One of my recent mini-projects was to build and generally 'tart up' a Jackson's Miniatures signal cabin. As you can probably see for yourself from their website, the building kits are pretty simple, and are made from 'exterior grade' mdf - although it is recommended that additional waterproofing be applied if the building is to remain outside in our lovely British weather...
The windows and doors are provided, and are very well moulded with crisp detail. The walls however are devoid of any 'relief' or texture, so it's really down to your own imagination as to how you make it look - brick, wood, or stucco or whatever takes your fancy really. I went for the 'delapidated ship-lap timber clad' look, as befitting a somewhat sleepy terminus with a minimalist approach to facilities!
Here's how it looked once built:
The walls are clad with strips of thin wood veneer, as used in marquetry/parquetry/whatever it's called. The roof is covered with a small amount of roofing felt which was salvaged, ironically, from an old shed dismantled before!
The building was coated with thinned wood preserver, and painted. It was then mounted on a 'brick' plinth made from Milliput:
A signal box interior detailing kit was obtained from Back2Bay6, as well as a Preiser figure for a signalman:
