Di Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Hello all. I'm joining from Australia. I have just received the Beacon Hill kit and I'm very excited to get started. I have an 18 month old daughter who will one day receive this. I plan to give myself a very long time to get working on it. Any tips? I haven't opened the box yet as I don't want to get overwhelmed and I ned to set up a dedicated workspace. Any tips on how to begin/get organised/or any tools I may need? I also ordered a set of dollhouse building tools. Glad to meet you all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimajo Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Hello and welcome! The Beacon Hill is my first build also. Been working on it for a year and a half. Up to the fun part of decorating the interior. This is a copy of a post made by Havanaholly to a new member re: getting started. She explains much better than I can. A number of members have built the Beacon Hill, and in addition to searching the Gallery for their albums you can also read blogs about the builds. My basics for building are a sturdy Stanley utility knife/ box cutter handle that retracts the blade in use & stores extra in the handle, along with lots of new, sharp replacement blades, masking tape or blue painter's tape for the dry fit, fresh sandpaper for my sanding block plus lots of emery boards for sanding the gingerbread trim pieces and other tight places, and a bottle of Probond (or any good carpenter's wood glue of choice) nd Elmer' all-purpose whit glue for gluing the clear acetate inserts. I have built a couple of kits and my basic approach is to open the box and remove the instructions, the schematics, the acetate inserts and the "Getting Started" sheet. I put the acetate inserts between the pages of the "Getting Started" sheet and set them to one side. Next I read over the instructions, then I look at the schematics sheet and read over the instructions again, to familiarize myself with where the part are. Next I set the instruction sheet on top of the acetate inserts and take the plywood sheets out of the box and go over the numeral stamped in one corner with a black Sharpie or soft lead pencil, putting them in numerical order face down in the box top until I have accounted for all of them, comparing each one to the schematics sheet to make sure I have them all. I then return the pile of plywood sheets, face up, to the box bottom, lay the paperwork & acetate inserts on top, replace the bo top, and go eat dark chocolate or sip a strong beverage and begin a serious conversation with the house to learn its story and find out what it wants me to do. Once I am well rested and the house & I have reached agreement, I begin to build & prime or stain. I wait until the basic build and decorating is done before installing doors and windows. The first kit I built that I followed the instructions and applied the windows before painting & papering found me undoing a lot of mess, so I find it's easier to wait. You can also go to http://moreminis.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-first-beacon-hill-day-1.html#.V3OqyuT6vNM, Gina shows step by step, very informative. Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Welcome to the little family, Diane. Jo has kindly spared my repeating myself (typos included), so I will only add that while I have not built a beacon Hill, Gina has built at least two; and I use the same approach whether I am building a little kit or a large You have the right idea at the beginning. My first kit took me 3 1/2 years to build, but it wasn't a Greenleaf kit nor had I learned so mini things from all the mistakes I have made over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsbeth Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 And a look at the building/house questions forum: http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/?app=forums&module=forums&controller=forums&id=27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Di Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 Thank you so much everyone. I'm so excited to get started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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