Noob, New Dollhouse

[PapaJKK]

Hello, 

I have miniature experience in 1:20.3 model railroading and in Radio Control rock crawlers and scalers. I wrote an introduction on my profile page, but maybe it should have gone here. My current plans are to build my D-C Newberg to resemble the house from UP.

[otterine]

Welcome!    I'm looking forward to seeing what you create.  Once you have made 5 posts, you can create an album to share your progress.

[havanaholly]

Welcome to the little family, John.  I have a Newberg still in its box, in the pile of unbuilt houses in the workshop; there are a few ahead of it in the stack, so I shall look forward to your build.

[KathieB]

9 hours ago, PapaJKK said:

I wrote an introduction on my profile page, but maybe it should have gone here.

Hi John, and welcome to the forum. I took the liberty of copying the intro from your profile page and pasting it below. I hope you don't mind. It's an interesting story, to say the least!   

I am a noob to dollhouse building. I have two granddaughters (6 and 1) who need, or will need, dollhouses built by their Papa. I am a railroad modeler in 1:20.3 scale, and have scratch built several models in that scale, including cutting my own scale lumber. I have most of the needed tools and some of the required expertise, so I am not intimidated by the complexity of the dollhouse kits I now have. Speaking of which, they are a Dura-Craft Newberg, a Greenleaf Pierce, and a Greenleaf Beacon Hill. I am currently renovating a dollhouse that my father built for my grand nieces about 20 years ago. I believe it's a Dura-Craft, but I haven't identified the model yet.  My plans for the Newberg are to make it a reasonable facsimile of Carl and Ellie's house from UP. It's close enough that paint would be enough for many people,  but I plan to cut the foundation in half heightwise, new windows and front door (including all the locks), a chimney, and of course balloons! I haven't decided if I want to tackle altering the roof to more closely resemble the UP house. I'll probably mock something up to determine the feasibility of that undertaking. Oh, and I need to find  reasonable models of Carl, Russell, Kevin, and Dug.

[Beulah]

Hi John and welcome. My granddaughter also is why I am now hooked

[amyole]

Welcome, John. I love that you are new to this yet already have a stash of houses to build! That's the way to go! 

[pgwyn]

Welcome.  Can't wait to see your UP house, especially the balloons.

[Mid-life madness]

Welcome John. The UP house sounds lovely.

[MamaD]

Welcome!

[mesp2k]

Hi John!

[MiniaturesInsight]

On 8/9/2017, 7:13:02, PapaJKK said:

Hello, 

I have miniature experience in 1:20.3 model railroading and in Radio Control rock crawlers and scalers. I wrote an introduction on my profile page, but maybe it should have gone here. My current plans are to build my D-C Newberg to resemble the house from UP.

Hi John! Welcome to the forum.

The UP house sounds amazing. I don't know if you had any other ideas for how to make your balloons, but several years ago I was involved in making a 1/12 scale nursery for a baby shower display, and we made balloons by taking those soft plastic grapes you can find at craft stores, pulled the stems, painted the grapes, and then glued them to white florist wire for the strings. It worked out pretty well and they were light enough that they stayed straight with no problems.  Just a suggestion, and if you find a better method do let the forum know!