My Flemish farmstead model - Part 1 - The Longhouse (3 of 4)

The brick gable wall

Cutting and laying the several hundreds bricks required to cover the large surfaces of the gable wall turned out being quite a boring, time-consuming exercise… 

While for the general brickwork layout of the gable wall I followed the stretcher bond pattern as used for the chimney, at the gable slopes I laid the bricks in triangular patterns set at right angles to the roof-line, an attractive brick-laying technique often seen in traditional buildings in the Netherlands, and generally throughout North-Western Europe and colonial North America. 

Note the flat, vertical brick arches over the gable windows, and the wrought iron brick-to-beam anchors, or wall-ties, made with narrow card strips.

The half-timbered walls

I made the oak timbers with strips of 1mm-thick, 5mm wide card, cut somewhat irregularly and glued onto the cardboard structure. 

I then textured the card strips applying an irregular spread of neoprene glue (BOSTIK or similar) stirred with a small stick or a bamboo skewer (this method, if a bit annoying on account of the aggressive nature of the neoprene glue fumes, is very effective to achieve a realistic wood texture with minimum effort).

This done, I filled the areas between the timbers with a thin layer of papier-mâché to simulate the plaster that in the real building covers the wattle-and-daub infill. Note that, as in the real half-timbered buildings, the plaster layer should be level with, or even slightly proud of, the timber framework.

To add interest to the otherwise rather plain back and hipped-end walls of the longhouse, in some areas I decided to show the wattle-and-daub wicker netting exposed by the damaged or decayed plaster-work. 

To do this, prior to plastering with fine papier-mâché, I lifted and removed small tracts of the outer layer of the corrugated cardboard structure, removed the corresponding tract of fluting, and inserted pieces of wicker netting made with short lengths of household twine stiffened with white glue. 

Finally, I rendered the stone-wall foundation by gluing onto the cardboard structure small card pieces roughly cut to random shape and size, covered with a thin layer of fine papier-mâché and a wash of diluted white glue. 

(to be continued)

My Flemish farmstead model - Part 1 - The Longhouse (2 of 4)

The chimney

Before tackling the challenging task of covering with bricks the large surfaces of the gable-end wall, I thought it advisable to practice first with the much smaller surfaces of the chimney.

In the 1/32 scale a brick should measure about 7mm (length) x 3.5mm (width) x 2.2mm (height). However, having to cut hundreds of bricks for the chimney and the gable wall, I rounded up their dimensions to 8mm x 4mm x 3mm respectively.

Thus, the visible face of a brick is represented by a 3mm strip of card 8mm-long when laid along its length (a “stretcher”), and 4mm-long when laid along its width (a “header”). A corner brick is represented by a 3mm strip of card bent at 90°,  the long side measuring 8mm and the short side 4mm.

Bricks can be laid following different patterns, the most common being referred to as “English bond”, “Flemish bond”, and “stretcher bond”, or “common bond”. Most of the buildings at the Bokrjik Open Air Museum follow the English bond masonry pattern. However, since the stretcher bond pattern features a much simpler brick layout, I decided to follow that one instead.

In the stretcher bond masonry pattern, all visible bricks in the model are represented by 8mm x 3mm card strips about 0.5mm thick, excepting of course the corner bricks, which I obtained from card strips 3mm high and 13mm long, bent at about 8.5mm – the extra 1mm in length (13mm instead of 12mm) compensating for the bending.

                             

Having sorted out the dimensions of the bricks, I revised those of the chimney, which I had tentatively stipulated in my preliminary sketch, and adjusted them to the size of the bricks, so as to insure that the height and side widths of the chimney were close enough to entire multiples of the bricks’ dimensions (paying due attention to the corners, and providing about 1mm allowance for the gaps between the bricks). 

                             

This done, gluing the bricks in position was a quick, simple task. I then applied several coats of white glue to smoothen the bricks contours, and also to seal the whole thing in preparation for painting.

The roof-ridge tiles

To make the roof-ridge tiles, I proceeded as follows. 

First, I glued a piece of thick fabric string along the ridge, making sure that the ridge’s humpback contour was maintained. 

Next, I cut a long, narrow strip of craft paper and glued it on the string, carefully sealing the gaps between the paper and the plush thatch with diluted papier-mâché representing the off-white mortar spread underneath the ridge tiles.  

Finally, I glued narrow strips of card at regular intervals, to represent the raised profile where each tile overlaps with the next one.

Painting the roof

I painted the thatched roof with successive light coats of diluted acrylic paint, using a mix of raw umber and lime-green, until I obtained the right shade of color.

I really enjoyed painting the bricks and ridge tiles. I used a mix of red ocher and mauve red acrylic paints, applying very thin washes so as to prevent the paint from depositing too uniformly, and  adding small amounts of yellow ocher and raw umber here and there for brick color variation. Painting the thin, off-white mortar lines between the chimney bricks was a bit tedious, but really brought the whole thing to life. And as a final touch, I gave the chimney and ridge tiles a coat of semi-gloss varnish for a realistic, glazing effect.

In the event, I found the end result so appealing that really I could not wait starting work on the gable wall!

(to be continued)

My Flemish farmstead model - Part 1 - The Longhouse (1 of 4)

Establishing the dimensions of the longhouse

I started off by drawing on grid paper a preliminary sketch of the base and of each side of the longhouse (all dimensions in mm; scale 1:4 unless otherwise stated).

I established the overall length of the building at 500mm (just short of the usable length of the cardboard boxes I store my models in), and its width at 180mm. I allocated 270mm to the house portion, 120mm to the livestock shed, and 80mm to the storage room. 

