# Old Rustic Shacks



## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

I need 6-8 shacks that will house workers for a mine, I need to build these so they can be placed on the side of a mountain. They will need to have stilts so I can fit them on the mountain side. The cabins will be connected by wooden walkways and steps
connecting it to the roadway to the mine. I am going to make these cabins look like they have seen there better days.











I am making the cabins out of Redwood, the base of this one is 1/8" plywood. The trusses are also plywood. Now before alot of questions are ask about how this wood is cut, I am privledged to have access to a CNC router and a laser machine.
I am a machine designer, so I design it in 3D cad with the plans on making multiple units. The base is designed so a bottom incert can be removed to insert lights in the shack. The bottom has narrow slots to allow water to drain out if ever need to, and air to circulte to dry and will no allow wasp to enter to build nest. I am aware that most people have no access to a laser machine, but I will try to explain why I do the things the way I do. The post are cut square at .350 inch.

The trusses are cut out to really make the building easier to assemble, the sides are notched so the truss will set and lock into the slot, with a 5/8" long arm that glues to the inside of the wall. I use glue like the gorrilla glue because it is water proof and will not give away to any amount of moisture. The trusses are slotted to glue the (perlins or nailers) to the trusses. This really helps to maintain the correct distances and glued in the notches will provide better holding power. 

Dennis 
Photo was too wide - reduced in width to 800 pixels by Peter Bunce, Moderator


----------



## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Added the front porch floor and starting the roof perlins











The porch roof is preconstructed, all the pieces are either notched or locked together via mortise and tennon joints. I made the notches deep enough so the perlins and the rafters are the same height, so the glue holding the roofing panels get to hold on more surface.













Porch installed
Aslo a good view of the Slab wood siding, routed on a CNC router, the nail holes and board joints are lasered.
























Verticle siding with batting. The knot hole on the right will soon have a red kanky pushed in it to stop the wind from blowing in. 












Photos reduced in width as they were too wide - by Peter Bunce - moderator.


----------



## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Pretty cool!!. I like the old hanky in the knot hole...Travis


----------



## digger (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice indeed! I really like the concept. Any thoughts of making these available commercially?


----------



## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Like Ed said about making these to sell. You have the equipment and know now to do this and i'am sure people on here would love to have some of your buildings. We have seen some of your work that you have posted on here and it fantastic.Pete digiacomo.


----------



## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks for your compliments. As far as MFG these as kits







that would turn a fun hobby into WORK a nasty 4 lettered word







. I am not saying I would never do it but not now. But thanks for asking
Dennis


----------



## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Nuts!!


----------



## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

The roof panels has been added and the porch has been painted, the panels are aluminum cans ran through a paper crimper, I glue the panels on with E6000 glue. 




























Roof panels are painted with a dull silver, (Airbrushed ) most people will airbrush from light to dark. When doing rust i start off with the darkest first and work my way to the lightest color. I start off with ( I Think ) boxcar red, and then
I use rust and feather out the dark color, I have noticed roofs will rust over the nailers so you can see the horizontal rust lines.
Broken window pane.














The other side
I was on the chat forum the other nite and Chris said these shacks needed some type of animal hydes nailed to the walls, I loved his suggestion. So I thought about it, knowing how I leave my buildings outside all the time I need the hydes to not be affected by the weather. 











Black Bear












Deer Hyde












Brown Bear

I cut out a 1/16 acrylic to the desired shape of the animal. then mix up a small amount of magic sculpt and spread it out over the plastic. With this method you can do the head if you want it to. I used a hobby knife to make the hair lines.
Painted with acrylic paint, I glued a small plastic handle to the backside of the hyde shaped acrylic to hang on to so your hand is not in the magic sculpt or the paint. and break if off, and sand the back and glue to the wall. 

Dennis 

Photos reduced in width as they were too wide by Peter Bunce - moderator


----------



## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Looking great Dennis, can't wait to see the entire "village" 

Chris


----------



## Steamnutt (Apr 12, 2008)

This really looks GREAT!!!!!! I like everything about it. The bent up roofing, rust, knot holes......you really have a winner here. I have to second the idea of producing them. If you ever decide to produce some for sale, count me in! Nice job!!!!!!! Cant wait to see it on the RR!!! 



Paul


----------



## Doug C (Jan 14, 2008)

Fantastic lookin' project !! Thanks for taking the time to share with how before-during -after pics !! 

When I first started reading about the 'hides' I thought of you or your neighbours catching mice, etc. for skinning/stretching 

Hope to see a few shots later when the bldgs are 'planted' within your mountains . . . 

nite, 

doug c


----------



## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Superb work Dennis. I really like your modelling and weathering techniques. I envy your access to laser cutting. If I had that kind of equipment and skills I'd be cranking out structures right and left.

Doc


----------



## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Dennis i can't wait to see the finished village all together. Your work in modeling is awsome. If you ever do sell some of your work i will get in line for my purchase.Thanks for sharing your work with the rest of us here.


----------



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Sorry to just chime in to say the same thing, but great work, looks _*fantastic*_! 

