Jump to content

New to Dollhouse making


JMF55

Recommended Posts

Hi from IL! New to dollhouse building! Received my first one for Christmas from my husband. The Fairfield. Excited! Question why do you dri fit the dollhouse? Sorry I am completely new to this! Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome Jo.

It is good practice to dry fit to get a "dry run" so to speak. You will see areas where you may need to increase the slot or reduce the tab. Sometimes pieces may be difficult to fit or you don't quite understand the directions. You get a visual picture of  hard to reach areas that you may want to paint/ wallpaper before completion. You don't need to dry fit all the delicate trims, but intricate stair cases and the major pieces are important.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi and welcome! That's a great house for a newcomer, that was also my first build and I had lots of fun assembling it :)

It's important to dry fit the components to make sure they are fitting together properly, sometimes you might need to make small adjustments like sanding tabs, it will get messy if you have glue already applied. It also helps to sort the components and label them while working, for example I always mark the sides that will be facing inwards and label the components with the order they will be glued with a pencil. I usually paint them before gluing so this helps me keep track of what goes where. For the fairfield I would also recomend priming and painting the wood before gluing, some portions will be inaccessible later (such as the tower base). It's important to prime plywood with a light color before applying decorations like wallpapper, the binding resins in the wood release chemicals that will yellow the papper surface overtime if not primed properly. That's another reason why we dry fit, after priming the tab slots usually need a bit of sanding to fit. Hope that helps and wish you lots of fun assembling this house!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the little family, Jo.

2 hours ago, JMF55 said:

...why do you dri fit the dollhouse?...

As mentioned, to sand or shave the tabs & slots for a more perfect fit; also, to make sure you understand the instructions before committing to glue; to see how the house will look once it's together and which areas will be impossible to prime/ paint/ decorate once it's all glued together; and I find that the house will begin to tell me what it wants and how it wants to look once I begin the dry fit.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone. If you don’t mind one of many questions to come lol! In dry fitting, do I tape it all together, then take apart marking it , sand edges, and prime it? When dried, glue it and wire and wallpaper it as I go? I think that is what I understood of your replies? If you don’t mind help please and thank you all so much!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just know it's a super important step!  I vaguely did it with my Pierce - although more in stages than as a whole thing.  Now I'm wishing I'd been a lot more careful about it as I'm trying to cover up issues I've created by not dry fitting it correctly!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, JMF55 said:

Thanks everyone. If you don’t mind one of many questions to come lol! In dry fitting, do I tape it all together, then take apart marking it , sand edges, and prime it? When dried, glue it and wire and wallpaper it as I go? I think that is what I understood of your replies? If you don’t mind help please and thank you all so much!

Yes that's pretty much the gist of it. Start by gluing the foundation of the house, this will be the base to dry fit the structure. Then work on the chimney and staicase sub-assembly, you will find detailed instructions for each one of these important steps in the box. With the chimney sub-assembly glued you can dry fit the floors and walls as many times as you need, tape is useful to help hold the structure together. You can leave the tower roof sub-assembly for later, this one can be a bit of a pain to glue together. You can cut the wallpapper using the wall sections as templates, some portions of the house are easier to wallpapper before gluing the walls (in this case the tower interior). If you are wiring the house you should plan this before gluing and adding wallpapper, are you using roundwire or tapewire? It's best to use templates to cover the walls with wiring, this will prevent glue moisture from reaching the circuit and make future repairs easier.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I built the Fairfield I built two of them, one of them inside out so it would be a mirror-image, to make two halves of a single house.  I had to disassemble one of the chimney assemblies after gluing because it skewed as it dried.  The second time I used books and boxes to jury-rig a jig for it to dry squared.  I primed and papered the walls of the hallway before installing the stairs before gluing the exterior walls, then I primed and papered and trimmed all the downstairs interior walls and installed the windows & doors before installing the second floor.  Then I primed and papered the second floor interior walls.  I prepped the floors and ceilings before I installed them.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Wormwoodz and Havanaholly! Getting there, have the foundation dri fit Woormwoodz should take apart and stain and glue before dri fitting the rest of the house? Thanks for both of your help. Want to do it right!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, JMF55 said:

Thanks Wormwoodz and Havanaholly! Getting there, have the foundation dri fit Woormwoodz should take apart and stain and glue before dri fitting the rest of the house? Thanks for both of your help. Want to do it right!

Yes glue the foundation first following the instructions, you'll have to let it dry upside down before dry fiting the rest of the house. While you wait you can work on the chimney sub-assembly, make sure the edges are squared and aligned and it will fit through the floor openings, the pictures help figuring out how everything should fit. You can stain or paint the foundation before or after gluing. You can also sand the edges after glued, I found it a bit easier to dry fit the walls and floors after I had the chimney assembly glued as the tape tends to get in the way of sliding it through the openings. Prime the walls on both sides and lay them flat to dry, you may want to label them when you punch them out from the sheets so you keep track of which ones go left or right.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, wormwoodz said:

You can stain or paint the foundation before or after gluing.

I'd stain before gluing if that's the finish I want use. Keep in mind that you can paint over glue but the glue will resist the stain and leave lighter spots where it drips or oozes..

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...