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)