A tall study model built from brown cardboard planes and thin wood sticks, standing on a table

Pick a material to build in

Open one to see where to start

Foam BoardA 3/16 inch sandwich of foam between two sheets of paper. It is thick enough to stand up without bracing, so walls go together fast, and it suits larger models of a single house or room. The foam tears if the blade is even slightly dull.

Start here

Cut four walls and a floor for a one-room cabin from a single sheet at 1/4 inch to the foot. Practice the three-pass cut on the offcuts first, until the back paper comes away clean.

Chipboard and CardDense gray board and white card, 1/32 to 1/16 inch thick. Thin walls look closer to true scale, edges stay crisp, and mistakes cost pennies. This is what most architecture schools start students on.

Start here

Trace a simple floor plan onto chipboard and build it as a massing model: plain walls and a flat roof, no windows. Then wrap one wall in white card with the window openings cut out to see how a skin changes it.

WoodBasswood sheet and square strip. It cuts cleanly along and across the grain and shows real structure: studs, rafters, decks, screens. Slower and dearer than card, and the usual choice for a model meant to be kept. Balsa is softer and cheaper but dents under a fingernail and fuzzes at cut edges.

Start here

Build one wall as a frame: glue square strips onto a full-size drawing of the wall taped under wax paper, with a strip wherever a real stud would stand every 4 scale feet.

Site and LandscapeThe ground the building sits on. A base, slopes built from stacked layers, and a few trees and figures to show how big the building is. Add it to any of the three materials above.

Start here

Cut a base 2 inches larger than your model on every side, glue the building down off-center, and add one tree and one figure. Stop there and look before adding more.

Open a material to see its first step. Each one adds its sheets, strips or scenery to the bench, and you can switch it back out from the kit.

Choose a scale before you cut

The same wall at each scale

1/4 inch = 1 foot (1:48)
The best first scale. A 12 foot room is 3 inches wide, a door is under 2 inches tall, and a small house fits on a 12 x 18 inch base.
1/2 inch = 1 foot (1:24)
For a single room or an interior. Large enough to cut furniture and stair treads.
1/8 inch = 1 foot (1:96)
For a whole house with its yard, or a larger building. Windows become small enough that many builders leave them as plain openings.
1/16 inch = 1 foot (1:192)
For massing models and street blocks, where each building is a solid shape.

Metric drawings use 1:50, 1:100 and 1:200, which sit within a few percent of the first, third and fourth scales above. Trees and figures sold at those metric scales work with the matching imperial one.

An architect's scale ruler has each of these printed on a separate edge, so you read feet straight off the ruler with no arithmetic.

Your first model, step by step

Tick these off as you go

A small white model house with an open front and a flight of steps, set on a square white base with one model tree — A one-room house on its base

What you can build in your first month

Your own room

Four walls and a floor at 1/2 inch to the foot, with door and window openings cut out and furniture as plain blocks.

A one-room cabin

Walls, a pitched roof that lifts off, and a base. The standard first complete building.

A massing model of your house

Outside walls and roof only, no openings, small enough to sit in your palm. It teaches proportion faster than any detailed model.

A framed wall section

A basswood stud wall with one window opening, built flat over a drawing.

A sloping site

Stacked layers of chipboard cut along contour lines, with a simple block building set into the hill.

Four skills every model depends on

Cutting in passes

Light pressure, several strokes, blade held upright. Pushing hard to get through in one pass makes the blade wander and leaves a sloped edge that will not glue square.

Measuring from one end

Mark every dimension along a wall from the same corner. Measuring each from the last one adds a little error each time, and by the far end the window is in the wrong place.

Allowing for thickness

Every sheet has thickness, and it shows at corners, floors and roof edges. Decide which piece overlaps which before cutting and adjust the lengths to suit.

Gluing less

A bead thinner than a pencil line holds better and dries faster than a thick one, and nothing squeezes out onto the visible face.

The knife: what to buy and how to keep it cutting

The standard is a pencil-sized handle with a collet that clamps a pointed, replaceable blade (the size sold as #11). Check that the collet tightens firmly with no wobble at the tip and that the knife comes with a cap.
A soft or thicker grip is easier on the fingers over a long session. A handle with a flat or a hexagonal section will not roll off the desk.
Start each session with a new blade. It takes ten seconds: loosen the collet, drop the old blade into a jar with a lid, slide in the new one, tighten.
Change again the moment a cut needs more pressure or foam starts to crumble instead of slicing. On foam board that can be three or four blades in an evening, which is why blades are bought by the hundred.
Use only the first quarter inch of the tip. Once the point snaps or rounds over, the blade is finished, even if the rest still feels sharp.

