People have emailed me asking "how to". I thought I would start tutorials, so here you go.
More will follow soon.
Scratch Shakes and Shingles
Shakes are really easy to make in z scale, but they are a bit time consuming. Ok, the best thing to do is to just order them from
Paper Creek but if you're frugal, then just make them yourself.
Things you will need:
Basic white printer paper
Razor knife. I prefer Xacto with a #11 blade.
Wood stain. I use water-based for easy clean up.
Paint Brush.
Any light-colored water-based paint.
Take a whole sheet of printer paper and cut tiny, verticle lines about every 1/32", just using the very tip of your Xacto. Then, cut random corners of the "shakes" off. You can also cut some of the shakes completely off, if you want your shakes to look old and dilapidated. The next step is to cut the shakes off the paper horizontally. Make sure you do this last.
Next, run a bit of glue along the un-cut, horizontal top part of the paper. Try not to get glue on the tiny shakes. Start at the bottom of your roof line and glue in place. Your can cut the sides to fit after each gluing. Work your way up to the peak of your roof line. Now, take your blade and gently "lift" the shakes here and there.
Brush on your stain and blot the shakes. You will then want to again lift the shakes with your blade, so they look more realistic, and you may have to stain the underside of the shakes. Making sure you have a very "dry" amount of paint on a small brush, you can make the shakes look weathered. I usually use a nice grey color or white depending on my stain color.