4. The Small House from My Childhood [2. Finally, Construction Begins]
[Finally, Construction Begins]
Compared to the model in the photo posted in the previous article, the dimensions of one side of the building in this construction are six times larger, making it easier to build furniture and other items.
First, I made tatami mats, glass windows, shoji screens, and fusuma sliding doors out of paper. My experience building previous building models (1/150 scale) was useful for this. However, there were many pieces, and it took more days than expected.
Next, I cut and combined 6mm square lumber to make pillars and frames, forming the skeleton of the house. Also, I used 3mm thick styrene board for the wall material. I temporarily fixed these with masking tape. I then fitted the tatami mats, glass windows, shoji screens, and fusuma sliding doors from the image above into them.
Note that the volume of this model is naturally 216 times larger than the 1/125 scale model, making it quite large. Since this was my first time building such a large model, I struggled because I didn't know the ropes. Therefore, at this stage, it did not form a proper rectangular parallelepiped frame; it was tilted, wobbly, and in a state where it seemed like it might fall apart.
Furthermore, since the back of the house—that is, the bathroom, kitchen, toilet, and entrance—was not visible in the old photos, I recreated them relying solely on my memory. The dimensions and structure of this area cannot be called accurate. In particular, the frame of the bathroom was made only in shape using styrene board.
After that, I made the toilet cubicle and also made the bathroom frame out of square lumber. I also made the ceiling frame out of square lumber, so at this stage, it finally started to look like a dollhouse.
Furthermore, I newly made and fitted the lattice door for the entrance. I also made the bathroom entrance (service entrance), the kitchen and toilet windows, and the eaves.
Next is the exterior wall. I made this by cutting thin lauan boards one by one with a knife and pasting them together. Finally, I attached these to the perimeter of the building. By attaching this exterior wall, the building finally became rectangular and sturdy. Incidentally, I also added shutter boxes and a storage shed on the north side.
Since I managed to build the structure, I will now make the furniture for each room. Well then, stay tuned for the next article!