1:12 scale rustic ladder tutorial

I need a couple of small ladders for my storeroom in the Tudor castle, so I decided to make that my project today.

Materials:

2 10 inch lengths of pine (or balsa or basswood) 3/8" x 1/8" (2 25 cm lengths of 1 cm x .3 cm)
bamboo skewers (or toothpicks)
white glue, craft or xacto knife, drill

I cut my side rails from scrap pine David had around the workshop, but you could easily use dimensional balsa or bass wood.    Shave the edges off these side rails -- the more you shave, the more rustic your ladder will be :)

Tape the side rails together and drill holes for the rungs.  I drilled roughly every inch or so, starting about two inches from the bottom. 

I cut eight lengths of bamboo skewer, each just shy of 2" long (5 cm).  I sharped both ends of each length of skewer to form tenons that would fit in the drilled hole.  This isn't strictly necessary if you drill holes large enough to take the skewer's diameter, but I like the look of the hand carved tenons.

Assemble the ladder.  I dipped one end of each rung into white glue, and put them in place along one side rail.  Then I put glue on the other end of each rung, and put the second side rail in place, pressing very firmly so that the rungs would end up more or less equal in length.

I painted the ladder with a weak mixture of water, white and burnt umber, and here it is in place in the storeroom!