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Curiosity about 1/2" scale


CatColorado

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@fov I have the 1:24 Sea Side Villa kit, still in the box.  I purchased it when visiting Norm's store in Colorado a few years back.  They had the 1:12 on display and it was so beautiful, but so big.  So I bought the 1:24 instead.  When I build it, it will be my first half scale dollhouse.  I will enjoy watching you complete yours.  Maybe you'll inspire me to start mine.

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I talked to David Nielsen, Norm's son, and he told me that only a handful of 1/2" scale Seaside Villas were made. I know of five or six people who have them (mostly from here, and also someone from the Half Scale Minis group reached out to me) -- it would be funny if those were all them in existence! I've gathered some more info about the history of the Visalian from a miniature shop owner who did research on it and will post that on a future blog.

 

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  • 2 months later...

I've been working on some functional Victorian lamps for my 1:24 LDD Lisa. The kits were 3D printed from Shellie N., using LED lighting. I used a combination of fabric, lace, and paint to make them frilly like my Google Images Victorian inspirations. Now I have to build some furniture/trunks to hide the battery and wiring for each one....

They look a bit better in person than the photos!

lamps off.jpg

 

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Oh, wow!  These are great!  (And I totally understand what you mean when you say they look better in person.  Sometimes the photos are just too close up!  With a little bit of distance, the magic happens.  :))  I really like the one with the toile shade!  Is Shellie N. MiniEtchers?  I saw 1:48 lamps on her site, but not 1:24.

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Yes - Shellie from MiniEtchers. I think if you email her she can put 1:24 together. If I remember correctly, I got them in an online mini show that she was doing. It is also possible to order just the 3D printed lamp and shade if you have LED lights. I have a bunch of LED supplies from Evan Designs that I forgot I had already. I used them for ambient lighting on the Lisa since is gets pretty dark inside.

Anyone else have any cool half scale projects going on?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Handmade lights installed! 1:24 lights are hard to come by and with limited selection so I highly recommend trying this out. It was also super economical to use 3D printed lamp bases and LED lights. There are also now super small batteries so you can hide them easier (I challenge you to find where I hid mine!). Here are a couple of installations - see my 1:24 Victorian Townhouse gallery for more.

 

dining light close.jpg

study light.jpg

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36 minutes ago, biomom said:

I challenge you to find where I hid mine!

Um, I'm guessing in the desk and in the window seat, but you've got me in the dining room, because I have that end table, and I don't think it's big enough to hide a battery.  In the wainscoting someplace?

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I’m also guessing in the desk or right behind it. For the little table it’s a little dark for me to figure it out. Could be under the table top. Or under the floor with the push button on the floor or table. 

 

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  • For the office, it is attached under the desk (the desk itself was sealed up long ago).
  • For the dining room, there is a small rectangle of wood glued behind the little Eastlake side table...that is where the battery is.
  • For the spare room (in my gallery), it is in the hutch.
  • For the small bedroom (in my gallery), it is behind the vanity.

I needed to make the tiny switch and battery holder accessible but hidden. I have the rest of the house wired with ambient LED lighting that is hardwired through the house as I built it. But these lights were a later addition after the house was complete.

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This is so clever! I have been wanting to add some kind of lighting to my Victorianna because the rooms are deep and dark, but couldn't figure out how to do it. This just might work.

I have been waiting to post a blog about this until I get more trim painted, but here's my Seaside Villa with its new paint color. Originally I painted it a peachy orange color that looked great on another of my houses but just didn't work for this one. The new paint is very light gray (that turned out looking light blue). I'm using the white windows from Majestic Mansions and didn't want to repaint them, so I had to find a color that looked good with bright white trim.

seaside-newpaint1.jpg

seaside-newpaint2.jpg

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31 minutes ago, fov said:

The new paint is very light gray (that turned out looking light blue).

I love the color, some grays can be gloomy, but this with the white trim is cheery and bright. And, very beachy. You can add some dark grey accents as a third color too.

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5 hours ago, Mid-life madness said:

...You can add some dark grey accents as a third color too.

Or a peachy tone.  Your color looked light gray on my monitor until the photo with the door; the bright white does give a bluish cast to the gray on my monitor; VERY beach-like.

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  • 6 months later...

It's a great site! They have a lot of interesting things. My only complaint is that they take a while to ship, it routinely takes a week or more between when you place the order and when it ships out.

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  • 1 year later...

New Here and I have a Lot of questions!! What is the difference between 1/144 and 1/2"??? Where do I buy that white power strip for a half scale house- what size??? Is that my question even??? :-)))) If YOU were doing a Fairfield would you do tape or round wire?? Best place to buy 1/2" furniture???

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Hi Billie. I sell a range of 1:24 scale laser cut kits here: https://www.redcottageminiatures.com

In regard to your lighting questions, maybe read/watch some of the lighting tutorials that are online to see if that helps. It really is just preference whether you choose tape or round wire. I tend to use round wire but the tape is handy to have at times. 

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I'm not sure if there's a 1:24 power strip, but it's easy to replace the plugs on 1:24 lights with the larger plugs that work with this power strip: https://www.miniatures.com/Power-Strip-with-Onoff-Switch-P17643.aspx

There are more and more Etsy sellers offering 1:24 furniture and kits, so that's a good place to look. Also I just came across this list of stores that might be helpful: https://www.tinynewworld.com/blog/2020/4/30/my-favorite-places-to-buy-124-miniatures

I used tape wire on the Fairfield. In general I'm not a fan of tape wire because I have lights that no longer work and the wiring is trapped under wallpaper or floorboards so I can't fix it. For the half scale house I wired most recently, I used tape wire to put outlets in a few rooms (hidden under/behind furniture) and for the rest I ran the wire down to the underside of the house and plugged them in there. If I were going to do the Fairfield again I might do it that way. 

rowhouse805.jpg

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I don't electrify my builds, $$$ for something that doesn't "do" it for me.  I had bought several sets of furniture that was supposed to be 1:24 scale and when I built some of the kits I had the purchased items were 'way too small (closer to 1:32 when the hubs & I measured them), so I took several of my books of 1;12 furniture and reduced them 50%.

BTW, 1:12 scale means that 1" in that scale equals 1'.  1:24 scale means that 1/2" = 1' and 1:144 means that 1/12" =1'.

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