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How to Make a Medieval Model House

Subject: Tutorials

Description: How to make a model medieval house for homework, war games or a model railway layout.

Posted by David Caldwell on 17/11/13 at 20:13

How to Make a Medieval House Out of Card

How to make a model medieval house for homework, fantasy war games, diaramas, role playing games or a model railway layout.

My Daughter was learning about the great fire of London at school and wanted to know what the buildings looked like so I decided to make a model house out of card.

This type of building was common during the middle ages and was made from a frame of timber beams and wattle and daub, many examples still exist to this day.  Before the 16th century CE it was rare for small houses to have chimneys as most had a central open hearth.  This type of house with overhanging jetties was designed to maximise upper floor space without obstructing the streets or increasing the buildings footprint. 

In medieval London jettied buildings made the streets dark and it was said neighbours could shake hands through windows of opposite houses.  This design aided the spread of the fire during the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The half hipped roof with gablet allowed for windows to illuminate the loft space. Only the rich could afford glass for the windows and most houses had to make do with sheets of oiled parchment covering the window frames.

This basic model can be modified to make inns, farmsteads or street scenes.

See also my tutorial on making a basic model house

Materials

  • Card
  • Craft Knife
  • PVA Glue
  • Masking Tape
  • Fine liner Pen
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • Protractor (for measuring angles)
  • Tracing paper
  • Graph Paper

A ready to print .pdf can be downloaded here, for best results print directly onto a sheet of card

Download

My first prototype before painting.

Step One

With the pencil sketch out the plan of the house onto the graph paper.

Step Two

With the tracing paper trace the plan and transpose onto the card by reversing the sheet.

Step Three

Draw on the details with a ruler and fine liner pen.

Step Four

With the craft knife cut out the windows, doors and outline of the house, remember to include the tags, this will allow edges to be glued and taped.

Lightly score along the fold lines being careful not to press too hard.

Step Five

Apply PVA glue to the tabs and join together, a strip of masking tape will help hold the join together while the glue is drying.

Step Six

Cut out the roof and affix to the walls.

Step Seven

Paint your model.

The completed rendered model

Keywords: model, medieval, card, house, great fire of London, download, plan, model railway, war game, fantasy, Role Playing Game, building