Flat Building

Today we were shown how to create our flats. This will be used as the walls for our set. When building flats, always make the frame fist then attach the skin afterwards. The standard size for our flats are 4'x8'. Start by lining up two pieces of timber at 8' each. Mark one end of the wood, this will be the corner that you start from at each stage. Mark along the timber at 2' using a tape measure and set square. Then you will need 5 4' pieces of timber which will go horizontally on the flat. Measure the width of these pieces as they will need to be deducted in order to get an accurate size. Line up a 4' plank against the end of the marked timber and drill together using two screws untill the screw is 1mm below the surface. Drill a 4' at each marked 2' then drill the remaining 8' plank to the ends of the 4's. Glue the top of the fame using wood PVA and place the plywood skin on top. Line the skin up in the corner you have marked. Using a nail gun, start at the beginning corner and go along the short edge nailing the skin to the frame. Then go along the adjoining 8' side and all the way around the frame leaving approximately 4'' between each nail. When it comes to nailing the 4' planks across the middle of the frame, it is useful to draw a line roughly where the timber is. If any of the skin is over hanging, it can be removed with a router.