The Bungalow in Foamboard

[Anglia105E]

The French doors are now in place, both at the rear of the kitchen area and also at the rear of the living room area. I used a different material for the second set of French doors, which was Foamex Board . . . This is a more robust material than foam board, and I decided to redo the kitchen doors using the the Foamex board. Both sets of French doors hinge open and I dispensed with the idea of having eight panes of glass, so these doors have one pane of glass.

All eight windows of the bungalow have glass panes on the inside, and they also have wooden window ledges . . .

Emulsion paint has been applied to all of the interior walls, and the interior doors are painted using brown enamel. Three different colours have been used for the interior paint scheme, these being Earth Balance ( pale yellow ), Open Water ( pale blue ), and Trailing Plant ( pale green ). All the emulsion paints are ELLE by Crown brand, as supplied by Homebase . . . The exterior front door at the front of the entrance hall is painted Humbrol Gloss Green, and is fully hinged.

Several kitchen appliances have been added, these being a sink unit, a freestanding gas cooker and a washing machine, There will be a fridge freezer added at some point, as I am waiting for the Ebay seller to 3D print this item . . . The sink unit has a sink and drainer brush painted with Molotow Liquid Chrome from a refill, also a fawcet fabricated from a paper clip, and one of the cupboard doors is in the open position. The washing machine has a circular door in the open position, and the gas cooker has an opening lower drawer.

During the past few days I have removed all of the wall panels that were pinned to the baseboard floor plan, and then produced an outline on tracing paper that will allow me to cut out a large sheet of foam board, which will be the ceilings panel to cover all of the rooms. There will be a second identical sheet of foam board that will form the base of the roofing structure . . .

David

[Spidercond]

Using foam board for structures like this is a great choice, and I’ve found that scoring the back of the board before bending helps keep clean lines. For inspiration, I’ve looked at prefabricated bungalows since they have simple designs that translate well into scale models. Also, using a light sanding sponge on the edges can smooth out rough cuts for a cleaner finish. Looking forward to seeing more updates!

 

Edited March 5 by Spidercond

[Anglia105E]

10 hours ago, Spidercond said:

Using foam board for structures like this is a great choice, and I’ve found that scoring the back of the board before bending helps keep clean lines.

Thank you Kyle . . . . Yes, that is a excellent way to bend the foam board cleanly, by scoring the reverse side. Certainly, foam board is a very versatile material, as long as you treat it gently . . . Painting the foam board on one side with water based paints does cause it to warp badly, but once paint is applied on the other side the sheet returns to a nice straight profile. I also found that if you exhibit a diorama structure inside a marquee tent during June, the humidity does cause extreme warping . . . . !

David

 

[Anglia105E]

Having decided to turn my attention to the roof structure, I set about calculating the position and lengths of the roof trusses. This was no easy task, and it was something that had been giving me cause for concern and many sleepless nights for most of February . . . The precise location of the central ridge of the roof was absolutely critical, because all of the other nine trusses would be leading off this central truss.

I was unsure of the overall height of this bungalow roof from the ground level, and although my complex calculations were telling me that 118 mm was the magic figure, I needed to obtain a more accurate estimation, such was the importance of that central ridge. This is the highest point of the building, so I emailed the company that had supplied me with both the floor plan and also the roof plan, explaining my predicament. They kindly sent me a figure of 6020 mm as the overall maximum height of the bungalow, at the point of the central ridge . . . I was able to divide this figure by 43 and arrive at the true magic figure of 140 mm, as opposed to 118 mm . . . Everything started to fall into place from this point onwards . . . 

I then carefully measured and cut out hand drawn pieces of foam board to form the ten roof trusses. The whole structure looked to be correct, and once these truss pieces were pinned in place onto the roof structure baseboard, I was able to work on the sheet balsa panel that forms the main area of the roof on the left hand side of the bungalow, looking from the front of the building . . . This is the largest of the eight roof panels, as it extends from both gable ends and all the way up to the central ridge at the highest point.

Using strips of grey roof tiles that were supplied by a company in York, which have peel off self adhesive backing, I covered the sheet balsa panel nicely. This used up two sheets of roof tiles in one pack, and I have three more packs of of two sheets each to complete the entire roof area . . . The bungalow roof is a complex structure, and I was fully expecting this part of the build to be challenging at every level.

I came up with a name for this property, which is ' The Rose Bungalow ' . . . The color of the exterior walls was one reason for the name, and also my Chinese wife's English name is ' Rose ' . . .

