Does anyone do scale timber frame models? I'm thinking of making a barn for Breyer Horses at 1:12 scale. Any books on the subject, or will I just have to scale down plans from the real thing?
I have written about doing scale models. Do a search for threads about them.
I've made a few. My models were all of real buildings, and I had architectural drawings of each and scaled them down. I only did a few joints as real mortise and tenon joints. I think it would take almost as long to do a model with m & t as it would to do a real one.
Here is my thread on a Dutch barn model:
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,53398.0.html
i did this one a while ago
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,55787.0.html
its a pretty simple frame, not as many pieces as other models i have seen, but i did do all the joinery as well. most model frames just glue or nail the parts together. i would not recommend trying to scale all the joinery just because it is so time consuming. but i did find it a very education experience, and since i was laid off from work, i had the time...
In 2010 one of my customers was building a large (35,000 BF) timber frame. It was a complex multi-story building with unconventional bent arrangements. The engineer they hired was having trouble picturing the structure just from the drawings. The timber framers they hired to do the joinery were having trouble keeping thing straight. The building inspector went glassy-eyed.
So the owner built a scale model of the structure and labeled every piece with the mark number. It solved a lot of problems and prevented others from occurring.
I've made a few as well. Tons of fun. In a lot of ways more fun than the real thing.
Making to-scale timbers is easy with a table saw and thickness planer. Clear white pine works well.
My method is to draw my bents to scale on a sheet of plywood and cut my mini timbers based on the drawing.
Have never done mini joinery though, all butt joints.
one advantage to doing all the joinery, is that it really helps you imagine the raising of the full size structure. when they are all butt joints you can assemble them in any order and go back to slip things in. with all the joinery on the scale model, your forced to assemble in the same order you would assemble a full size frame.