Hi,

This will be my first time to build a dio. For a start, I tried experimenting on scratch building the house (in the country probably in italy...). Can I get any comments,suggestions or necessary corrections from you guys who are already experienced....

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What can I use as roofing material...I'd like to make the roof more like a tiled roof (don't know what its called but they look like half round tiles??).

Thanks

my friend if that is your first effort at scratch building you have done an excellent job. The one thing I would do myself is to extend the rafter and purlins (roof area) out over the exterior wall to form eaves.

I am not sure what more experienced Dio people use for tiles but you may be able to cut them out of plastic tube halves and put one up and one down with them overlapping each other.

Once again good work.

MrRoo: Very valuable suggestions...I'm not actually familiar with carpentry terminologies but because of your suggestions, I'm now researching the term purlins. Actually, I do not have a design for the roof construction...everything is "as the idea comes".....thanks again.

Way to go warthog, you are doing a wonderful job so far I have a couple suggestions as for your floor. first were the beams supporting it (floor joists) make sure you damage the ends for that blown up effect. and take a pin or needle and make holes in the floor boards above where they cross the beams, In other words make them look nailed down. You can check out the floor in my barn in my pics if you want to see what it can add. Oh and for the roof you may just take drinking straws and split them lengthwise then cut to the desired length, that should make pretty good tiles. Keep us posted. Love your work so far, Cheers Kevin

My opologies. after 30odd years as a builder I tend to forget people out there may not know the terminology. Purlins are what the roofing material, whether iron or tiles is fixed to. The purlins are then fixed to the rafters (main roof supports). hope this helps you out.

MrRoo: Apologies not necessary coz as a modeler it is also our duty to do research and at the same time learn. I'm actually learning new things coz of you guys.

jackhammer81: About the floor boards, there are nail marks on them, just that I was not able to zoom in. I also plan to damage the ends as you suggested. I actually experimented on the tiles using the sticks used on balloons, but they are a bit too stiff and hard to cut...I'll try the drinking straw suggestions...

Thanks

A long time ago I had to cover a very large roof with tiles. Building them individually was not an option so I used corrugated cardboard. I cut it into thin strips and glued them on the roof.
Another option is to make them from clay or something.
I have also heard that you can make tiles from straws by cutting them in half right down the middle.

If this is your first scratchbuilt I really want to see the next one! It's a really excellent job, congrats.
I used once this method at the link below for making roof-tiles. I think it's a good way to make roofs.
http://users.pandora.be/ronny.noben/website/tips/roof-tiles.htm

That's pretty good for a first (or second or third, etc) effort. Maybe it's just me, but the bricks around the window look like they stick out too far, especially in your second photo. Also, if you're not already finished with the floor, nail down the boards with HO scale railroad spikes. Post more as you go along

Art

Nice job. I like this a lot. Looks very nicely done.

One thing I see that could help complete this is another one or two roof joists. These are the deep angled pieces that run at the same angle as the roof peak. On your dio this piece has the three strips of tape holding it to the plaster. There should be another one or two about every 2 scale feet. If you have a tile roof, they get heavy and the extra joists are necessary to help hold it up. When you finally attach the roof raffter assembly attach it so it is flush with the plaster piece so the tiles can extend out over the plaster. Or actually instead of putting the wooden assembly on the 'inside' of the plaster - put it on 'top' of the plaster. I know it will shorten it by 1/2" or so but it will help you work out the issue of extending over the wall. The angle created where the side plaster connects to the front plaster meat is a bit akward. If you put it on top you can work this out easier.

Heres an image that I hope helps
Legend - Black = plaster, brown = wood, green = roof



If this need more explanation let me know.

As far as tile goes, if you use a drinking straw method be careful that the thin material doesn't twist on you.

I know what you mean, its actually a mistake. ..I am currently in the process of modifying the wall where the beam is attached. I extended it do that it would meet with the perpendicular wall (with window). By doing that I could now attach the rafter to the inside instead of on-top ( as shown in your 2nd diag.) I also modified the rafters and purling so that it would extend to make eaves and girder as suggested by MrRoo. I'll update the pics once I complete all the tasks...

