[I am sad to tell you ...]

Kathie I am so sorry to hear about your loss.  Please accept my heartfelt sympathy during this difficult time and know that your Greenleaf family is holding you close in their hearts.

[I swear, I have a big problem!]

On 5/14/2016, 11:58:21, mininecessities said:

What is wrong with me? I have spent half the day today looking at dollhouses on ebay! this is crazy, I haven't finished Garfield and I have 5 houses in boxes! 

You're in great company on this forum and there's nothing wrong with you that acquiring a new kit (or three) won't fix!

When I start window shopping for new kits / shells, I prefer to think of it as "research" and "inspiration" and when I find myself adding a new kit to my stash, I tell my DH that I'm planning for retirement

 

[What's everyone working on?]

On 2/8/2016, 3:07:16, rodentraiser said:

Well, Lisa and I had our second day of working on the Glencroft on Sunday. We're each doing a kit now. Lisa is supposed to come by here and post some pictures. Lisa is the careful one. She researched all the Glencroft building blogs and carefully labeled and sanded and dry fit her kit. She also informed me that everyone who has put this kit together says to follow the directions exactly or it won't go together.

And here are the starts to our Glencrofts in all their glory   Mine definitely isn't much to look at yet.  Just the first floor with the back edge/stair part glued on.  Had a heck of a time getting it to glue on straight because it was a little warped, so to fix the problem (and not have to sit and hold the two pieces while the glue dried) I taped it all to the straight edge of my kitchen counter! lol!  Sounds & looks funny, but it worked   Doesn't look like I accomplished much, but not pictured is the work I did cutting the front door opening bigger (using a different door) and filling in a few things like the side bathroom window.

Kelly on the other hand got quite a bit of her shell glued together before we called it a day.  I guess there's something to be said for ignoring directions & just winging it!

 

[Portland OR area folks: Glencroft and Willowcrest kits for a low price]

Just popping in with a big Thank You! to Jenn for making the Glencroft available to forum members.  Rodentraiser / Kelly (best friend ever) knew I'd been obsessing over  considering the Glencroft for awhile & she made the trip to get it to surprise me with it for Christmas (and what a surprise it was!!!).

Turns out Kelly & I will both be working on Glencrofts together in 2016 - and I'm over the top excited about it!

So thank you Jenn, for making it available, and thank you Kelly for knowing just what I needed to put a smile back on my face & get me excited about miniatures again!

[Tools that everyone should have for dollhouses?]

Glue & a roll of paper towels (to wipe up the glue that may ooze out when you join two pieces of wood together.  Congrats on the Glencroft!  I'm going to be starting one soon too!

[Taking offers on my Walmer French Victorian]

The owner told my hubby that if a man gave his wife a dollhouse, he would never again have to wonder what to get her for Christmas, birthday or anniversary. 

 

Truer words were never spoken!

[Taking offers on my Walmer French Victorian]

My younger boys want me to keep it and turn it into some sort of military outpost!

 

 

This sounds like a grand idea!  What a great way to encourage creative play!  We built a "super hero headquarters" for my sons when they were little & they spent many happy afternoons letting their imagination run wild with it.

[glue for a tight floor template]

Joanne, is this floor something you will ever need to pull back up - to access wiring or perhaps change out the flooring?  If it is going to be permanently installed, I've always had great success using Aleene's tacky glue.

