Miniaturizing An HO Scale Structure Jig

by Reg Hardy
(New England)

There are some neat tips on this website, but getting them to scale up or down to suit your needs can task the brain cells.

I am working on a kit bash of a Creative Laser Design Hotel kit and one of the features I am adding is rafter tails for three roof edges. I liked the concept of the jig in the Jig Headquarters, but I ran into physical problems trying to cut it down to N-Scale.

How do I get the "rafters" evenly-spaced when they are a 1/16th inch wide, 3/16ths in length and an 1/8th of an inch apart?

I put the question to my wife who just happens to be a hairdresser. It took her 30 seconds to show me the answer.

Tape the stripwood the rafters will sit on to the cutting mat. Butt the roof board up against it and than tape a comb over the stripwood. Cut 40-50 over-sized rafters and grab one with a pair of fine-pointed tweezers.

Dip the end in a drop of wood glue and place between a pair of teeth. Follow with another rafter for each slit in the comb.

The final step is to trim the rafter ends to the 3/16th length.

It actually came out looking pretty good, Who would have thought you can comb rafter tails?