I might have misunderstood, on the sides, the "wavy lines" of the "clapboard" walls, are those individual boards? 

You should really consider making these available, or at least selling the plans to someone who could produce them. 

Greg


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Love it! 

Greg, those clapboards were sawn out of a log that hadn't been cleaned up any.


----------



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Dennis 

Your shacks look superb - they are very good looking, the wavy side planks add to the already good looks. 

Thanks for the photos, - sorry they needed reducing but they would be messing up the monitors of other members - mine is a 'wide screen' and they were just beginning to affect that as well. The screen width bar was showing.


----------



## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks for all your wonderful compliments 
Greg , Torby is right, it is actually SLABWOOD siding, straight off sawmill without edgetrimming, not induvidule boards, routed on a CNC router, I threw in a couple straight boards to give it a little kick. 
Notice the window cut out of crooked lumber, and fitted into the siding. 
Thanks Dennis


----------



## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Mighty fine work, there, Dennis. Great details. And your airbrushing makes me envious (I hate airbrushing!!).


----------



## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

Very nice work. Would you perhaps describe your software and hardware setup in a bit more detail? I'm very interested in doing some sort of kit making small business at some point. I've looked at some of the low cost lasers, I'm wondering if they could do the whole job and if so how well they would hold up. Anyhow, thanks for posting, great to see this!


----------



## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Beatiful done shed, nice detailing!


----------



## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Martan 
if i don't provide enough answers just keep asking. 
A cnc router cut the wavy lines in the siding, i use an old version of autocad, any cad program would work once you got used to it. I would buy a cheaper version of a generic cad program and work it to learn it. 
I use sketchup to draw all my buildings first, 3D cad is actually easier than 2 D cad because you can rotate and check to see how all the pieces fit. 
I have a 45 watt Epilog laser, I use the Engrave-lab program to run the laser. A cad program can also be used to run a laser, A computer treats a laser just like a printer, when a printer places ink on a paper, the laser removes 
from the product on the raster setting and cuts through on the vector setting. You might check with the internet for used machines. i bought this machine used from a company either in Wi or Mn they go through it then and refurbish them. Got for 1/2 the price as a new one. Epilog has the greatest service dept. I bought my first laser from sign warehouse in texas, there customer service dept is pathetic, let me tell you these 
machines are the greatest machines for modeling when they are working. They are the biggest PIA when they are not working. You can spend hours of some of the most fun you will ever have. What ever you buy you better check into the service dept before you buy, because you will have issues with whatever brand you buy. You will need a exhaust fan to pull the smoke and odor outside. I use a grizzley dust collector fan , you will need a small compressor for the air assist, it blows the smoke away from the lenses and helps keeping the fire down. 
you can always email me with other questions at [email protected] subject line questions on laser machines 
Dennis


----------



## Martan (Feb 4, 2012)

Thanks Dennis. I really appreciate the info. I am also looking at low cost CNC machines. Is there any advantage to a laser vs a CNC router? The Fireball V90 seems to be a nice machine and is very reasonable in price, particularly compared to an Epilog laser or similar unit.


Also as to the s/w you mentioned, I've downloaded sketchup to get my feet wet. Seems like a nice program. I was wondering, how do you approach a design? Make a 3D model, then 'explode' the parts to lay them out flat? Have you tried this with any of the 'canned' models from the google library? I'm a little unclear on how all that fits together.


Anyhow, thanks again, this looks like a lot of fun. Of course convincing the wife I need to drop 2 grand on a 'toy' may be the most difficult part


----------



## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Martan
Thanks for your questions, I have not used a drawing from the Sketchup library, not that you can't, I just have not found one for me. You could also get one and edit it to fit your need.
I am almost an expert on sketchup, I use it daily in business, for me I draw in 1/2" scale, real easy 1/2" equals a foot. A 7 foot door 3.5" tall, 30 foot wall = 15inches, and so on. 
I figure the footprint I want to work with and then work within those limits, and what looks right, at least to me. When I draw I place alot of my parts in components beacause it makes
it so much easier to work with. Yes you must seperate each wall, floor, roof, or whatever component you need to machine. Seperate each part go to camera and click on parallel projection
then select your part and right click on it and select Align View, then export into a dxf file for your CAD program. Either a router or a laser your drawings needs to be line drawings and
export to dxf and then your program on your router/laser will load it from the dxf format and work with it. 
Personally my choice of tools if I could only chose one, would be a laser. It does it work without touching the part, a router has to have its part secured to the table, which this alone allows
you to do things on the laser that could not be done with a router. 
The biggest disadvantage is the laser cost more money, and for a hobby that can be a problem. I can say it is the most fun TOOL I have ever bought, but also it is used a few hours everyday 
in business. which allows a greater ability to justify a purchase like that. 
A cnc router can provide a huge amount of products for GRR.
If you have a creative mind you could design structures and cars for the different RR scales or gauges and turn your hobby
into a small business and then mayby justify the purchase of the equipment. 
Most important is to have fun.
Dennis


----------

