Petite Guerre Toy Soldiers: My Flemish farmstead model - Part 1

The door and windows frames

I drew the windows, and the doors that fit exactly into the corresponding wall openings, on backing pieces of 1mm-thick card. I cut these pieces larger than the corresponding wall openings, so as to provide adequate surface to glue them in place from the inside of the building.

I then cut and glued the finishing elements to the backing pieces, using 0.5mm-thick card for the window frames, and 1mm-thick card for the door planks.

I coated the window panes with white glue, and painted them with diluted gloss black acrylic paint.

As for the door planks, I textured them with neoprene glue as usual.

The gable-end and backside windows mounted on backing pieces

The front door with paned overlight

Shown below are the gable windows glued in position from the inside of the building. Note the near-perfect fit of the window frames into the corresponding wall openings, afforded by forcing into shape the wall’s cardboard structure whenever needed; and the realistic unevenness of the brick wall, obtained by pressing the surface at random places (just two among the many reasons why I prefer working with corrugated cardboard instead of plywood).

Close-up of the gable-end wall

In the original building, the lower portions of the front windows are fitted with attractive green shutters (see photographs of the original building in the introductory post). However, as many other buildings from the period do not have shutters, I omitted them for the sake of simplicity (but may decide to add them in the future).

The front casement windows with overlights

Unlike all other doors and windows, the large doors of the livestock shed and storage room compartments open toward the outside of the building. As such, they are flush with the outer wall, and are hinged to the posts that frame the opening.

Close-up of the livestock-shed door

To make these doors, I cut their outlines from 0.5-mm thick backing card, to which I glued 1mm-thick card planks, each slightly narrower than its nominal width so as to show the gaps between the planks.

Back view of the cart shed door and wicket

Since the model is meant to be seen from the outside you only, I did not provide the doors with working hinges, and simply glued them in place. Nonetheless, I decided to detail the inner sides of the doors as well (albeit not visible), with their attractively laid-down strengthening braces. To do this, I indented the backside to represent the planks, and added the braces as required.