Tams Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 My daughter has to build the outside of her dream house - which is a three-story, octagon shaped house with a wrap-around deck and a stained glass window in the center of the roof. She is doing it in an odd scale - 1 inch = 3 feet. Any suggestions on how to go about it?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newt Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 ouch, the math hurts. 1" = 36" and it is 8 sided ? ow. i can't be of any use, sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlene Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 1:36, hmmm. Is there a reason why such an odd scale? I would suggest she draw it out on paper first with all her measurements noted (ceiling heights, room sizes, windows, doors, etc.) Then probably the easiest thing to cut and build from would be foamcore. It's unlikely that she'll find doors/windows/balconies, etc in that scale, so she'll need to have lightweight hobby wood, like balsa to stay in scale, to cut for her frameworks and details around the openings and the balcony. Sounds like a fun undertaking & do post pics of her progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tams Posted January 23, 2007 Author Share Posted January 23, 2007 Thanks for the suggestions - I'll post pictures. I'm sure to either lose a lot of hair (from pulling it out) or gain a lot of gray hair from this project! I can't believe she only has a week! She has drawn out the house - that was the project that was due today. She had to figure out how to decorate one of the rooms for under $50,000.00. Not sure if she planned her windows, but will get her on that tonight. I have three sheets of foamcore already from a project I was going to do, but changed my mind on. Any back-up suggestions on balsa? I don't have any on hand, and there is none available in the town I live in. Actually, I do have a decent supply of some sort of skinny sticks that we could probably use if she keeps it simple! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grazhina Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 The finished house will be quite small. Skinny Stcks and toothbpicks should be just about right for your "lumber". For an octogon, the foamcore will need to be accurately cut, on an angle, so the pieces will butt up against each other. That will be the tricky part, ditto for the roof. Buy more foamcore for mistakes and keep messed up pieces for more practice cuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shy Spirit Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Matboard makes sturdy walls, and should be thin enough. Jim's Dollhouse Pages (printmini.com) has a Hobby Calculator for converting measurements to various scales. The closest to your daughter's project is Armour Scale (1:35). http://www.printmini.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJEP Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Assuming it is a regular octagon (or at least equiangular) the angles need to be 135 degrees on the inside. I think the hardest part will be getting the angles correct so all the sides will fit together. If you are going to use toothpicks or craft sticks you may want to try using them in gum drops first so you can play with the angles. It is an old trick that I used when teaching 3-d shapes to my geometry classes. I would definitely have a protractor out while trying to put it together or make a model at least of the octagon so you have an idea how to put it together. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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