice, cutting it to fit and gluing it on. I won't write much on the finer points of tudor architecture as I haven't seen much in my neighbourhood, whereas some of you guys would. But this is simple and it looks the part.



I've still got to add some dirt and other items to the base, so that will be another update. I'm hoping to add a lot of detail to the wider section at the back... barrels, boxes and crates. If you have any questions, want to know more about something, or want to show off what you've made using this tutorial, let me know.

Adam