A white card model with three tall openings and a side stair, with two tiny white figures standing in front of it — White card, cut and left plain

What trips beginners up

Expect your first few cuts to be ragged. Clean edges come after an hour or two of practice on scrap, not on the first wall.
Expect the first model to be slightly out of square. Corners that are off by the thickness of a pencil line add up, and the roof is where it shows.
Models take longer than they look. A plain house is 15 to 25 separate pieces, each drawn, cut and fitted.
Stop gluing before dry-fitting. Tacky glue grabs in under a minute, and a wall that is an eighth of an inch long is easier to trim before it is stuck.
Stop adding detail to cover rough work. Window frames and trees on a crooked model draw the eye to the crooked parts. Rebuild the wall instead.
Do not use a plastic or wooden ruler as a cutting guide. The blade climbs the edge and shaves it, and then heads for your fingers.

Knife safety

Keep the hand holding the ruler behind the blade and spread flat, with no fingertip hanging over the cutting edge of the ruler.
Stand or sit so the cut line runs past your hip, not into your lap, and turn the work instead of twisting your wrist.
Cap the knife every time you put it down. Most cuts happen while reaching across the desk, not while cutting.
Collect used blades in a lidded jar or tin and tape it shut before it goes in the trash.
If the knife rolls off the desk, let it fall. Do not try to catch it.

An all-white site model of plain block buildings along streets, seen from above — A site model in plain white

Where to learn more

Video build-alongs

Watching an architect build a study model start to finish shows the order of work better than any written guide.

University workshop guides

Architecture schools publish their first-year model shop handouts, which cover cutting, glues and material choice in plain terms.

Real buildings

Every house you visit is a subject. Photograph each side square-on and pace out the footprint, and you have enough to build from.

Online communities

Post a photo of a model in progress and ask what to fix. Students and working architects answer.

Free videos, guides and a community

How the kit is put together

The essentials are all tools, and the same six work on every material. Buy them once.
Sheet material is chosen separately. Add Foam Board, Chipboard and Card, or Wood to the kit, whichever you picked above. One pack builds several small models.
Blades are the only running cost that surprises people. A bulk pack costs about the same as the knife and lasts months.
Site and Landscape is for after your first building stands up square. Skip it until then.
Spend on the cutting mat and the steel ruler before anything else. Both last for years and both show in every cut.

A white model building with rows of small punched windows on a site model, surrounded by tan model trees — Model trees around a white card building

Lay out the bench

The six essentials start on the bench, along with the square and the drafting tape. Sheet material joins once you pick Foam Board, Chipboard and Card, or Wood, above or from the add-ons in the kit, and Site and Landscape and the circle cutter stay out until you want them. Compare the options, then set your tiers and check out from the kit. Clicking a card selects it there.

Craft knife with #11 blade

essential · Cutting tools

Every wall, opening and roof panel is cut with it. The fine point reaches into window corners that scissors and utility knives cannot.

budget

Soft Grip Hobby Knife, Excel Blades K18 with Safety Cap, American Made Light Duty Craft Knife (One Assorted Color)

4.6(375)

$7.49

Architectural Models

Pick a material to build in

Choose a scale before you cut

Your first model, step by step

Four skills every model depends on

The knife: what to buy and how to keep it cutting

What trips beginners up

Knife safety

Where to learn more

How the kit is put together

Lay out the bench

Craft knife with #11 blade

#11 replacement blades (bulk pack)

Self-healing cutting mat (18 x 24 inch)

Cork-backed steel ruler (18 inch)

Architect's triangular scale ruler

Tacky white craft glue

Small steel square (4 inch)

Drafting tape (low-tack)

White foam board sheets (3/16 inch)

Chipboard sheets (medium weight)

White bristol board pad

Basswood sheets (1/16 inch)

Square wood strips (basswood or balsa, assorted sizes)

Razor saw with miter box

Model trees (mixed sizes)

Scale model figures (unpainted white)

Fine green ground cover (turf)

Compass circle cutter