Finish and Insert the Door - To finish my miniature building I first finished and inserted the door on the building. To finish the door I ironed bits of birch veneer tape onto my bookboard door, then used a pencil and an embossing tool to draw board lines. The birch tape was given some graining with a light wash of burnt umber paint. Finally I coated it with a layer of clear acrylic finish. You can see more details of the veneer tape used for wood in 1:48 scale on the floors of the Markland Market Hall Building. When the door was finished, I slid it up into the door opening. Instead of veneer tape you can use scraps of light weight cardboard glued to the face of your door to mimic boards. These can be painted with wood toned paint or colored with pencil crayon and finished with a coat of acrylic glaze. If your door does not fit the way you wish, you can use a bit of paper clay on the inside edges of the door to hold it in place. Any paper clay that comes through the cracks will look like loose unfinished stucco along the edge of the door. If you need to use the paper clay, make sure you glue it to the foam and the back corners of the door.
Finishing the Exposed Brick Corners - To finish the exposed brick corner on the front of the building, I drew brickwork lines on the gesso coating the foam using a drawing pencil. I then pressed them into the foam using an embossing tool (you can also use a blunt toothpick). Finally I applied a faux brick finish to the bricks, and when it was dry, washed over it with a wash of burnt umber acrylic, thinned with water. The burnt umber sticks to the indented brick lines and makes the brickwork look more authentic.When you have your building all assembled, you can adjust the finish to make it more like stucco, using a bit of acrylic paint mixed with gesso or another acrylic medium suited to the finish you want. For stronger buildings, you can apply a final coating of unsanded grout, which will strengthen foam buildings considerably. Choose a grout color which is close to the final color you want for your building. The grout can be painted once it is fully dry, but it looks more realistic if it is left unpainted.
