How-to guides

Step-by-step model making guides: cutting and gluing card, foamboard, balsa, Finnboard and Styrofoam, building desktop models, landscaping and scenery. Each guide links to the materials and tools it uses.

The corner of a sheet of black EVA craft foam

A guide to EVA craft foam

EVA craft foam is a material for props and costume armour that can be cut, heated, formed, glued, bevelled and painted. The foams, shapes and accessories, and which glues work. Read more...

Which adhesive to use for which material

The adhesives guide: for 28 model making materials, which of 14 adhesives to use to stick each one to every other. Read more...

A finished card model of a two-storey building front with window and stonework details

How to make a desktop model from card and foamboard

Print your elevations, mount them on card or foamboard, cut them out cleanly and glue them together, then add printed card details for a more detailed model. Read more...

A finished foam apple painted dark red with a green stalk

How to make a foam apple

Shape an expanded polystyrene ball into an apple, seal it with PVA, paint it with streaks of scarlet over pale green, and add a dowel stalk. Read more...

A finished model tree with a twisted wire trunk and green sea foam foliage

How to make a model tree with sea foam

Build a trunk and branches from twisted wire, coat them in hot glue and filler, then add sea foam for the fine branches and texture for the foliage. Read more...

How to use Rosco Foamcoat

Rosco Foamcoat is a non-toxic, water-based coating that gives foam and other surfaces a hard, durable finish that can be sanded smooth or carved. Read more...

A model garden enclosed by a white card picket fence

How to make a jig

Jigs make repeated parts identical. Using a card picket fence as the example: a styrene jig to cut every picket the same, and a gluing jig to assemble the fence... Read more...

A model barn and fir trees covered in snow beside a railway track

How to create snow effects

Four ways to add snow to a model: a scenic snow kit, snow powder, white flock and frost and snow effect spray, with a small snowy scene built step by... Read more...

Drawing of four house elevations set out on a sheet

Modelling with foamboard

How to build a model from foamboard: set out the elevations, photo mount them onto the board, cut them out, and glue them together with UHU used as a contact... Read more...

The materials for the rough scenic area laid out, including flock, textures, lichen, trees, tape and glue

How to model rough scenic areas

Simple techniques for a rough scenic area: flocked grass, a woodland path, clumps of rough grass and low shrubs, long grass tufts, lichen bushes and trees. Read more...

The materials for the formal garden laid out, including flock, textures, hedging, trees and glues

How to model a formal garden

Simple techniques for a formal model garden: flocked lawns, ballast paths, cut hedging, low box hedges from texture mat, flower beds, pollarded trees and small bushes. Read more...

A cutting mat with a metal safety rule, a scalpel, a craft knife and a utility knife

How to cut card

Cut card with a sharp craft knife against a metal safety rule: keep the blade upright, let it find its way, and make as many cuts as you need. Read more...