thresadep Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 I did a search here but could not find any info... I am stumped on adding shingles to the tower roof. I have these cedar shingles that came with the dollhouse. When you cut them to fit the smaller areas they split. I was wondering if there is a better way to shingle around the bend of the tower roof? A thought of mine is to shingle up the flat parts and the seam angles,. place shingles over top to form a raised line of shingles going down the angle. Does that even make sense? lol Now to stop the shingles breaking when I cut them. Should I place a line of shingles on a strip of making tape? Then can I glue the strip to the roof? Would that hold? I am thinking it would help keep pieces together when I trim to fit. Or just use making tape on the shingles I want to trim? You can see the picture, I taped on some shingles just to see how they would look.You can see the over hang ones. Once I cut them, they split. Should I layer a thin bit of glue on the backs of pieces I want to cut then when dry, cut to fit? Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 I remember shingling the SF555 tower with the included shakes. They really split easily lengthwise, and I finally finagled some of the skinny splits to work on the ends of rows to get coverage. Afterwards I took the splits that were more or less the same width and used them along the edges of the corners. I don't recall how bad or acceptable they looked, because right after finishing the tower roof (the last thing I did do that kit) my eldest granddaughter & her daddy took the house home with them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbytsdy Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Hi thresa, I used thinner shingles, easier to cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbnmini Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 I always had a lot of spits as well, but did as Holly said- saved the spits for, hopefully, use later when smaller pieces are needed. Some of those shingles can be really thick and uneven- I will shave those down with my Xacto knife. I use my EZ cutter for the shingles, but even then get splits- nature of the beast I guess. I have had some success doing what kinda looks like what you've done in the picture: glue down several rows and when dry, line up my metal ruler over top of the shingles at the seam and trim down the overhanging shingles with my Xacto knife or utility knife. Most of the time I try to 'match' the seam shingles - if I end with a half, the row on the other side starts with the other half of the shingle. Either way I do it, if I can manage clean seams, I don't do the ridge caps. Otherwise I use smaller split shingles as ridge caps. I wish I had a pic of my San Fran tower roof, but apparently I never took a close up! :/ I am not great at shingling a tower roof yet...it's a big learning curve! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 After that SF tower roof and using the thinner Greenleaf shingles on the McKinley tower, when I got to the Lighthouse and then the two Fairfields I went with spackle and paint: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted September 30, 2016 Author Share Posted September 30, 2016 So just spackle and paint he roof? Hmmmm.. that is an idea. Thanks all!! Think I'm try the shingles that It came with. Just piece it and go with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbresr Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 I shingle now and again but most of the time now I just use the stone spray for both the roof as well as foundation. I did shingle the Painted Lady and just finished shingling the half scale farmhouse and really remember why I use the stone spray!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 I looked online and found a tutorial for making shingles out if sandpaper. I tried it with a small piece to see how like looked. Looked like.. sandpaper. Lol maybe if I spray it with that stone spray mentioned? So I decided to make a template and glue the shingles into it then glue the sheet on the roof. My thinking is, what if the shingles that came with the house is not enough to cover or I lose too many to errors? Easier to throw aside the template the chisel them off roof. Have one template done. Waiting to see how it dries and hold up to trimming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 42 minutes ago, thresadep said: I looked online and found a tutorial for making shingles out if sandpaper. I tried it with a small piece to see how like looked. Looked like.. sandpaper. Lol maybe if I spray it with that stone spray mentioned? So I decided to make a template and glue the shingles into it then glue the sheet on the roof. My thinking is, what if the shingles that came with the house is not enough to cover or I lose too many to errors? Easier to throw aside the template the chisel them off roof. Have one template done. Waiting to see how it dries and hold up to trimming. If you think of spraying with stone spray, why not make the shingles out of cardboard (think cereal boxes & similar). No point in paying for sandpaper if it's not going to be seen anyway. The template idea is a good one. I'm going to do that for the curved roof sections of the Beacon Hill. What are you using for the template itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mesp2k Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 My 1st thought: Can you glue the shingles to every other side, with the shingles overhanging, let it dry overnight, then place the tower on its side (the triangle/shingle side down), then trim the overhang with a miter saw or utility knife using the tower's edge as a guide?? Repeat for other 3 sides?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 I'm using left over file folders. Works great. I did the first template and it looked nice. Still had an issue with splitting shingles. Not yet sold on this. Figure I can try a few more ideas first.Think I may tape the back of the shingles I need to cut. Hopefully that will keep them from splitting or at least It will keep the splits somewhat intact. Shingles out of cardboard? I will check that out. I was considering using paper mache bits also. Got a feeling these cedar shingles are going g to be a nightmare. Thanks for advice. Much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 File folders -- perfect! Sturdy, yet flexible. Thanks for the hint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 I'm so excited! Did a test run with cereal boxes. I cut them to size of shingles that came in kit then painted them Tuscan red. ( May change color ) it looks great!! The cardboard grain paints like wood. I know..it's made of paper..wood. :)) look and see.. now I'm going to store to buy cereal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 On 10/3/2016 10:36:02, thresadep said: I looked online and found a tutorial for making shingles out if sandpaper. I tried it with a small piece to see how like looked. Looked like.. sandpaper... I like sandpaper for dollhouse shingles, as well as for bricks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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