Uncle Jims Cabin

Move over Uncle Tom, I've got a cabin to build.

One of yesterdays purchases was a log cabin by 4Ground. It's an MDF kit, one of the better ones but still not perfect and costs £16. You'll see why I'm not completely happy later.

The kit comes neatly bagged and consists of 4 coloured laser cut MDF sheets and a colour instruction sheet.

The outside log effects.

The inner planking effects.

The stone effects for the chimney breast.

The roof in two parts and some fiddly bits.

And the all important instruction sheet.

Construction is fairly straightforward. 4Ground recommend that you use a PVA glue but I'm an impatient person so I used a combination of brushed on superglue and a contact adhesive.

The outer walls and the cabin floor go together first.

The inner planking comes next.

The lower part of the chimney breast and the fireplace is next.

And the overhangs on the frontage.

Next up is the inner faces of the projecting logs.

The door and windows.

The chimney breast is logically next but I waited until I had completed the roof as the two sections need to fit closely together and I didn't want to glue anything until I checked the fit.

And the roof will fit nicely if you have done everything correctly so far.

Now, can anyone spot my MDF kit bugbear?

Yes, it is the little tabs that show on the tiling of the roof.

I had hoped to cover them up with thin slips of card but the roof shingles are an awkward shape to replicate.

Plan B is to use tiling sheets from another MDF company. (Warbases if you must know).

I tiled up one side of the roof.

You can see the differing effect. The Warbases tiles are smaller than the 4Ground shingles but look perfectly in scale.

I did the other side to match and added a strip of carefully folded card as a ridge tile.

I'll complete the job at a later stage by painting the roof tiles but I'm sure you will agree that they look just fine.

How did I do guys?