Here are a few photos of the roof structure work in progress.

David

[PHPaul]

Yikes!  I bet that WAS challenging!

Very nice execution however.  Well Done!

[Anglia105E]

11 minutes ago, PHPaul said:

Yikes!  I bet that WAS challenging!

Very nice execution however.  Well Done!

Thanks Paul . . . To some extent I can relax a little now that I have managed to get this far with the roof structure. Today I am preparing the floor areas of this bungalow, which involves carefully measuring the inner boundaries of each room as an outline that I can work to . . . All of the wall panels will be unpinned from the floor plan baseboard, and laid out on a large sheet of foam board . . . There are 16 wall panels, 8 floor areas, 10 roof trusses, 8 roof panels, one baseboard, one ceilings board, one roof structure board, 6 interior doors, one front door, one rear garage door, two front garage doors, two pairs of French doors, eight windows and one chimney stack . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

The baseboard floor plan was significantly warped, which was exactly what I had expected to happen, as I had applied PVA glue on one side only . . . The floor coverings of both carpet and printed card were glued onto some of the floor areas, and the bathroom has a tiled floor. Due to the fact that the underside of this baseboard has not had any paint or glue applied whatsoever, the foamboard naturally warped . . . This was rectified to some extent, by applying one coat of Magnolia emulsion paint over the entire surface of the baseboard, on the underside. There remains some slight evidence of warping in the opposite direction, but this should not be a problem because once all of the wall panels have been PVA glued to the baseboard, all warping should be fully corrected ( famous last words ) . . .

In order to create the effect of a polished wooden floor surface for both the kitchen floor area, and also the living room floor area, I first tried applying yacht varnish, which is my ' go to ' reliable and trusty shiny surface friend. However, following 24 hours drying overnight, the printed image of a polished wooden floor on thin white card was clearly showing a MATT finish . . . Then I had the idea to place a sheet of clear film over the card image, and ' Voila ! ' we have the desired effect . . . two nicely polished wooden floor coverings in the kitchen and the entrance hallway.

Recent work in progress has been all about the fireplace assemblies and the chimney breast panels. For both the kitchen and living room in this bungalow model, there is going to be a fireplace with a hearth and mantlepiece, which is mounted onto a chimney breast that rises from the floor to the ceiling. The fireplace assemblies are made from foamboard, wooden popsicle stick and Foamex board, with some black permanent marker applied to the stove area.

Shortly, the chimney breast panels will have a coat of emulsion paint applied, this being pale blue on the kitchen side and pale green on the living room side. The paint colour for each room will extend to the fireplace surround . . .

Thanks for viewing this topic guys, and I hope you like the work in progress . . . All comments are most welcome !

David

[PHPaul]

Looking good, David!

[Anglia105E]

58 minutes ago, PHPaul said:

Looking good, David!

Thanks a lot Paul . . . Hope your model building projects are going well . . .

David

[slusher]

Great work David!

[Earl Marischal]

David,

I’m impressed with your work. I have also built structures for model railway layouts using the same materials, including tiles from the same York company.

Looking forward to seeing the finished article.

steve

PS Your Rolls driver must need a good eye to park in that garage. 😀

[Anglia105E]

2 hours ago, Earl Marischal said:

David,

I’m impressed with your work. I have also built structures for model railway layouts using the same materials, including tiles from the same York company.

Looking forward to seeing the finished article.

steve

PS Your Rolls driver must need a good eye to park in that garage. 😀

Thank you very much Steve, and what a coincidence that you have used York Model Making / York Model Rail.com , , , Their products are of excellent quality, and I shall be ordering some ridge tiles in O-gauge (1:43) from them soon. This bungalow build is turning out to be most satisfying, and as you have found with the structures that you have built, making use of different materials provides a flexible approach to the overall structure of the building . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

As you pointed out, Steve Grantham, the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I is indeed a very tight fit for this garage . . . Lengthways is not a problem, but to reverse the Rolls-Royce between the narrow door frames is challenging for the driver, to say the least !

David

[Anglia105E]

3 hours ago, slusher said:

Great work David!

Thanks a lot Carl . . . I am pleased to hear that you like this work in progress. I hope that you can continue to follow my posts.