All the walls are 6mm thick, except for the gable-end wall, which I made 12mm thick on account of the dimensions of the bricks, as I shall explain later.

I established the height under the roof to 90mm, including 5mm for the stone foundation. I find this height to be appropriate for 1/32-scale toy soldiers.

I then established the height of the gable-end wall to 200mm: 110mm for the lower portion, and 90mm for the upper, sloping portion. The resulting gable, and roof, slope angle is slightly less than 45°. 

Finally, I drew the door and windows openings (shaded light grey, see below for dimensions), and filled in  the framework timber posts and beams (shaded dark gray). 

At this stage I also established the dimensions of the model’s doors and windows, starting from standard dimensions of my own liking (these are the minimum dimensions that I believe look good next to 1/32-scale figures - they are smaller than they should be if the model were built exactly to scale, but look quite nice next to a toy soldier):

Door:       25mm x 50mm
Window: 15mm x 20mm

I drew the back door, the back window, and the gable windows to these standard dimensions, and stipulated proportionally the larger dimensions of the front door and windows, and those of the livestock shed and storage room doors. 

The front door and casement windows feature attractive paned overlights.

The large door of the storage room has a wicket in one of the shutters

Note that the all doors and windows fit exactly into the corresponding wall openings, except for the large doors of the shed and storage room, which are slightly shorter.

Finally, I drew a sketch of the thatched-reed roof. As already mentioned, the roof slope angle results from the dimensions of the gable-end wall.

As to the hipped-end slope of the roof, I determined it by eye from the many photographs I found on the internet. 

I completed my sketch establishing the size and position of the chimney, also working by eye.

The base structure

Having sorted out all the relevant dimensions of the building, I cut the base from 2mm-thick cardboard. I cut all the walls from 6mm-thick corrugated cardboard, and doubled the thickness for the gable-end wall. 

On each side of the house, I drew and cut the door and the window openings. I then drew the stone foundation and the  framework timber posts and beams. 

This done, I glued the four sides of the house to the 2mm-thick cardboard base. I then added the partition walls delimiting the livestock shed and storage room compartments. I also glued a 5mm-thick floor piece to the house portion, to raise it level with the stone foundation.

I assembled the three pieces of the roof, trying to achieve an irregular, humpback outline at the ridge. 

I then added three large triangular gussets to the underside, so as to strengthen the roof and insure that it rested square on the house. These pieces also made for convenient handling surfaces when detailing and painting the roof.

The thatched-reed roof

The thatched-reed roof of the longhouse was my first attempt at this type of model roof construction, and I am sufficiently happy with the result.

Having studied many pictures of thatched-reed roofs, I noted that the texture of a reed roof looks very compact and uniform. Also, the prevailing color of weathered thatched-reed roofs is not at all yellow or straw, but rather varies from dark greenish brown to grayish black.

After considering various alternative methods for texturing my thatched roof model (including using rough sponges, carpet, felt, and towels…), I happened to find in a supermarket a very cheap light grey polyester plush blanket, and resolved to use that. 

I cut three pieces from the blanket, each somewhat larger than the corresponding roof section, and glued them to the corrugated cardboard. I then gave the plush several coats of diluted white glue, slightly raising the hair here and there to suggest the reed texture. When the white glue was dry, using a sharp hobby knife I trimmed the excess plush to the dimensions of the supporting cardboard structure.

Finally, I used diluted papier-mâché to seal the joints between the three plush pieces.  

(to be continued)

Building another Flemish farmstead model

Six or seven years back my twin Sons built for me the scale model of a Flemish farmhouse.

My Sons’ model represented the main building of a large farmstead dating from the late 17th-Century. The actual farmstead, exhibited at the Open Air Museum in Bokrijk, Belgium (Museum's site here), is known as the Contzenwinning Klein-Hoeselt farm and consists of four half-timbered buildings.

(Picture from here)

I intended to build the models of the other three buildings of this farm (the stable, the horse shed, and the bake house) at some later time, and about two years ago I decided it was time to set to work. 

However, while reviewing the many pictures we had downloaded from the Bokrijk website, my attention was caught by another farmhouse: a large half-timbered longhouse featuring a thatched-reed roof and a beautiful brickwork gable wall. 

I found this building so attractive that I took the bold decision to build a model of this other farmhouse instead of completing that of my Sons’! 

This other farmhouse, also dating from the late 17th - early 18th Century, is likewise part of a larger homestead, known as the Kilbershoeve Meehuven farm.

(Picture from here)

It consists of the longhouse itself  (being the well-off Farmer’s home with attached barn and two large compartments, one definitely a livestock shed, the other perhaps a storage room); a large hayloft and cattle stable building ; and a bake house. 

(Picture from here)

After some research on the Internet, I could get a pretty fair idea of the four side views of all the concerned buildings. However, as I worked from photographs, the actual dimensions of the buildings could not be discerned. 

This was not too big of a problem, though, because building an exact scale model of the homestead was simply out of question: in order to keep the size of the finished model within reasonable dimensions, the buildings had to be compressed somehow, and the size and relative proportions of some of their parts modified.

The project took about two years (of intermittent work) to complete, but I am very pleased with the end result. 

My early 18th-Century Flemish farmstead model is entirely built from scratch, flowers included. I used cheap, recycled materials, mostly cardboard of various kind, craft paper, and home-made papier-mâché.

In a series of future posts I shall provide detailed descriptions of how I went about scratch-building my model, including the three main buildings (the longhouse, the stable, the bakehouse), as well as the many ancillary structures and terrain elements (the outhouse or privy, the well sweep, the shed with old-style straw bee skeps, the vegetable garden, the manure heaps).