May 22, 2026
Description
HO scale model of a small brick office building at 120 James Street in Palmerston, Ontario.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/icNYQbKxSGP2cs2c8
The model features interior wall, door and window, flooring, and framing details, along with a removeable roof. Parts are separated for printing in different colours or for easy painting.
glazing.zip contains an SVG file for the door and window glass. Print the file on overhead projector sheet and cut out the door and window glass manually, or send the SVG to a Cricut machine for easy cutting.
The parts are designed for a close fit, so some light sanding will be needed to get parts to go together.
There are three options for roofing material: shingles, corrugated roofing, and seamed roofing. I've avoided doing 3D printed shingles in the past as I think they often look too heavy in FDM-printed parts, but the detail and finished texture here seems to work well. The shingles may look odd in your 3D viewer or slicer -- I have modelled each printed layer to give a very predictable print, rather than let the slicer try to interpret the tiny slope of each shingle. Printing with a 0.2mm extruder at 0.1mm layers with matte PLA gives a nice effect.
Print with 0.4mm extruder at 0.2mm layers:
walls.stl - print 1.
Print with 0.2mm or 0.4mm extruder at 0.1mm layers
0.2mm extruder is preferred and what I used for all of these parts, but a 0.4mm extruder will work as well.
ground_floor_joists.stl - print 1
ground_floor_planks.stl -print 1
attic_floor.stl - print 1
fascia.stl - print 2
joists.stl - print 1
rafters.stl - print 1
roof_interior.stl - print 1
roof_ridge_for_seamed_or_corrugated.stl - print 1 if you are using the seamed or corrugated roof sheathing
roof_ridge_for_shingles.stl - print 1 if you are using the shingle roof sheathing
steps_back.stl - print 1
steps_front.stl - print 1
subroof.stl - print 1
roof_corrugated.stl - print 2 if you want a corrugated metal roof
roof_seamed.stl - print 2 if you want a seamed metal roof
roof_shingles.stl - print 2 if you want a shingle roof
Print with 0.2mm extruder at 0.1mm layers
door_back.stl - print 2
door_front.stl - print 2
window_exterior.stl - print 6
window_interior.stl - print 6
porch_braces.stl - print 1
porch_fascia_front.stl - print 1
porch_fascia_rear.stl - print 1
porch_roof_corrugated.stl - print 1 for a corrugated metal roof
porch_roof_seamed.stl - print 1 for a seamed metal roof
porch_roof_shingles.stl - print 1 for a shingled roof
porch_subroof.stl - print 1
walls.stl - In your slicer, manually paint supports on the underside of the door and window openings.
No other parts require supports.
roof_corrugated.stl - manually paint seams at one end of the part. Automatic seams may result in what looks like a mismatched joint in the panel; random seams may result in coarseness throughout the part. It may look odd, but this part prints very well in the provided vertical orientation. I use a 5mm brim on the part and trim away the brim and a small portion of the bottom edge of the part with a very sharp hobby knife.
Drop ground_floor_joists.stl into the walls, with the flush side of the part facing up, and glue in place.
Drop ground_floor_planks.stl onto the joists, with the plank detail facing up, and glue in place.
glazing.svg contains outlines of the door and window glazing. I get excellent results cutting these parts out of overhead projector sheet on a Cricut. The SVG file readily imports into Cricut Design Studio and the parts cut cleanly.
You can also print this file onto overhead projector sheet and carefully cut out the glazing material with a sharp hobby knife.
Assemble the door and window halves back-to-back, sandwiching the glazing material between the parts.
The back door does not have any glazing. Glue the door halves back to back.
The windows use unique parts for the inside and outside faces. The outside part has a decorative ogee shape on the top sash; the inside part does have have the decorative ogee on the sash. Position the inside part so that the thicker frame is at the bottom of the window.
