Two styrene & cedar simple log shacks
Prime white styrene with base spray of yellow brown paint.
Water based paint has fewer hazards than solvent based paint..
Windows are sprayed on the back side black. The front of
the clear window acetate has small painted mullion lines using one of
three methods: A. The Remarkably Steady Hand (good luck)
B. Frisket
film (I prefer matte over gloss. Carried at art stores where air
brush supplies are displayed) overlay with mullions cut out using a
sharp Xacto blade.
C. Use a line drawing pen
with thinned paint to scribe mullions using a cork backed ruler. The cork
backed ruler prevents movement. This pen can be found in craft or art
stores. Store clerks usually do not know this pen exists, even if on the
shelf!
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Styrene log shacks are relatively
easy to make.
The techniques of building with styrene and hand made
tools I learned at a two day workshop given by Glenda Bockel in Lake
Oswego, Oregon. The painting techniques were taught by Neal Tooze.
The methods I outline below utilize what I retained of what they
taught.
Materials needed:
Circular paper cutter or table saw or other method of cutting styrene
that works for you, riffler
files, Menda Pump pots with
MEK, cheap small paint brushes, sharp X-Acto blades with handle, sandpaper,
and small home made styrene squares.
Coarse
riffler file sets enable making boards look weathered. Inexpensive files
work fine. The link attached to the "riffler files" list above
has a low cost set far down the list of hand tools my link guides your
browser to peruse. As Glenda Bockel suggested, I cut the files in half and add an oak dowel handle to each by
drilling a small hole and pounding the file tang into the homemade handle.
Menda pumps allow a tiny amount of
volatile liquid (M.E.K.) to be dispensed with a tiny push of a brush on
the lid which pumps a bit of solvent into the cup of the lid. This reduces
the amount of fumes.
Circular
paper cutters enable perfectly squared scoring of styrene sheets. Simply
score, bend, and break off the styrene! No waste. No sanding. Fast and
accurate cutting of styrene.
Make your own styrene squares out of sheet styrene and a pair of strips
M.E.K. bonded to both sides of one edge of the square. The strips form a
straight edge to place your square against the styrene you are cutting
with a Xacto blade.
Syringes
for glue can be purchased at many wood working supply stores.
Small drafting line drawing pens are useful for windows. Fill the pen's
tiny cup with thinned paint and use a cork backed ruler to guide the pen
so you can draw mullions. Alternate method is to use frisket film on the
unpainted side of the window pane. Cut the mullions with a sharp Xacto
blade and remove the thin mullion frisket so sprayed paint will paint the
mullions. |