 

I make wood floors using skinny sticks glued to cardstock templates.  Once I have my floor finished & stained I spread glue over the house floor and then set the completed flooring template in.  The tacky glue doesn't dry on contact (if you use enough) so you have a few minutes to make any adjustments in positioning.  Once I have the floor in place I weigh it down - covering the entire floor with something weighty (books, covered bricks, anything heavy enough to weigh it down and cover the entire floor) and let it dry overnight.  I've never had a problem with the floor trying to lift after doing this.  The trick is making sure you spread a thin layer of glue on the entire wood floor surface that you'll be covering with your flooring template & making sure you have it weighed down while the glue dries

 

Having never built a half scale buttercup, I don't if there's enough room to weigh the floor down, unless you have something small & heavy that would fit in the smaller house (I've only done this in 1/12 scale houses & roomboxes).  This also isn't a good way to do it if you think you might ever need to remove the floor in the future.  Speaking from experience, it's a real monster to get the floor back up after gluing it this way (at least it was for me)

 

Lisa

[Hello from Washington State]

Another welcome from Washington (Kitsap County) here!  

[Hello from Washington!]

Good morning Vanessa & welcome to the mini family!  Nice to see another Washington miniaturist here!

[What to say when hubby says there's no room for another?]

Slide the kit(s) under the table or bed and then after a while just act surprised when he sees it and say, "why, that old thing, I've had THAT for ages ..... "

 

lol!  I've actually done this   

[What to say when hubby says there's no room for another?]

You tell him first??? I usually just go get it, or order it, and when says no where to put it, I say sure there is, right... Here!

Okay, so it has happened that way, but he has also been sweet and taken me to get large ones.

 

This is my usual way of adding to my collection too!  Some of the bigger ones that I've found on Craigslist, I've had to get his help to go get and for the most part he humors me.  Keeps me busy so he doesn't have to entertain me.  

 

On the rare occasion that he makes a little negative noise about my getting another house I just remind him that I won't hassle him about his obsession, I mean hobby, if he doesn't bother me about mine.  And that's typically enough to quiet him down   

[what is the next dollhouse kit you would like to buy?]

Probably won't happen for a bit, but the very next kit I get will definitely be the Glencroft.  I've been eyeing it for awhile and already can picture in my mind all sorts of things I want to do with it.  But I have to finish up a few other projects first.  

 

I'm planning to put it on my wish list for next Christmas, if I don't get it myself before then. 

[Greenleaf wants to know your opinion]

Thanks for asking for our input Dean!  

 

To tell the truth, I don't even remember if siding & shingles came with the kits I've done, but if they did, they were re-purposed for something else because I used paper clay on the exteriors of my Adams and Sugarplum.  I echo the sentiments that siding & shingles are a nice perk when they are included, but not necessary components because so many people opt to cover their house exteriors in different ways.  If people opt to use them, they could be an addition to their purchase order.

[Do you have the Starting Point Garage (HBS contest kit)?]

Lisa, I suggest you ramble through the houses on the Greenleaf website; many of the four room kits work as nice cottages, like the Coventry Cottage and the Glencroft, just to name two.

Thanks Holly. I have built (and or purchased) several Greenleaf kits - the Adams, the Sugarplum, Westville, and Magnolia and I've loved them all. Two of them are on permanent display in my bedroom. This time I'm wanting to do a side-open house for eventual display reasons (I'm running out of room ), thus my interest in either building or bashing a kit that will give me the dimensions I'm after.

[Do you have the Starting Point Garage (HBS contest kit)?]

I left the back wall off the garage, so the grandson could actually play with it. I sorta made it a "sliding" wall. Hope this helps

Thanks Lawanda!

[Do you have the Starting Point Garage (HBS contest kit)?]

Thanks Mike! The decorated sample is what was throwing me off.

Holly, thanks for the info on the Greenleaf dormers.

Originally I had planned a 4-room cottage & did up drawings for having the shell pieces cut, but that plan fell through as the gentleman that was going to do the cutting got a new job & doesn't have time now to take on this small job. I can't cut a straight line to save myself (can't really draw a straight line either, unless it's on graph paper! lol ). So as an alternative I've been looking for kits that might be bash-able and I thought this one might do if I got two of them & put them back to back (the idea is for a side-open cottage).

[Do you have the Starting Point Garage (HBS contest kit)?]

