Blue, when I first tried the 1/2 frames I made divided full size growing-building boxes to get them drawn out. At the end of the season I just put them back in those to overwinter.
I fooled around with stacking 4 wide 1/2 frames two boxes high with limited results. Froze
Now I'm just using 5 frame full size medium nucs for mating my queens. At seasons end I just leave the last queen in them and add a second story. Being able to restock them in the spring and winter them with one size frame makes less work. I bunch them together, make sure they have a wind block, and cross my fingers.
In the spring I use them to cover my dead outs and sell the rest. Through out the year, they are great comb and brood factories to make more nucs. I had some that had two supers on them.