There are lots of ideas regarding roof tiles...i'll try to do the straw method first coz its readily available...

Thanks

Slodder: Is a roof joist different from a rafter? Is there a site where I could research on how roof is constructed? many thanks

hey - joists and rafter are basically the same thing.

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/index/heritage/wbr/gettingstarted-2/roofconstruction.htm
http://www.sonic.net/mdooley/plans.html

This one is the best one - just click the diagram you want and there are a lot different choices A-8 is a good one.
http://www.oas.org/CDMP/document/codedraw/intro.htm

Slodder: Thanks a lot, very useful and informative site...

Hi there. Very impressive start to scratching . You have a long way to go full of good builds my friend, and as we say in Greece " the good day shows from early in the morning ' so u already have a nice morning . Besides all the things that are said above i d like to point a notice about wall width. Being building stonewalls (as an amateur) they usualy have a width range from 40 cm's to 60 cm's and in special constructions they could also make it to 80 cm;s or even 1 meter. Then if these measurements are divided with 35 u are getting the right width for the scaled wall for the dio . So maybe it looks a bit thick from the pictures to me but if mathematically the figures are right ..no problem. You are doing a nice job keep on

Slodder: Thanks a lot, very useful and informative site...

Major_goose: I did not compute for the wall thickness anymore because I immediately used the thinnest commercially available styrofoam that I could find w/c I think is around 0.5" . If the wall thickness is between 40cm - 60cm then the 1:35 scaled version would be 1.14 cm and 1.71cm respectively. Since I am using 0.5" (1.27 cm) then the thickness will still be within the range of thickness. If that is the case then I'm lucky in a way coz I accidentaly hit upon the nearest scale thickness. If I'm right then maybe its just the way I captured the photo (zoomed). Thanks also for pointing it out, at least it gave me the opportunity to actually compare.

hi , slight problem the beams on the ceiling are up side down the lager ones should be at the bottom and then the smaller ones or lighter beams on top , at the moment nothing is supporting your light beams , hope it helps cheers ian

Why make roof tiles. I was very impressed by kancali´s roof in this dio,

There is a link to his homepage at the top of all these pages, and he is offering 5 road types (variety pack) and one free roof section with a choice of shingles or tiles... for $9.99. I have just ordered this myself and took the tile section extra. Great prices and value for money. Slodder has already reviewed the variety pack ... see here
Might be a good way to go!! I think he also deserves a little support for sponsoring on here!

IanSadler: Thanks, I'm currently modifying the trusses, rafters, purlins, etc....good you pointed it out early so that I could also modify it as necessary. Once I finish the modifications I'll post the new pictures again and you guys are very much welcome to comment and suggest for improvements...its very helpful

Plasticbattle: Thanks for the additional info, but I guess at the moment I'm still challenging myself to be ingenious and creative by scratchbuilding what I can. Maybe in the future I might also opt to buying dio aftermarket parts.

Do I need to add another structure to use for the ceiling or I can just use the ceiling joist. I attached diagram of the modifications I have been doing lately. Do I need to add wood separator(?) between the ceiling joist and the wall?



The diagram below is how I plan to make the roof...please give comments, I may be wrong or missing something.



Thanks

the most common way of building is shown in the top diagram. However having said that sometimes these "ceiling Batterns" ,as they are called, & which the ceiling lining is attached, are cut between the ceiling Joists rather then running in one continued length down the room.

It is nice to see some one getting this involved in doing this 'model' house building. Bravo mate and I am eagerly awaiting a picture of the finished thing.

MrRoo: I'm enjoying coz I'm learning new things everyday for both scratchbuilding and carpentry...thanks to guys like you. Does it mean I'm still on the right track with reference to the top diagram?

yes for sure. If you follow that top diagram you cannot go far wrong.

I finished the initial modifications to the roof...but I did not give it any damage look yet...


I was not able to finishe it....too sleepy....