I'm hoping someone can answer a few questions about the kit. Can someone tell me what the dimensions of the inside (floor space) is? The overall dimensions of the kit on their site say it is 11 7/8 wide by 12 1/8 deep but I'm assuming they've included the wall thickness & roof overhang in those dimensions & I'm trying to figure out if the floor space would be large enough for what I want to do.

Second question - is the roof a 45 degree pitch/angle that would work with a dormer? In one picture on their site it appears to be a 45 degree pitch but in the other - not so much.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

[Transformer only lights two bulbs??]

But, check that fuse. I picked up a pack of 5 at the auto supply store.

Ditto what Jennifer said.

The only time I've had a problem with my power strips (in 1:12 scale) is when I had a problem with the fuse. Replaced the fuse & all my lights worked the way they were supposed to. One time, a brand new power strip right out of the package needed the fuse replaced. It's been awhile so I don't really recall if my little light next to the fuse came on or not , but I distinctly remember plugging one light into the power strip = okay; plugging 2 into the power strip = very very very dim lights. And it was the fuse that was the problem (for my power strip).

[Math help needed]

Thank you for the confirmation on the roof angle Mike! And many thanks for the information on how to butt the two roof halves together without the need for beveled edges! You just made my day!!!!

[Math help needed]

You might want some overhang on the roof. Having it dead stop right at the wall gives you no room for eaves, soffit, fascia, gutters, etc.

Yep, I was planning on an overhang on the bottom of the roof, I just didn't draw it in when I was figuring out the roof angle/slant. Since it overhangs the house I didn't think it would matter (in a preliminary sketch) how far it hung over the side of the house.

Which brings up another question: having the roof extended to overhang the side of the house by an inch or so on both sides, that won't change the pitch of the roof, right? Since it would be at the bottom of the roof piece, hanging over the edge of the house?

[Math help needed]

heehee *evil chuckle* Imma add to the confusion here.

Mike is right on this. You can divide your roof section into a right triangle. The width across is x (7 -- the width to make a right triangle is 14 ÷ 2, which is 7 - good job remembering that, Lisa!) and the height up /down is y (7). The slope that you want is 45° and the length of that slope will be z, which you also have as 7. The formula is, as Kathie pointed out, x² + y² = z². If you want to know if this is a 45° slope, then just sub the x, y, and z for your values and it should come out right. So 7² + 7² = z² . If you solve for z, you get 7² + 7² = the sq rt of 98, as Kathie pointed out. But the formula using your values comes out as 7² + 7² = 7², or 49 + 49 = sq rt of 49. Either your length of the slope or your angle of the slope is incorrect. So, let's do it this way:

Don't confuse me with any facts Kelly! All I want to know is if the roof pitch will work for a dormer that needs a 45 degree slant! lol!

[Math help needed]

Thank you Kathie!!!

[Math help needed]

Thank you sooooo much Mike!

Kelly (rodentraiser) tried to explain it to me once but it was just too complicated sounding. I'm a visual person & need to see it in front of me so I just get completely lost if someone is explaining it without pictures! lol! The only thing that kind of stuck in my brain was to divide the width of the wall in half.

Thank you!!!!!

[Math help needed]

Good morning everyone!

I'm hoping someone can help me out with some math. I'm trying to figure out how to get a 45 degree roof pitch (is that the correct wording?) so that I can put dormer's on a roof. Everything is just in the planning stages on paper right now, but I have no idea how to figure out a 45 degree angle.

Will the dimensions in this sketch give me a 45 degree angle on the roof for dormers:

This is a sketch of the front wall. It has a 9 inch ceiling height for the first floor and I was estimating 4 inch knee walls on the second floor.

Based on this sketch, would my roof have a 45 degree angle that would accommodate dormers on the side? If not, what would I need to change to make the roof a 45 degree angle?

Thanks for any help you can provide. Math is most definitely not my strong point! lol!

Lisa.

edited to get the picture to show up

sketch 1.pdf