My Miniature Madness Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 So in an earlier post, I said that I had not done a tab and slot dollhouse kit since sometime in the late 80's. I just received the 2 Asahi Teahouse kits from the 2012 Spring Fling that I ordered, but there are no specific instructions. Just a diagram of the parts, and a general finishing booklet. Should I be worried, or is it so simple that I don't need any instructions?You know what they say about assume-ing, so I'm just asking...ANY help will bring you good mojo! :0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 It is very easy and self-explanatory build really. Depending on which way you put your floor it wll give the right and left side of the walls since you will either turn the front to fit th floor slots. I can take some pics when I get home later on to show what I mean. Then afcourse, if you intend to bash, anything goes ;)Hugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 With all your building experience, I think you'll be fine. I don't recall this being hard at all. The added skylight was the biggest pain but that was just more the fiddly nature of it. Mine was being bashed to include an inner loft and a walk out basement. The whole thing was an art studio. It is still in UFO land (unfinshed and taken apart). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-defunct account- Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 I'm sure once you open it up, you'll find it's very simple to piece together by just using the cover page photo for reference. I don't know what your intentions are for it in the end, but I think you'll find it is also easy to move some things around and change the look if you wish. Either way good luck, just dive in and if you get caught up hop back on the forum for help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Miniature Madness Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 Thank you all so much! Anna - A few pics would really help! I'd also love to see your finished project. I'll snoop around in your profile when I'm done here. You can post here or email them? Please also send your address so that I can send you a proper thank you! Selkie - I did get the skylight, too. Now I'm scared, lol! Your idea sounds great! Are you still planning to do it? It would be fun to work on them "together"! A. - It is very reassuring to know it is easy! I have been working on a RGT barn since April and at every turn it has been a disappointing challenge, Easy is going to be nice for a change! I bought 2 to put together, but I'd like to change the opening side to the short wall. If I do, I think I may need to raise the entire structure a couple inches for more "headroom". If anyone can point me to someone who has raised a tab and slot, and has advise on how to, I'd love to make them a wrought iron plate rack as a thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Jodi, I'll send some pics your way in the (my) morning, need to tweak them a little. As for adding veiling height, I think I still have some pics from when I added a full floor to the Adams. I'll look for those as well as it is easy peasy doing so with the thickness of the GL kits.hugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Jodi ... it's not a good idea to put your email address in the body of a post. This forum is open to the public, which means webbots and other nefarious skulkers can harvest your address and add it to their spam lists. We have a the personal messenger (PM) feature that lets us send secure messages to another forum member. I've alerted the admins, one of whom will remove the email address, but if you can still edit the post, please do.To access the PM feature, hover your cursor over the person's name. A window will pop up. Click on the envelope icon to start a message. Easy peasey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Miniature Madness Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 Jodi, I'll send some pics your way in the (my) morning, need to tweak them a little. As for adding veiling height, I think I still have some pics from when I added a full floor to the Adams. I'll look for those as well as it is easy peasy doing so with the thickness of the GL kits.hugsThanks so much, Anna! Don't feel rushed with sending those pictures. Please just do it when it is convenient for you!Email or PM me your address! I'd love to send you a thank you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Miniature Madness Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 Jodi ... it's not a good idea to put your email address in the body of a post. This forum is open to the public, which means webbots and other nefarious skulkers can harvest your address and add it to their spam lists. We have a the personal messenger (PM) feature that lets us send secure messages to another forum member. I've alerted the admins, one of whom will remove the email address, but if you can still edit the post, please do.To access the PM feature, hover your cursor over the person's name. A window will pop up. Click on the envelope icon to start a message. Easy peasey. Oh crap! I didn't even think about that! Thanks for alerting, me Kathie! I could not figure out a way to edit the post. I sure hope I didn't make a lot of work for someone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suej Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 So in an earlier post, I said that I had not done a tab and slot dollhouse kit since sometime in the late 80's. I just received the 2 Asahi Teahouse kits from the 2012 Spring Fling that I ordered, but there are no specific instructions. Just a diagram of the parts, and a general finishing booklet. Should I be worried, or is it so simple that I don't need any instructions?You know what they say about assume-ing, so I'm just asking...ANY help will bring you good mojo! :0)Yikes, I'm glad to see this post. I've also purchased this kit and haven't opened it yet. I would have hit the panic button. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 The edit option is at the bottom of the post, on the line with the Quote and Go to top links. It gives you an opportunity to make corrections or additions for a time but eventually goes away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Miniature Madness Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 Yep. It must have gone before I could get to it. All I have is a plus button for multiple quotes, the word quote and the go to top with arrow. I'm not really too concerned about getting spam emails. Google does a pretty good job of recognizing it and putting it in my junk folder. As long as it doesn't effect anyone else. I feel bad :0( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 Don't feel bad, Jodi. This is such a caring place that it's easy to forget all the nastiness that creeps through the 'net. I also brought it to the admins' attention, so in time someone will remove it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Miniature Madness Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 When I first saw the Asahi Tea House kit from the 2012 Spring Fling contest it immediately made me think Modern. This was new to me, because I never fantasized in that realm before! It reminded me of the spectacular modern homes dotted along Beach Drive in Seattle. I knew that someday, I was going to fulfill this modern fantasy, but I didn't expect it to be so soon! I'm planning on combining two kits, side by side, and changing the orientation so that the lower roofed side will be the