This page contains some hints on:
If you're looking for additional information on supplies and tools, you may want to visit the Resources section of my site.
Whenever possible, I build furniture by using a block of wood as a "base", and then add embellishments like the headboard on a bed, the doors on a wardrobe, or the drawer fronts and top on a chest of drawers. In the 1:144 scale furniture projects on this site, I use basswood in three different forms:
If you wonder what any of these are, where to find them, or want to know what you can substitute, read on! For those who prefer using cherry and other beautiful woods, this section should contain enough information for you to know how to use your favorite wood instead.
Wood cut to dimensions of 1x1 mm (1/32"x1/32") and up. If it's really wide (like 10 cm or 4"), it's called sheetwood. Usually found in model airplane (RC) stores. Basswood is preferable, a high quality brand is Northeastern Scale lumber, also sold by MicroMark and others. Some specialty dealers in fine wood for miniaturists carry other species of stripwood, you can combine these with PaperWood of the same species.
The species of wood that are available as stripwood may vary depending on where in the world you live. For mini purposes, I find balsa and jelutong too soft and brittle, and fir too hard. It may be worth your while to shop around for the good stuff. Also, the stripwood will usually be visible in the finished miniature, and then it's best to use the same species of wood for the base as for the glued on bits and pieces.
If the instructions call for an odd size of stripwood that you can't (or don't want to) buy, either cut down a larger size or glue smaller pieces together (just make sure the joints are in spots that won't be visible in the end).
Especially thin and narrow stripwood made of basswood. It's intended for model railroad builders and labelled in scale inch sizes - the smallest size produced is 0.3x0.6 mm (.012x.024"). That's about 1/3 of 1/32" thick! At that thickness, it comes in widths up to 3 mm or about 1/8". Made by Northeastern Scale lumber, also sold by model railroad stores, MicroMark and others. They're sold in bags of a dozen or more, so you may want to split with some friends. Also, Karen Benson of The Quarter Source carries it; she even has packs of a couple each of a few different sizes so you don't have to buy a full bag of each (she sells it relabeled for 1:48 scale though, so e.g. H0 1"x2" would equal her quarter scale ½"x1", and so on).
What I like about the scale lumber is that the thickness of 0.3 mm (.012") equals only 43 mm (1¾") in full scale, which is a quite acceptable thickness for drawer fronts and table tops in 1:144. And, the fact that it comes ready-cut in a few different widths and only needs to be cut to length.
If you want to use other wood than scale lumber, you can either cut strips of PaperWood to a suitable width, or shave down stripwood until really thin. This table shows the sizes I've used along with some others that may be suitable for 1:144 scale (rembember, the N scale size is approximately the 1:144 scale size). If you cut the strips yourself, tweak the widths as you please!
| H0 scale | N scale | Size (mm) | Size (in) |
| 1" x 2" | 2" x 4" | 0.3 x 0.6 | .012 x .024 (3/128" wide) |
| 1" x 3" | 2" x 6" | 0.3 x 0.9 | .012 x .036 (a hair over 1/32" wide) |
| 1" x 4" | 2" x 8" | 0.3 x 1.2 | .012 x .048 (3/64" wide) |
| 1" x 6" | 2" x 12" | 0.3 x 1.8 | .012 x .072 (a little over 1/16" wide) |
| 1" x 8" | 2" x 16" | 0.3 x 2.4 | .012 x .096 (a hair over 3/32" wide) |
| 1" x 10" | 2" x 20" | 0.3 x 3.0 | .012 x .12 (about 1/8" wide) |
| 2" x 2" | 4" x 4" | 0.6 x 0.6 | .024 x .024 (3/128" square) |
| 3" x 3" | 6" x 6" | 0.9 x 0.9 | .036 x .036 (a hair over 1/32" square) |
| 10" x 10" | 20" x 20" | 3 x 3 | .12x.12 (about 1/8" square) |
Two extremely thin layers of wood laminated together (like plywood, except both layers have the grain running in the same direction). The resulting material is about 0.5 mm or 1/64" thick. It is intended for cardmaking and similar crafts, so look for it in craft stores or order it from the manufacturer. It is available in different finishes and species of wood; I always use the "natural wood" finish as it can be stained and finished, and as the stripwood and scale lumber are basswood I choose to use basswood PaperWood too.
I use PaperWood when I need thin wood that is wider than I can get from scale lumber. You can substitute any other wood shaved down to a similar thickness. If you're going to paint it later, you can use thin card instead.
You can cut PaperWood with an X-acto or scalpel, or even with scissors. Use Paper Edgers type scissors to get a fancy edge on e.g. the top of a bed's headboard (I doubt this will work on shaved-down regular wood though!).
Spirit-based and solvent-based and oil-based stains are all good choices. I use a spirit-based stain, but as that's the only type I've found locally (other than water-based stain) I can't say which type is best. Avoid water-based stain if possible, as it will raise the grain and also can cause the pieces to buckle.
Danish oil is a good finish because it's up to you how shiny it'll be, depending on the number of coats. I usually apply two fairly thin coats, but each coat should dry for 6 hours so it does take time. There are other types of oil too, like Tung oil and Walnut oil, though I haven't tried them myself. Walnut oil is said to dry much quicker than Danish oil. Avoid water-based (polyurethane) clear finishes - they're way too glossy for small scales.
Whatever stain and finish you want to use, check them for compatibility before you use that combination for the first time! Stain a scrap of wood, let dry, apply a coat of the finish, and let dry again. If the stain ends up looking blotchy, that stain and finish obviously don't work together. If it looks good, then go for it - but consider doing one more test: if you plan to paint or glue on details after the piece is finished, you may also want to check that the paint or glue doesn't behave badly on the stained and finished surface.
When adding the finish, I usually stick the back or base of the furniture to a bit of stripwood using little bits of foam tape (or try regular double-sided tape or Tacky Wax or BluTack). Then I can apply the finish without getting thumbprints (well, little finger prints would be more appropriate size-wise) on it.
If you're making a wardrobe, chest of drawers, or some other piece of furniture that should have "moving parts" in real life, you can make it look more real by painting it before you glue on those parts. So, glue together everything except adding the doors or drawers, then paint all parts individually, and glue on the doors or drawers afterwards.
Like when adding a finish on a stained item, I stick the individual bits on a bit of stripwood to make it easier to paint them neatly.
If you have troubles with paint raising the grain of the wood, you can try applying a coat of oil first, letting it dry completely before you paint.
This is how I made the corner notches for my four-poster beds. As shown below, first mark out the thickness of the post, then make a shallow cut from the long side (across the grain) and next a cut from the end grain. I found it easiest to make the cut from the long side really shallow, then shave off just a little bit from the end grain (cutting very close to the edge, not at the line). Deepen the first cut a little, then shave off a bit more, until you reach the line.
© Copyright Anna-Carin Betzén 2005.