The Frederick C. Robie House (1910)

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The cover. A good looking building, but the fun has only just begun

This shows one of the concrete pieces that I have partially skinned. I have done this on all the tabs for two reasons: 1) the pieces are too thick, and thinner tabs helps to make better joints, and 2) I found that a new glue I am experimenting with does not like gloss or varnished surfaces.

There are quite a few points where pieces have tabs that are slotted into other parts. This means that throughout the build slits have to be cut into the walls. This generally results in a poor fit so I glue small pieces of wood in place of the lines to indicate the slots. This means that all the tabs are removed. I feel that while this is a long process it is worth it.

This is part 28, unfortunately the drawing is a little fuzzy, but you may be able to see the relevant piece. It took me quite a while to realise that the two "boxes" are not connected at the front. The roof of the smaller box gives a clue to this, but only just.

These few pictures give a graphic idea of the unnecessarily thick card. The stairs are the most obvious because of the small size.

This is the final step (excuse the pun). The only way to make them look partly respectable was to paint the card and then use a small amount of glue to re-attach the top layer to the base. I used a water based glue that made the card damp and therefore helped in forming square steps. Notice also the edges of the walls. I guess I could have cut off all the tabs and mitered all the edges, but unfortunately there is a limit to my patience!

Here we have the impressive front to the house. As you will see there are many separate pillars to make (remember the second picture above). Not only did I skin the tabs, but I also removed the gloss printed layer from the back of each pillar. Then each pillar had to be painted with two colours. You will have to look closely, but the second and third pillars from the right nearest the wall are supposed to be identical. However, it looks as if the first of the two has  been printed in only one colour. This is quite noticeable in the cover picture. I therefore placed the cement bit at the top so it was not so noticeable. (FLW, eat your heart out!)

Desperate situations lead to desperate measures. I mentioned earlier that my glue was not sticking to gloss card, and even my usual glue was not very good. So, I had to remove areas on the walls and scraping with a knife was inefficient but my mini drill and grinder worked best. It also helped to dispel some of my frustration.

Proof of the comments I made about the front of the house two pictures ago.

The front wall is almost complete. This an HO scale building so I decided to add my own railway gardens; they cover up some of the bare corners!

By now all the main components of the building are complete and the next job is the walls. "Score, cut and fold" is all they tell you. Its not until the next step that you realise that it would have been easier to add two small pieces before completing the wall.

As they say, "all's well that ends well." You will note that I've been using the grinder again (about ¼ of the way from the far end.)

I'm not aware of a collective noun for built parts, so a plethora of parts will have to suffice.

This part I had to leave till the end. The folding instructions and the fold lines didn't make any sense, and even the diagram did not help. The only alternative was to leave it until I dry-fitted all the parts, and could then see how this one should have been folded to fit. I eventually decided that the first fold line was in the wrong place and that the second should have been a valley fold, but not on one of the marked lines. Therefore, I have a black line in the wrong place and I had to carefully measure where the next fold should be. A bit of paint covered the cut wall and the grinder completed the task.

I laid out all the pieces on my bench and cut a piece of board to make the base. I glued down the two walls at the right hand end then continued with the garage and continued toward the left. To ensure that corners were square I used the edge of my base board as the base line for all angles and distances. Using a combination of "T" square and setsquare, I thought I had every thing straight. Unfortunately, not all the walls were the right length but the only real discrepancy showed up in the low wall on the left of the long front wall. Thankfully, I was able to adjust the wall so that the long wall is still parallel with the front of the house.

The top view of the partially finished ground floor. Due to a few misaligned vertical walls, the board started to bend. Hence the metal rule and clamps to hold it flat while the glue on some strengtheners is dry.

Just one example of "tab overload".

Here are the roofs. They are in three sections but each section is made up of at least four parts.

I was pleasantly surprised how well the roof fitted, after all the games with my setsquare. There were only minor adjustments, although I did have to resort to my grinder to ensure the roofs glued to the green bits (eaves?)

Done, at last! That sounds a bit OTT, but I hope you know what I mean! Although the experience has been quite frustrating, I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised at the results.