Fit the assembled doors and windows into the openings. Sand any support residue from the top of the openings. The assembled windows and doors may require sanding to fit. Sand the parts until the doors and windows fit snugly in the openings. Center the parts in the wall by eye. Fitted snugly, the doors and windows should hold in place without glue.
Fit joists.stl into the recess at the top of the walls, with the notches along the sides of the part facing up. This part is designed to be removeable; it does not need to be glued in place.
Place attic_floor.stl onto the joists, plank detail facing up. This part is designed to be removeable; it does not need to be glued in place.
Carefully fold rafters.stl along its center. You may need to very lightly score the fold line with a hobby knife to fold the part; be careful to not cut through the fold line.
Fit the rafters into the gap between the attic floor and the walls. The ends of the rafters should sit flush on the tops of the side walls.
When you are happy with the fit, remove the rafters, apply glue along the inside of the fold line, fit the rafters back in place, and let the glue set. The rafters should fit flush with the gable ends of the walls; lightly sand the rafters if needed to fit flush.
Carefully fold subroof.stl along its center. You may need to very lightly score the fold line with a hobby knife to fold the part; be careful to not cut through the fold line.
The angle of the subroof is determined by the fascia parts. Fit each tab and slot one at a time.
Place the subroof flat side down on a flat surface.
Fit one fascia.stl part, tab side down, into the slot on the subroof and glue in place. The top edge of the fasic should be flush with the top side of the subroof.
Press the fascia tight against the subroof for a tight and clean joint. After the glue sets, fold the roof and fit and glue the other tab on the fascia.
Repeat the process on the other end.
Carefully fold roof_interior.stl along its center. You may need to very lightly score the fold line with a hobby knife to fold the part; be careful to not cut through the fold line.
Fit the roof interior into the subroof and fascia assembly; it should be a snug fit. Glue the roof interior into the subroof.
Fit the assembled subroof onto the walls, slipping the tabs on the subroof interior between the end rafters. The assembled subroof is designed to be removeable; it does not need to be glued in place.
Determine which roofing material you want to use and use the appropriate roof ridge part. The roof ridge parts are of slightly different depths - the roof ridge for the metal roofing materials is thicker than the roof ridge for the singles.
Glue roof_ridge_for_seamed_or_corrugated.stl or roof_ridge_for_shingles.stl to the peak of the roof, centering the part on the roof. The roof ridge parts are longer than needed so that you can trim them to length after fitting the roofing material.
Fit and glue the roofting material to the roof, butting it up against the long edge of the roof ridge and centering it on the roof.
roof_seamed.stl and roof_shingles.stl should fit without needing to be trimmed.
roof_corrugated.stl is longer than needed to allow its brim to be cut away after printing. Trim the corrugated roof material as needed to give a slight overhang of the subroof along the sides of the roof.
Trim the roof ridge flush with the ends of the finished roof.
Glue steps_front.stl and steps_back.stl to the walls, centering the parts with the back and front and back doors.
Select the roof sheathing that you want to use for the porch.
porch_roof_corrugated.stl is longer than needed to allow its brim to be cut away after printing. Trim the corrugated roof material as needed to give a slight overhang of the porch subroof.
Carefully fold porch_subroof.stl to establish the pitch of the roof.
Fit porch_fascia_front.stl to the folded subroof, aligning the tabs the notches. Press the parts together firmly while the glue sets to make a tight joint.
Fit porch_fascia_rear.stl to the folded subroof, aligning the tabs the notches. Press the parts together firmly while the glue sets to make a tight joint.
Note that the tops of the porch_braces.stl are angled to match the roof pitch. Fit the braces into the alignment slots in the subroof, setting the braces flush with the rear of the roof.
Glue the offcut from your main roof ridge part to the porch subroof, aligning the part flush with the rear of the porch subroof.
Glue the roof sheathing to the porch subroof, butting the top of the sheathing against the roof ridge and aligning the sheet flush with the back of the porch roof.
Trim the excess roof ridge material flush with the roof sheathing.
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — Share Alike
Jonathan Piasecki
