Since summer is coming to an end and the new wargaming season is opening, it is time for another little project. For this tutorial, I focused on some type of simple and quickly built dungeon or house door for wargaming skirmishes in frosty ruins or creepy dungeons.
I wanted to build standalone doors that I could put into gaps in dungeon walls or adjacent to terrain elements to indicate entrances or points of interests. A few years back I bought the Dungeon saga box by Mantic and it came with a few plastic doors. But I needed more and I wanted doors, that would fit better into my existing collection of scenery. So I tried to build similar doors, like the plastic ones from the box.
Materials used
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/01A08381-FCCF-4445-9109-DC15C134F23F-scaled-e1661173337160-1024x768.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
- wood glue (any PVA glue will do)
- a cutter and an exacto knife
- sand paper
- a metal ruler for cutting and other measuring implements
- a sharp pencil
- a filebrush
- some colours (will be specified later)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/4EA70EE9-CD41-4908-8871-C30AA0C9F681.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
- heavy cardstock
I chose a heavier (as in weight) type of cardstock that I scavanged at a bookbinding workshop. I intend to use it as base for the door. - 2mm & 4mm balsa wood
- some beads for doorhandles (not in the picture)
- fine basing material (not in the picture)
Step 1 : Dimensions and cutting
If I had a clear image in mind how my doors should look, I was uncertain about the dimensions they should have. In the end I settled for 30mm by 40mm as guidelines. I settled for the heigth of 40mm because I still had the dimensions of my previous project (shelves) in mind. Soooo… I went on to measuring and cutting.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2157DCA7-0CE2-470D-9A44-DD6E0DEC379C-scaled.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CC268AFE-A527-47E6-87AB-A7C58891FFA2-scaled.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
First I cut several 20x30mm bases doors. I added two 20x60mm bases for larger, double winged doors. The double winged doors are made the same way I used for the simple wooden doors in this tutorial. The only difference being the size.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/A734728F-2983-46D3-8ADC-A1CE2DF24A7C-scaled-e1661361514798.jpeg?w=840&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DE538994-3237-4B73-A444-4B9DA7CEA7D2-scaled-e1661361504407.jpeg?w=840&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/68F9ADBA-069F-4235-B1E0-9ED29042E04C-scaled.jpeg?resize=840%2C1120&ssl=1)
Next comes the main gig… the doors and doorframes.
I started by cutting out the doors. I carefully measured them 22mm wide… because you know, you have to substract 4mm twice for the doorframes. As heigth I went for 40mm because 40 was the size I had in mind and I forgot to substract 4mm for the top part of the doorframe… I will notice it only later after having assembled all the doors… but hey…
The doorframe consists of 2 side pieces (10x40mm) and a wider top piece (12x30mm).
Note: the large doors are 52mm wide and their doorframe top element is 60mm wide. I know it seems evident, but I thought I better be precise.
Having cut all the elements to size, I used a pencil to simulate the boards. I should have used two separate doorpanels for the larger door instead of using the pencil-method. Also I should have used thicker balsa here. The large door is way to fragile for my taste. I might redo them eventually.
Step 2 : assembly
![dungeon door tutorial assembling](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/6759DE09-D27F-490C-ACFA-5F4B1BA19203-scaled-e1661361539661.jpeg?w=840&ssl=1)
![dungeon door tutorial assembled](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/C2B972C1-5959-44E3-B9F4-D845434C42DC-scaled-e1661361527612.jpeg?w=840&ssl=1)
To facilitate the assembly and avoid breaking the 2mm(!) balsa door, I cut a small piece of styrofoam to size and assembled the door around them. I used non watered down PVA glue which dried fairly quickly (though I suppose the summer heat helped).
I didn’t glue the door and its frame in the centre of the base, but flush at one edge of the cardboard base. That way I could put it against an existing wall without creating a useless gap.
Finally I added very fine basing material to the (aha) base, some beads as doorhandles and cardboard strips as hinges and such. I forgot to take a picture, but you can see them in the next step.
Step 3: Coloring and other details
![dungeon door tutorial basecoated](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/A5356B7B-2442-4264-BDB7-5B288438090D-scaled-e1661361549216-1024x768.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
As per usual, the entire project got a base coat with my mix of black colour and modge podge.
The modge podge will stop the balsa wood to soak up too much water during the proper painting process.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/B3D8A7EE-88E1-4BBB-A911-261A0B584D6F-scaled.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/B81DE66A-F2A6-44C1-AB05-5DEB06E81F42-scaled.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/B26FD53C-BE3A-414E-AA75-F2BBEA940534-scaled.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
since the doors are made of wood, brown colours were the obvious choice.
I started with a coat of a dark brown base colour. The brand I use has no designation except “dark brown”. This particular brown has a somewhat grey hue to it. I hoped the greyishness of the colour would give the doors a more used or withered look.
In a second step, I applied a heavy brushing with Sienna. This brought the woodgrain out.
The final layer was a light drybrush with Ivory. Unlike to my last project, the shelves, I did not mix Sienna and Ivory. I wanted a warmer, cleaner look for the scroll shelves. This time, as said before, I was aiming for a less clean and more used look.
![dungeon door tutorial](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/E2EF388D-86E7-438F-B36F-6EFE644A1843.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
The base got a basecoat of dark grey before drybrushing it with a lighter tone… done… no shenanigans.
![dungeon door tutorial drybrush](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/123DCA6D-8494-4B65-A7A4-9DEB598747C0.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
The last picture shows the final product.
I painted the hinges of the door black. I was briefly pondering, if I should paint the door handle in a different colour (brass, metal…) but I decided against it.
The entire project took about an afternoon and produced 8 single and 2 double doors.
In the future I might build other doors, like fancy mansion doors or cell doors. I’d go for the same method, but make the doors a tad lower (30-35mm instead of the 40mm).
Happy carpenting 🙂
![dungeon door tutorial final](https://i0.wp.com/www.agentlemanlysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/6F8339CA-580F-4D04-AB18-37AFA679085A.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&ssl=1)
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