Construction

The Plan Book gives very detailed cutting instructions.  It also provides a great layout to minimize wood usage.  We chose to use 3/8" MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard).   It is lighter (and less expensive) than quality plywood, since you would need to buy plywood that is smooth on both sides.  The finish is much smoother than plywood, as you don't have the usual characteristics of wood texture and grain to contend with.

Our project starts with the pieces of wood already cut out, and ready to assemble.   Each piece of wood was labeled with masking tape, numbered to correspond with the book's plans.  This is a must - there are over 50 different pieces in the structure itself, not to mention any other materials that are being used. The Plan Book recommends using a table saw for most of the pieces.  Alternatively, a hand-held saber saw can be used.  There is some angled cutting (27 and 45 degrees).

The cut pieces were brought home, and spread all over the carefully-selected work room (Employee's dining room).  Her family didn't even blink, they are quite accustomed to their lovely dining room being converted into a miniature war zone. With each piece numbered, it was easy to realize that some pieces hadn't made the trip home.  In a few cases, some of the pieces simply hadn't made it out of the trunk of her car. One piece was eventually found in the bathroom, I think De Employee took a break in the middle of moving a wall.

The pieces were glued into place, and then further secured by nailing them to the floor or ceiling. De Employee found our with her own dollhouse just just gluing the pieces doesn't quite work well, unless you plan on not breathing around your dollhouse.

The following pictures were taken June 8th, when the structure was first assembled.

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Next phase:  Install copper roofing.  This should be interesting.  De Employee decided to tackle this project, and quickly realized that she didn't have a clue on how to do this.  No worries, that's never stopped her before. Stay tuned to find out how many tries it takes, and how many miles of copper foil she's really going to need.

The exterior finish of the house is a bit unique.   Rather than using milled siding, or just painting it, a pebble-dash look will be used.   Because the pieces did not fit quite as well as hoped, Plastic Wood came to the rescue.  Gaps filled, the house was taped to protect the interior, and the "primer" coat was put on.  What you see in the pictures below is the house before painting (trust me, there's a house in all those plastic bags and rolls of tape), and the primed house.  The "primer" used was Stone textured paint.  It is certainly not necessary to use dark grey, it just happened to be a color that was available.  This will be painted over with off-white / ivory paint.  The trim and windows will be hunter green. 

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Because this is a step-by-error journey, there had to be a twist to priming the house.  De employee took the house outdoors, started priming, and promptly ran out of paint.  Not a problem, the hardware stores are 5 minutes away.  So employee hops in the car, races off to the hardware store, picks up 2 cans of paint (one more can of final exterior color, just in case) and gets into her car in the parking lot, just in time to get out of the rain.......  Guess where the dollhouse is.........  Nodding - you're right - outside in the backyard.   Chances are good that it is also raining 5 minutes away from the hardware store.   Luckily, the rain lasted no more than a minute or two.  The house was brought up onto the deck, so that it could be primed and somewhat protected by any other rain that fell.

The staircase was prepared while the dollhouse was drying out (paint-wise and rainwater-wise).  The staircase structure and spindles are painted almond.  The steps and the banister are stained light walnut.

Remember that extra can of paint that I picked up, just in case?  The can says "almond".   That hardware store's almonds must be from another country - this "almond" looks awfully like gunmetal grey to me.  I guess the paint manufacturer also has step-by-error journeys.

The house's exterior is now painted, and it looks very nice.  The pictures above show it in three stages - primed, textured, and painted.   It a good-sized house, we needed one can of texture paint, and 2 cans of final color.

Today, the window painting began.  One word for that - ugh!  These are working windows.  De employee didn't know that there was a piece of sash on the back of the window that came off, to allow you to remove the window panes.  It took a while to figure it out (too long - it's pretty basic).   Breathing a sigh of relief, the panes were removed, and the frames were hauled outside to be spray painted.  Sounded like a good idea at the time.  The detail (all the nooks and crannies and grooves) makes spray painting these demons rather delicate.  I ended up painting them by hand with acrylic paint, similar in color to the spray color, then lightly spraying them for gloss and color consistency.    Although you can remove the panes from the window frame, you cannot remove the "glass", so a steady hand is a must. Did I mention I hate windows?

I quit doing windows before I decided to launch them over to the neighbor's house.  Besides, it was after midnight on a work day.  I sat down to admire my windows (I still hate them), and was looking at the house. The walkway around the shops will be brick.  I have never worked with this brick, and since I wasn't doing anything anyway, and certainly not in bed where I belonged, I thought - why not!  These bricks are actually brick sheets, that are very easy to cut with scissors or an X-acto knife.  I didn't do much with it, other than to cut enough to see the effect.  I like bricks a LOT more than windows - they cooperate, even though they will eventually need grout.