David

[Anglia105E]

Both of the tables, so one for the kitchen and one for the living room. have been been given one coat of Vallejo Burnt Umber acrylic paint, Once the acrylic had dried overnight, the table tops have been given one coat of yacht varnish, to produce a high gloss shine . . . The wall panel, the chimney breast and the fireplace for the kitchen have been coated with pale blue emulsion paint, while the living room has these areas coated with pale green emulsion paint.

Several wall panels are now pinned in place to examine the alignment and to double check precise measurements.

Some 3D printed furniture items arrived in the post today, including four dining chairs for the kitchen, and also a corner cupboards unit for the kitchen. These pieces have been washed in hot soapy water, rinsed and dried, with one coat of Humbrol Light Grey Acrylic applied from rattle can. Following overnight drying, the chairs and corner unit will be ready for detail painting . . . The corner unit comprises four pieces, which are the base unit, the work surface, and two cupboard doors.

Here are some up to date photos of the current progress . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

Recent work over the past few days has included painting the seat bases of the dining chairs in Vallejo Deep Sky Blue acrylic, and also the frames of these chairs have been given a coat of Vallejo Burnt Umber acrylic . . . Further work was done on the eight brick headers that will be placed below each of the exterior window frames. I have used Johnstone's Tile Red for these brick headers.

While the paint was drying overnight on the chairs and brick headers, I worked on an idea for the hearth tiles on the kitchen fireplace. This involved sanding the edges of the hearth stone, and also scoring lines for the tiles. Now I shall need a suitable dark blue paint for the hearth tiles, and when the living room fireplace is done in the same way, this will have dark green hearth tiles . . .

Four of the eight brick headers have been glued in place, using super glue, having tried PVA glue which did not work.

The kitchen cupboards corner unit has been given one coat of Revell 49 Matt Pale Blue, along with the two doors. Both the corner unit top work surface, and also the mantlepiece for the fireplace will be painted with Burnt Umber acrylic shortly . . .

David

The ' Choose Files ' option is missing from my topic screen, so I cannot upload photos at the moment . . . Here is a link to my Google Drive (10 photos).

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/189M_9A5e4wAItApCsJtXlVbufSeBIYA9

[Anglia105E]

12 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

Recent work over the past few days has included painting the seat bases of the dining chairs in Vallejo Deep Sky Blue acrylic, and also the frames of these chairs have been given a coat of Vallejo Burnt Umber acrylic . . . Further work was done on the eight brick headers that will be placed below each of the exterior window frames. I have used Johnstone's Tile Red for these brick headers.

While the paint was drying overnight on the chairs and brick headers, I worked on an idea for the hearth tiles on the kitchen fireplace. This involved sanding the edges of the hearth stone, and also scoring lines for the tiles. Now I shall need a suitable dark blue paint for the hearth tiles, and when the living room fireplace is done in the same way, this will have dark green hearth tiles . . .

Four of the eight brick headers have been glued in place, using super glue, having tried PVA glue which did not work.

The kitchen cupboards corner unit has been given one coat of Revell 49 Matt Pale Blue, along with the two doors. Both the corner unit top work surface, and also the mantlepiece for the fireplace will be painted with Burnt Umber acrylic shortly . . .

David

The ' Choose Files ' option is missing from my topic screen, so I cannot upload photos at the moment . . . Here is a link to my Google Drive (10 photos).

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/189M_9A5e4wAItApCsJtXlVbufSeBIYA9

Still no ' Choose Files ' available . . . ( Just testing really )

David

[Anglia105E]

Recent work over the past few days has included painting the seat bases of the dining chairs in Vallejo Deep Sky Blue acrylic, and also the frames of these chairs have been given a coat of Vallejo Burnt Umber acrylic . . . Further work was done on the eight brick headers that will be placed below each of the exterior window frames. I have used Johnstone's Tile Red for these brick headers.

While the paint was drying overnight on the chairs and brick headers, I worked on an idea for the hearth tiles on the kitchen fireplace. This involved sanding the edges of the hearth stone, and also scoring lines for the tiles. Now I shall need a suitable dark blue paint for the hearth tiles, and when the living room fireplace is done in the same way, this will have dark green hearth tiles . . .

Four of the eight brick headers have been glued in place, using super glue, having tried PVA glue which did not work.

The kitchen cupboards corner unit has been given one coat of Revell 49 Matt Pale Blue, along with the two doors. Both the corner unit top work surface, and also the mantlepiece for the fireplace will be painted with Burnt Umber acrylic shortly . . .

