Anyway, I found enough bits and pieces to try putting together one of the little houses from the 'Rusgorod: Russian Hovels' paper-craft set I downloaded. I just wanted to see what the little models looked like built and to check that my size reduction from the set's original 28mm scale had worked.
Now, I don't have a great printer, it's just a cheap home-office HP and the resolution isn't fantastic (even when set to 'Best Quality'), but even so I was quite pleased with print-out I got and got down to cutting it out...
This is one 'Russian Hovel No. 1' - out of a set of 6 buildings - and as you can see is a log cabin with a (very) high 'A' frame roof (I know nothing about architecture). I'm not sure how authentic this is, but it looks quite cute and kinda similar to some of the log buildings I've seen in photos of the Russian countryside taken during WW2... So let's go with it!
Well, as you can see, it ain't the most complicated model to put together, the ones I did for my 1/100 Normandy game were a lot more fiddly. But, LOL, I still managed to get myself covered in Pritt Stick! 😂
I put together the inner shell or framework using 3mm Kappa board (as we used to call it in art school) - that's foam board if you prefer - and pasted the print-out onto it. The roof, however, was heavy card stock instead as I didn't want it too think...
For once, all my measurements seemed to be spot on and everything came together without any gaps at the seams. This may have been to do with my cutting the board fractionally bigger, sticking the print onto it and then trimming off any excess? (For my Normandy card buildings I stuck all the printout onto the heavy card stock AND THEN cut everything out. I think my new way is better.)
Finally, with the walls glued together to form an open box, I cut out a rectangle of foam board for the floor and ground floor roof and then stuck them inside the box. This gave the building extra rigidity.
With the roof glued in place to complete the model I could't resist taking a photo of the cabin next to one of my 1/110 T-34s (Early Model)...
I think the scale looks just right - although I don't have any 15mm figures to check for sure - and next to the T-34 the model really does give off that rural Russian vibe.
This - as you can see - was a very quick build and there are a few things I would like to do to improve these models when I start banging out the rest of the set. For example, the exposed white card under the roof doesn't look good, I'll need to colour that (maybe a dark brown. And, also, I'll put on a darker roof cap along the length of the point, just to hide the little cut I made so I could fold the roof.
But, aside from these little niggles I am quite pleased with the model. It's what I was after - something cheap and easy and quick to put together. And I do prefer using foam board in order to create an inner supporting box as I noticed that after a while my 'card only' Normandy houses did warp a bit after being in storage in a cold, damp attic. These new models should last a bit longer.
Now, onto the other five buildings!
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'Rusgorod: Russian Hovels' are by Finger and Toe Models and are available from Wargamevault.com ($5 download).
PS... I'm almost tempted to but their onion domed church (above) as well and they also have other houses in the series that are worth a look.
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