How I Made My Spanish Buildings

Someone on another site inquired how I made my Spanish buildings.  Here was my answer.  It may be helpful to someone, and I am happy to pass on my ideas to others.  After all, my ideas are based on what I have picked up from others.

I am a total amateur, Marc, and a cheapskate to boot. I basically used cardboard boxes to cut into the walls and roofs. Using pictures from the internet, I got ideas on how I wanted them to look and thought two inches per story was the right scale. I used super glue to put things together because it dries quickly and holds. Once the walls were together I drew in windows and doors. I then covered the structure with a mix of spackling, white glue which was watered down a bit. I was just looking for some texturing. The roofs were made by taking off one side of the exterior paper on the cardboard to expose the interior. I cut these into small strips and glued them into place. I am getting better at that with each go.

Once that was done I let everything dry overnight. The next day a spray painted in all in flat black. Once that dried, I did a liberal dry brushing in a fairly dark gray. Then I added some white to that and did a second dry brushing. Then a final dry brushing in white. For the roofs, I did a dark brown base, a lighter brown dry brushing followed by a final dry brushing of orange.

Another thing I learned as I went was to use scotch tape to cover the ends of the cardboard. The spackling mixture was to runny to actually seal the ends, and I didn't like the gaps. You can see the tape once the spackling and spray paint are applied.

Believe me, if I can do this, anyone can. And it's very inexpensive.

With the flaps, three sides are perfectly straight, so it makes things easier to line up correctly.

Walls and roofs are measured out, front and back walls first, then the side walls.  

These are the ingredients for what I use to add texture to the plain cardboard.

Here is what it looks like once I have mixed it all up.

Peeling away one exterior piece of the cardboard to expose the interior which I use for the roofing.

Cut into strips and placed on the piece to be used for the roof

Rather than cut into the walls to make doors and windows, I just outline them with match sticks.  I don't put my mixture where the doors and windows are.  This saves a lot of time and hassle trying to get things right with a hobby knife.

If you have any questions, please just leave a comment and I'll get back to you.