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I just started working on a Sanctum Imperialis set, and one thing that confuses me is the doors on the second floor. In the picture on the box, the balcony doors are swung open.


But in my actual box, both sets of doors were identical- solidly molded shut. Is there something going on here that I don't know about? It seems like it'd be a fairly tricky operation to cut the doors out of one of the frames so you could position them yourself.

All the imperial building kits have the doors cast as a single solid piece. There is a channel around all the doors where the plastic is much thinner, about 1mm. Just score it a few times with a sharp hobby knife and you can pop them out to have them open. I have done this with the Sanctum Imperialis, Basilica Administratum and the Manufactorum.

Yup. You need a very sharp blade, and to cut carefully, but it's not difficult. The door and frame will need a bit of cleanup of the cut ridge afterwards.

And before anyone asks, making working hinges would be possible but a whole lot of work - probably more trouble than it's worth.

Hinges are actually pretty easy, so long as you have styrene tube, a tiny bit of styrene sheet, and some sort of rod that fits loosely in the middle. Can also be done with other materials (e.g. heavy paper arms, empty pen cartridge or coffee stirrer barrel, finishing nail or bailing wire pin), but the ability to weld it all up with solvent cement is handy.

If you don't care about them being visible, it's a simple matter of installing pins in the top and bottom of the edges of the doors with matching holes above and below. Just have to do it before you attach the upper and lower floor, otherwise it takes a lot of extra work to install (would have to mount pins in floor and top of jamb, then carve a path between the door face and pin hole, back-filling after it's slid into place). At that point, it's probably easier to actually build proper hinges...

Or you could use dolls house furniture hinges. I did.

 oadie wrote:
Hinges are actually pretty easy, so long as you have styrene tube, a tiny bit of styrene sheet, and some sort of rod that fits loosely in the middle. Can also be done with other materials (e.g. heavy paper arms, empty pen cartridge or coffee stirrer barrel, finishing nail or bailing wire pin), but the ability to weld it all up with solvent cement is handy.

If you don't care about them being visible, it's a simple matter of installing pins in the top and bottom of the edges of the doors with matching holes above and below. Just have to do it before you attach the upper and lower floor, otherwise it takes a lot of extra work to install (would have to mount pins in floor and top of jamb, then carve a path between the door face and pin hole, back-filling after it's slid into place). At that point, it's probably easier to actually build proper hinges...

I'm confused. If you're pinning everything, what are the styrene tubes, sheets, and rods for?