front. This should give me room for a small bath and kitchen, and a bed and living space combined. Think small and modern beach rental. I took out all of the pieces, familiarized myself with them, and then laid them out on the table. This really helped me to visualize what I needed to do to each wood panel to make this new arrangement work. I measured the back wall and determined that with the floor height, once connected to the walls, it is less than 7" tall. I'm thinking that this is not going to work well, because it might be an issue with the 3D printed tiled shower stall I made. It is 7" tall. I had to guess the height before the kit came, and I was a little generous. So, in researching how to add an inch or so to dollhouse walls, I came across Daphne's blog post from April 2012 (A Miniature Obsession). She raised the height of her Primrose using the walls from a second kit, then covered them with 3mm cellfoam to keep them straight and add strength. Sounds reasonable to me, so I ordered the cellfoam from Amazon. Gotta love Prime. I'll have it by Thursday! I'm going to add 1/8" x 3/4" basswood to the bottom of every wall, minus where a door opening is going to be, then glue, pin and laminate each exterior wall section in the cellfoam. So in the meantime, I added some window openings to the left end wall (bedroom/bath wall). I used an engineers square (newly acquired) to mark and score the plywood, then just slowly scored, and scored, and scored until I had cut it through. It wasn't bad in terms of being my first time bashing 1/8" plywood, but man I used a lot of #11 blades. Good thing I had a new pack on hand! The original kit has a three ply beam that you can see in the opening end, and the walls have a notch where it sits. Mine is no longer opening on that side, so I had to re-position the beams from both kits. I decided to center them on each of their walls, and made the new notches to accommodate them. I cut the 1/8" x 3/4" addition pieces and transferred new tab holes into them. Before I do this for the front walls. I still have to decide on window/door placement. Need more coffee before I make such an important decision! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suej Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Jodi, I love your vision for this project. I'll be following your Blog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Miniature Madness Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 30 minutes ago, suej said: Jodi, I love your vision for this project. I'll be following your Blog. Thanks so much, Sue! Have you settled on a theme for yours Yet? It's going to be so fun seeing what you do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Whohooooo for progress! Love your ideas for this and can't wait to see it take shape and form! hugs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suej Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I don't have a plan yet:-(( I'm considering building the Greenleaf Orchid next, but I can't get a fixed plan in my head. The other night I was thinking why am I worrying over all this beforehand planning..the structure is going to have the last say. I'm an OCD planner in RL too, which can make for "analysis paralysis":-)))))) By the way, I've never heard of a product called cellfoam. Is that different than foamcore? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Miniature Madness Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 21 minutes ago, suej said: I don't have a plan yet:-(( I'm considering building the Greenleaf Orchid next, but I can't get a fixed plan in my head. The other night I was thinking why am I worrying over all this beforehand planning..the structure is going to have the last say. I'm an OCD planner in RL too, which can make for "analysis paralysis":-)))))) By the way, I've never heard of a product called cellfoam. Is that different than foamcore? Oh my little brain sees opportunity for you here, Sue! I used to be as OCD as they came. Then I worked in a position for almost nine years where I was the center point between a huge number of people. This of course meant that I dealt with many, many different personalities with different ideas on what deadlines meant. Needless to say, it was one gigantic growth opportunity for me, and by the time I was ready to move onto other challenges, I was a much more go with the flow kind of gal. It was an incredible gift, because I learned that when the worst thing in my mind does happen, it is still really all okay! Long winded, I know, but I say all of that to iterate the point that you SHOULD just go with organic creativity on one of these projects of yours! I bet it will turn out to be your favorite yet! I have found that the people who think they are the least creative are usually the most! On the cellfoam, I have never worked with it, let alone heard of it either. When I looked on Amazon, they have several different thicknesses ranging from 3mm to 10mm. It is made by Midwest Products, so my guess is that it must be a regular item in model train building. I'll let you know when I get it what it actually is. I'm thinking it will be like pool noodle material. Here's the link to the Amazon search results: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cellfoam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 Jodi, I find that my Stanley utility knife with retractable blades wok much better on 1/8" plywood than my Exacto knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra from Olde Cape Cod Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 I switched thanks to Holly...don't know how many exacto blades I used up until then! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Miniature Madness Posted November 7, 2015 Author Share Posted November 7, 2015 2 hours ago, havanaholly said: Jodi, I find that my Stanley utility knife with retractable blades wok much better on 1/8" plywood than my Exacto knife. That's a great tip, Holly! I'll give that a try! Got the front wall openings for the glass door and wall of windows cut out. I used the scroll saw mostly on that. I spackled, sanded and primed. In the process of the dry fit, but will probably stop for tonight. Tomorrow I am going to affix the back walls and both floors together and then load piles of books on them. The floor from one of the kits is tweaked a little. Meanwhile, I'll try to figure out how to make the frames for the big window wall. I think doing one big unit with mullions, one for outside and one for inside. Then I can just sandwich the "glass" in between. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 Well the utility blades might be too small to WOK for you, but I'm sure they will WORK for you! I wish when the tech fixed some of this computer's other issues there were some way to fix the keyboard so this old touch-typist wouldn't miss letters (I have to slow down to make sure I hit each key with the same force). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Miniature Madness Posted November 7, 2015 Author Share Posted November 7, 2015 Yeah me too Holly! It kind of adds a little humor, tho, like auto correct in texts, so let it be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra from Olde Cape Cod Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 I always have to go back and correct everything before I post! LOL! I saw the perfect T-shirt the other day...."I have CDO, it's like OCD only in alphabetical order, like it should be." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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