David

[PHPaul]

VERY nice, David!

Initially I had some doubts about the realism of the foamboard construction, but your detailing has proven that it works very well indeed.

[Anglia105E]

2 hours ago, PHPaul said:

VERY nice, David!

Initially I had some doubts about the realism of the foamboard construction, but your detailing has proven that it works very well indeed.

Thanks Paul, and I know what you mean about the realism aspect . . . I would say that the foam board is very good for the wall panels, the baseboards, the roof trusses and generally the larger components of the construction, so I have introduced lots of smaller detailing parts to balance the whole assembly. Things like the furniture, the kitchen appliances, beds, doors and windows, figures for example are important to compliment the expanse of foam board . . . The funny thing is, that originally this bungalow started out as a completely white structure, just like in the Adam Savage video that inspired me in the beginning . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

Further work on the floor surface at the back of the garage was carried out, with some grey emulsion paint. The frame for the hinged opening garage doors has been strengthened and squared up, using some pieces of balsa . . . Every so often, I like to test fit the roof structure by placing it on top of the ground floor walls.

The kitchen appliances and furniture have been arranged roughly where they might be located, so as to visualise how the kitchen space is used . . .

Both fireplaces now have a coat of paint on the 5 mm square hearth tiles, and a coat of yacht varnish over the paint.

Between the walls of bedroom two and bedroom three it has been necessary to add a filler piece of foam board, in order to close off a gap. Later, the small gaps between the pieces of foam board will be filled with Mr White Putty 'R' and overpainted after sanding flush . . .

I have now arrived at the point where the walls can be mounted onto the baseboard floor plan, and fixed with PVA glue . This process needs to be carried out with due care and attention . . . Scary stuff for me !

David

[Earl Marischal]

I’m not trying to be funny, but it might be worth asking a woman about designing the kitchen. A woman, as a user, would be more likely to know where the appliances are best placed for ease of use and best use of space, rather than aesthetics.

steve

Edited March 31 by Earl Marischal

[Anglia105E]

5 hours ago, Earl Marischal said:

I’m not trying to be funny, but it might be worth asking a woman about designing the kitchen. A woman, as a user, would be more likely to know where the appliances are best placed for ease of use and best use of space, rather than aesthetics.

steve

You know what Steve ?  You are absolutely right on this one . . . I am seeing the layout of the bungalow kitchen purely from a man's perspective, which would be fine if this room was a workshop or an office, but the kitchen is usually a woman's natural space. Maybe I need to consult my wife or my daughter for good solid advice !

Thanks for your lateral thinking . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

Two days ago the process of mounting the wall panels onto the baseboard floor plan began . . . Each individual wall panel is being carefully positioned, with PVA glue being applied to the lower edge, and also to the edge of the panel that is immediately joined to it. Using two 1-2-3 blocks, one weight bottle and also a few quilting pins to hold the joined panels firm, this is left overnight to set for a good 24 hours . . .

By following this slow and precise procedure, I feel this gives the joints the best possible opportunity to achieve a strong bond with the baseboard, and also between each pair of wall panels . . .

There were four different ways of approaching this process; one being to unpin all of the wall panels and remove them, leaving an empty blank baseboard, while the alternative was to leave all of the wall panels pinned in place, as they are now . . . Then there was the removal and refitting of each wall panel, starting from the outside and working inwards, or there was the option to start from the centre of the bungalow and work outwards . . . I decided to go with the method of leaving all of the wall panels pinned in place, so that I could be absolutely certain that they were all lined up squarely. I also decided to start from the centre and work outwards, which seems to involve less risk of misaligning the overall structure.

So far, I have done this for three walls, and the one filler piece. The strength and the rigid squareness is evident with these first few walls, so I shall continue !

David

[Rodent]

On 3/31/2025 at 1:19 AM, Earl Marischal said:

I’m not trying to be funny, but it might be worth asking a woman about designing the kitchen. A woman, as a user, would be more likely to know where the appliances are best placed for ease of use and best use of space, rather than aesthetics.

steve

Doesn't need to be a woman, just ask anyone who cooks. Your stove, sink, and fridge need to be nearer to each other or you will walk 1/2 mile just making your biscuits and tea. Maybe put your corner cabinet in the upper left corner, or make the windowsill smaller so your sink can go under the window and arrange the other stuff as needed. M'lady can have a view of the garden whilst washing the dishes since you haven't given her a dishwasher.