HO Scale Canadian Prairies Pioneer Store

These little one-room buildings were found in many western Canadian prairie towns in the early years of the 20th century.

This model is based on photos and fire insurance maps from the towns of Watrous and Vonda, Saskatchewan, from 1908 to 1911.

The ubiquity of these little buildings makes me wonder if they were a catalog item that you could order from Sears and Roebuck or Canada's T. Eaton Company. The wings on the false front, hiding the roof eaves, make me think this was a catalog design -- I don't think an early settler would add this detail if they were designing the building themselves, as it would just be extra work and material.

The model features interior framing, interior floor, and interior roof detail. You can model the building as under construction with just its framing or as a fully finished building. The interior framing is not necessary to assemble the walls if you just want a finished building.

Parts are separated for printing in different colours or for easy painting. Print all parts at 0.1mm layers with a 0.2mm extruder.

Print two each of the windows and doors and assemble them back-to-back to provide interior detail. Sandwich your glazing material between the window parts. The windows and doors should be a press fit in the openings. Position the windows and doors flush with the exterior trim; these parts will stand about 0.8mm proud of the inside wall surface.

The cedar shingles on my model are from a free-for-personal-and-educational-use pattern I found online, inkjet printed on paper, and glued down with a thin layer of contact cement. I don't include the pattern here as I don't think the license for this pattern allows for redistribution.

These parts will be a real test of your bed levelling and print adhesion techniques. The walls are very thin -- just 0.5mm -- and the other parts are very fine.

I use dollar-store water-washable glue stick on my print bed. Glue stick always seems to leave lumps on the plate straight from the stick, and those lumps will interfere with your first layer and can prevent adhesion with thin parts. I use this technique to prepare the bed, the goal being to get a very thin and smooth tacky film of glue:

• Preheat the bed and apply glue stick.

• Thin and spread the glue with a damp paper towel, wiping the bed in circular motions.

• Lightly run a plastic scraper over the bed to remove excess glue.

• Smooth the remaining glue with a clean damp paper towel.

This technique greatly improved my print quality and success rate.

Assembly can be fiddly but it's fun to see the model come together. I assemble the foundation and floor first, then use a small metal square to position the frame parts on the floor. The side wall frames fit between the front and end wall frames. I apply the trim parts to the siding, then insert the windows and doors. The siding parts are then glued in place around the model. The siding detail on the back of the false front was the only part that needed fitting with sandpaper.

Updated July 29 2024

Updated door.stl to increase clearance at bottom of door.

Updated window_large.stl to add frame to top pane.

Updated July 302024

An easier-to-assemble remix of this kit is available at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6715023