The windows are done, and I have already danced a jig about that.  One of the two copper roofs is complete as well.  That was major work because we fluted the roof.  If you are not into copper foil art or into embossing, the odds are good that you will not have the proper tools to work the metal.   The end result is quite nice however, certainly different from shingles.  What are the pretty effects behind the window?  Guess where I'm at in running tapewire?

Speaking of tapewire...............  Rather than clutter up this page, a link has been provided for you brave souls out there, with a brief summary of working with tapewire.  Click here to become a miniature electrician - I mean a miniaturist electrician - I mean - you know what I mean!

Today, I sent an online message to Da Boss  -- "Your (*#&$(&*#$ copper roofs are done".  I meant every explicative too.  I used the 2 pieces of wood that had been planned as steps to the pavement so that I could coerce the copper to fit around the fluting (1/8" square wood).   I'll have to get new steps cut, I wore them out!  Working with 36-gauge copper without the proper tools is not a smart idea.  Is it worth the trouble?  Yes, she says in a tiny voice.  But I won't do it again! 

Bend the foil over the "flute" wood.   Bang the heck out of it.  Ask it nicely to bend again around the flute.   If it says no, bang harder. If that fails, glare at it for a minute or two.   It does nothing for the roof, but it helps you get your temper back in check.   Bang some more.  Find another piece of small wood that isn't worn out by pushing foil into corners with it.  Bang some more. Get some fancy brass nails and pretend that you're making a realistic pattern.  Reality is that you need the nails so that the copper doesn't pop back out after you won the flute-bending war. The brass nail packets come with "approximately 30" per package. Opening the third (and last) packet, I realized that I needed "approximately 31", not "approximately 30" nails.   Not a problem, I remembered that I had dropped one earlier.  Wiping my brow in relief, I bent down to pick up the nail I had dropped, and promptly launched "approximately 29" nails into the air.  I found every blasted one of them too, but I may never see the same again.

I promise to have more pictures when my hands heal.

The roof piece that hangs over the 3 smaller third-floor windows was too long, in our opinion.  We cut it back 2 inches, and feel that you have a better view of the third floor windows.  The piece was cut according to the book, but to our tastes, it didn't look right.  We prefer the look of the shorter roof (and it made for less copper!)

Likes, Dislikes and Tips

Like:  The cutting plans supplied are very detailed, which takes away a lot of guess-work.

Like:  The pieces were numbered according to the sequence in which they are used.  It was easy to anticipate (and pile) the pieces that would be needed for each floor.

Like:  The staircase kit.  (Houseworks #7000) The treads (the piece you step on) have holes pre-punched in them to glue the spindles into.  This will speed up the spindle adventure (been there before, the spindles are still winning).

Like: The look of copper roofing.  It is unique, and certainly attractive. The fluting (1/8" basswood rods) makes this miniature copper roof look very realistic.

Dislike: There are 3 small pieces  that make a corner angle on each floor.   Da Boss and De Employee both tried to make them fit, per the plan, and failed miserably.  It was decided that they would be removed.  While they offer a more finished corner, they have no structural function and actually hide part of the rooms.

Dislike: Did I mention I hate painting windows?

Dislike: After finishing the copper roofing, I was almost ready to offer to paint windows.  Without the proper tools, this is a chore that will test even those with the patience of a saint.

Dislike: The third floor roof over the 3 small windows.  It was too long.  We shortened it by 2 inches, and there was still some overhang.

Tip:  The ease of construction is directly proportional to the precision of the wood cuts.  1/8" variance isn't much when working with a 2 X 4 in real size.   It's a much bigger difference in 1:12 scale - it's one-third of the thickness of the walls. Unless you plan to add milled siding to your house, precision fitting is crucial for the exterior, as any imperfections will show.

Tip: It is realistic to expect some gaps and "not-quite" fits.  Use wood filler to make these disappear, then yell at the person that cut your wood.  Before you yell, make sure that it wasn't the construction team's crooked eyes that caused the mis-fits.

Tip: Glue your pieces before you nail them.   It's easier to separate glued pieces, than trying to fish out finishing nails that are flush with the wood.  Use masking tape to help the structure stay stable while the glue is drying.

Tip: I learned this a long time ago, back when ceramics were the rage hobby.  (I said it was a long time ago!)  When you are painting, and accuracy matters, use a thinner brush than you normally would.   This accomplishes two things - you have less paint surface covered by the brush, therefore you can see more. Your errors are also smaller. When you are painting an edge, (like the pane beside the "glass") start your brush stroke from the middle of the wood toward the edge.  This will give you time to adjust pressure and will allow you to align yourself better.  I still hate windows.

Tip: If you get the zany idea of doing a fluted copper roof, without the proper copper foiling tools, I have one small word of advice: DON'T.  Get the tools, or convince yourself that a copper roof would not have been the best thing anyway.

Tip: If you're planning on doing a painted exterior, wait til you've finished hammering before you paint. Otherwise, the joints will crack. That includes the pushing and hammering you need to do when you're installing grommets and/or brads when you're wiring. *groan*

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