Cardboard High Street: Scratch-Building a 28mm Corner Shop for Game Night

Why the corner shop?

Every UK high street has one: the corner shop with a hand-painted OPEN sign, a rack of newspapers outside and a fascia that has been repainted since the last coronation. It is also the ideal first terrain project. The footprint is manageable, the shapes are boxy, and the details — window frames, signage, a couple of crates — do most of the storytelling. This build uses cereal-box card, coffee stirrers and a few craft paints. No printer, no laser cutter, no problem.

What you need

A 2mm greyboard or mount board base, about 130mm by 110mm. Cereal-box card for the walls. Coffee stirrers for the fascia, door frame and window mullions. PVA glue, a craft knife, a steel ruler, a cutting mat and fine sandpaper. Optional extras: clear acetate for windows, a printed sign, fine wire for a door handle and a few 28mm crates or newspaper bundles. Craft acrylics will do the painting: grey primer, terracotta, dark green, cream, black, brown and a pale grey.

The measurements

At 28mm scale, a door is roughly 35mm high and 18mm wide. The main shop window is 35mm high by 55mm wide. I built the shell at 120mm wide, 90mm deep and 75mm high to the eaves, with an 8mm parapet above. Upper windows are 22mm by 18mm. All measurements are external, so cut the openings slightly smaller than the window frames you plan to add. If you are building a corner shop, treat the front and one side as the visible facades and keep the back plain.

Build it over five evenings

Evening one: cut the shell

Cut a front, back, two sides and a floor from cereal-box card. Mark the door and window openings on the front facade, and a second window on the side facade if you want the corner-shop look. Cut the openings before assembly. Score the fold lines lightly with a knife, then glue the box together with PVA. Add 5mm card strips inside the corners as braces. Leave it under a heavy book overnight.

Evening two: seal and brace

This is the step that saves you from warping. Coat both sides of every wall with diluted PVA — roughly 50/50 glue and water — and let it dry flat under books. Water-based glue swells card, and sealing both faces evens out the pull. Add a cross-brace to the back wall and a strip along the base. If the card starts to curl, do not panic; press it flat while it dries.

Evening three: the shopfront

Glue coffee stirrers around the shop window and door to make frames. Use a stirrer split lengthways for the mullions. Build a fascia board above the window from two stirrers laid flat. Add a small step from a scrap of greyboard. For the door, cut a card panel, add a stirrer frame and a tiny wire handle. Keep the glue sparing — a little PVA goes a long way on card.

Evening four: roof and details

Glue a flat roof panel in place, then add a parapet from a 8mm strip of card. Score a few lines into the parapet to suggest stone or brick. Add a low chimney from a square offcut, a couple of crates by the door and a newspaper rack made from two stirrers and a card box. If you have acetate, glue it behind the window openings now.

Evening five: paint and sign

Prime the whole building with thin grey. Do not soak it. For the brick, mix terracotta with a touch of black and stipple it on with a sponge. When dry, brush on a mortar wash of pale grey and water, then wipe most of it away. Drybrush a lighter terracotta over the bricks. Paint the shopfront dark green — black with a little green works well — and the sign cream. Add red lettering with a fine brush or a gel pen. Finish with a brown wash at the base and a little grey drybrush on the roof.

A beginner paint recipe

Brick: two parts terracotta, one part pale grey, a dot of black. Mortar: pale grey thinned to a wash. Shopfront: black with a small amount of dark green. Sign: cream base, red lettering, black outline. Pavement: mid-grey with a black wash in the joints. Weathering: brown wash at the foot of the walls, then a light grey drybrush on edges. Keep the layers thin. Card will punish impatience.

Beating damp UK homes

Cardboard and British weather are not natural allies. Seal both sides before assembly, use PVA sparingly, and brace large panels. Store the finished building in a Really Useful Box with a couple of silica gel sachets, not in the loft, shed or garage. Keep it away from radiators and window sills where condensation gathers. If a wall does warp, lightly dampen the back, press it flat under books and leave it for a day. Prevention is easier than the fix.

Game-night finishing touches

Glue the building to a 2mm MDF or greyboard base and leave a 5mm pavement border. Score paving lines with a pencil before painting. Add a couple of newspaper bundles, a bin and a chalkboard sign for character. The result is a recognisable high-street corner shop that costs almost nothing and looks right at home on a 28mm table. More importantly, it is small enough to actually finish before game night.