Well, yes…
Who said that the dreams always stay in “papers”, or only in our minds … Who will contest that “… my own home …” does not fit in plans of our life, even once … And how amazing is this dream when incurred and house the rest of our lives … It is so wonderful and creative you might want to “build” even in “scale”. To wander in every corner, to
“discover” each detail of, identify your failures or new needs, which you did not anticipate …
And this “dream” , just shows us our friend and colleague ANTONIS ANAGNOSTOPOULOS.
Let’s follow him in the “tour”.
BUILDING of a PRIVATE HOUSE
Basement, Ground floor, First floor – Surrounding area – Furniture
(Floors are detachable, so one can see the furnished interior)
Scale 1:40, Vignette dimensions 40 X 60 cm
Basic materials: Cardboard 2 to 6 mm
Balsa wood
Natural materials: (stones, earth, branches, leafs)
Glues : Stick glue for paper, hot silicone glue, glue for hard plastic, liquid glue)
Painting: Regular domestic “plastic” paint as we all as modeling colors
Stage A: Interior
I begun with the drawing, the engraving and installation of all electrical lines wherever we need light or power supply. Pay attention to the connection (+ or -)
The lighting is achieved by 12V LED. All wiring was scheduled, drawn and then inserted in 3mm depth in all walls, ceilings, roofs and outside areas. Between the different floors I have installed small magnets in order for
the electricity to be able to be transferred from floor to floor. You can buy them or you can easily make them by using small NdFeB magnets.
This was all floors can be detached easily for better inner observation without having to worry about any wiring. Connection can be done “parallel” or “in row”. The power is supplied by a normal 12V supply. A regular dimmer can also be used in order to adjust the strength of the light at will.
Next we had to put together and glue the walls and floors, close any unwanted gaps with modeling putty, sand and finally paint of all inside walls. Cardboard requires painting
with a soft brush and my experience tells me that regular “plastic” color (the type used in real houses) is a very good choice.
All doors and windows were constructed using balsa wood and the glasses in window were made by hard plastic.
All wooden areas were painted with color made of different spices or instant coffee, which were mixed with water in order to achieve the desired result (red pepper, cinnamon and saffron were used).
After that it was time for the furniture and appliances.
A Music house….
In Each floor we installed speakers from mobile phone hands frees inside the speakers of the scaled down stereo.
The speakers with dimensions of (H 4cm W 1,3 cm D 1,5cm) were all connected with the central sound system.
Some of the hardest constructions had to do with the kitchen and WC.
Many selections for the building materials …
Stage B’ Exterior
First steps were again apply of putty were necessary, sanding and painting. Next I had to cover the outside walls with bricks, rocks etc. You can buy relief shits of wall imitation but you can also make them by using Styrofoam, resin, plastic shits, wood etc.
All you need is patience, which is the basic characteristic of our hobby anyway.
Following the walls we installed all the extra constructions (roofs, chimneys, antennas, flower pots etc).
Alternative power sources…
To make the wind mill I used the motor from a destroyed printer. You can always of courder buy one. After making all the required joins in order for the winds mill to move
as desired, I connected it to the power circuit. A dimmer could have been used again to make things easier.
Fire place and BBQ …
….or any construction requires a “smoke” effect. We are using a piece of mosquito “Snake” reppeler which we set on fire in a metal box for safety. An alternative could be
a smoke producing device one can find in a model train.
Roofs and roof tiles…
Many different choices depending mainly on the patience you have. For the roof tiles, a material that is easy to find and use is “wave” craft paper. All wooden parts of the construction were painted with diluted instant coffee grains (Nescafe), which was waterd down gradually bepending how dark or light we want the colour to be. The same painting method was used for the wooden floors.
Stage C’ Surrounding areas
The street, pavements and car ramp were made by using different sanding papers and synthetic resin, imitating the cement plates of the pavement A lot of natural materials were used like stones and earth. Please keep in mind that when natural materials are to be used they must be “baked” in the oven for 20’ in 150 degrees in order to lose any moisture and kill any germs and insects present.
It is suggested that instead of using regular earth is to brake down and grind small stones and pebbles of the desired color and size Now off the make some garbage bins. We take two wire connectings, the ones that electricians use to connect two different pieces of wire. We separate them in two and use the end cups of two Bic pens as lids. We paint them one green one blue (recycle).
Now to the fense. An easy and fast way to make it is by using electric train rails. Depending on the type we choose the glue. A glue for hard plastic can be used to glue together almost everything, even metal.
To recreate the vegetation, I used small pieces dried wood branches, and for the leafs irregular pieces of paper together with tiny pieces of natural sponge and dried leafs from small plants. You can find anything you need in the area if you just visit a field or a garden near you. Oregano and mint are excellent choices to represent a tree with branches that can be easily glued in the desired position using any regular glue.
Before painting priming must take place by using any silicon spay or a regular hair spray to fix everything together.
Stage D’ Furniture – Appliances
Note: 1/40 scale means that everything in this construction is 40 time smaller than the original item. So, 2,5cm in our design is a full meter in reality
A double bed with dimensions of 2 X 1,5 meter will be in our design 5 X 3,75 cm.
Because of the size of the items we must choose the proper materials for the construction.
So we used balsa wood, plastic shits, cardboard, synthetic resine, styrofoam (dow), modeling putty etc.
It took me two months for the whole project to complete, by working 3 hours every day) for the house and a full month for the furniture.
Total cost was about € 90.
By Antonis Anagnostopoulos
Translation George Roumbos
