shingle siding advice

[Train Fan]

Just in the process of planning the scratchbuilding of my version of the fine scale miniatures Bailey Produce Company in HO scale. Seems like it has shingle siding and stucco for the main outside walls. Would like any and all kinds of advice if anybody knows how to make their own siding. :thumb:

 

[Russ Bellinis]

I would check out a craft store like Micheals if you have one nearby. I have seen some very thin paper with an almost bark like texture that is a light brown. If I remember, it is thin like tissue paper. If you find something like that, glue it to a sheet of construction paper for strength and make shingles out of that. For tar paper, black construction paper cut in strips works. For composition shingles, use fine sand paper cut to shingle size. If you want a color other than light tan, spray paint with a thin color wash of the color pallet you want.

 

[sumpter250]

GCLaser has several styles of laser cut shingles. They come in sheets, and can be weathered, a sheet at a time, to give a more random color pattern, when the strips are individually glued in place.
You could also color and weather sheets of paper, and hand cut individual shingles ( cut a strip, across the color streaks, then chop into individual shingle widths ). This isn't all that more difficult than using strips, and produces a true random color pattern.
I've used both, and there are applications where one is better than the other. There's a lot of trim, and fit, using strips, especially between things like windows and doors. In these cases, it's almost easier to use individual shingles.