Shotgun House

The finished model, with Fred for scale, as Sid has gone AWOL!

In the last week my hobby output has once again been zero (if you don't count thinking about the hobby). The previous week however, I managed to drum up enough enthusiasm to have a go at another MDF build, this time, as can seen in the photograph to the right, one of 4-Grounds "Shotgun" Houses - more correctly a "Shotgun Shack", as it has only the two rooms, whereas it was expected that the "Shotgun Houses" were normally bigger.
Once more MDF models have left me on the fence as to whether I like them or not.
The ready painted ones are certainly an up-grade to the more frequently sold unpainted versions for about double the cash!

Redundant paint tray, put to use as my games table undergoes a change.

 Preparations for this build were as normal for  me, large space, plenty of clips and vast quantities of tea on hand.
I use un-watered PVA applied with a cocktail stick. MDF is like a sponge when it comes to applying anything liquid. As the walls and thin fiddly bits are all 2mm MDF the sponge-like qualities of MDF makes them very easy to break - not a good thing if, like me, you have chipolatas for fingers and the joins are as precise as something NASA would build.

You can't have too many clips

 It may come as no surprise that it didn't take me long to realise that following the instructions were a must, but also that dry-fitting can lead to problems due to the tight fit of the components.

The first two walls go up

The front wall and patio caused many, many problems for me

I did add clear plastic to the windows to act as glass, ass all the walls are double thickness - the slight warping did not help in the construction either! These ready painted models, may well be a boon to many , but only on assembly do you realise that they're not really completely painted and they will need a touch up when completed. I personally went off these models when they first came on the scene, seeing the roof tabs blatantly left unpainted/disguised.

The broken front right porch upright, is hardly noticeable

Front door - nearly thrown in the bin!

The front door, front wall and porch gave me no end of problems, breakages were frequent and I had to disguise my errors with scrap.
All of my problems were generally the tight fit of many of the components, so with my next build (another shotgun shack), I'll be filing all the tags down a bit and their location holes a little larger.

Front door, from the front (duh!)

Finished at last, though roof needs work done on it!

Front door, but notice the painted railing tops

Right side and rear porch

The left side and rear

Left side and front(ish)

Internal view from above, showing all the doors open

Obligatory boring picture of rook (needs a lot of work imo)

Front door, looking decidedly dodgy

And the back door/room (not quite so dodgy)

I thought it would be fun to put a bit of furniture in the building to give it a little life.

Two pieces of furniture and the room is full!

Front room with stove, cabinet, a table and two chairs

I put the smallest amount of furniture into each room, as I tend to do, just to get an impression of what the room's purpose is. With a figure or two in the rooms, they will look very crowded indeed and I use 20mm bases. Those of you who use the gross (imo) 25mm bases will find that  even a minimalist approach with furniture may leave very little room for figures.

That's it then for this week, thanks for taking the tine to visit; I hope you've found something of interest.

As always your comments are always welcomed and appreciated.