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New to miniatures- Alison Jr. Dollhouse


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Hello everyone! Super excited to get started on my kit. I've had it for a while but due to health and other reasons wasn't able to begin it. I have the Alison Jr. From real good toys. However, now I am in the planning stages of the kit. Trying to figure out what all I want to do. This is the first kit I have done. I loved my aunt's old Sears dollhouse when I was younger and decided to eventually have my own. Never did I imagine the rabbit hole I would fall down when doing research and planning it. Now I'm kinda at a standstill. I keep coming up with ideas and there are a few things I have questions about that lead me to turn to these forums. Hopefully I find tips and tricks to make the planning and building easier! Any advice is greatly appreciated!

* What does it require to attach additions later on down the road? 

* Can a room divider is completely removed from a floor or altered to have a more open floor plan? 

* Can windows be altered to become bay windows? I noticed rgt makes a.bay window kit that includes a foundation and just the window as well. Was curious their compatibility with the kit. 

I want to add a small round window to the tower. And not sure the best way to work with the mdf wood. Any suggestions?

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Hi Ashley, welcome to the forum! I deleted your other posts, it's not necessary to cross-post the same thing in different areas of the forum. This way all the responses you get will be in the same place.

All of these things can be done. For MDF you'll need to use power tools to make or enlarge holes. Room dividers can often be left out, just like with a real house it depends on whether it's a structural wall or not. On the Allison Jr. I think you could leave out any of the interior walls, but you might need to add a pillar to support the floor above to prevent warping. Additions can be attached with glue, or you can build the addition as a separate self-contained piece and display it next to the house.

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I learned the hard way that if I put the house into dry fit first (basically assemble the shell using painters' or masking tape, rather than glue/ nails) it will talk to me and tell me what it wants and how it wants to look.

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Welcome! How exciting for you. I only have a few things to add to FOV's helpful advice.

For the round window, you need a hole saw. It's a round drill bit that fits onto a drill. You just need to get the one that has the correct diameter for the opening the window requires. It looks like this:

https://www.grainger.com/product/45EG78?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1dzyjr2h4gIVjSCtBh0FwA0wEAQYAyABEgIctvD_BwE&cm_mmc=PPC:+Google+PLA&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMI1dzyjr2h4gIVjSCtBh0FwA0wEAQYAyABEgIctvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!281733071018!!!g!472333709463!

For an addition, I recommend getting one from RGT, since that's who made your Allison kit. Other manufacturers offer them but foundation heights and interior ceiling heights can be all over the map. You want one that matches the main house without having to futz and fuss about trying to get things to line up.

Jennifer at RGT can tell you if an addition will work for you. She can also tell you if the bay window will fit onto the Allison. Email her at info@realgoodtoys.com

You can use a jigsaw to cut an opening on the side of the house and the side of the addition so you can put a door in from one to the other. Alternatively, you could just put a false door on both sides. It'll look good, it just won't open.

Personally, I wouldn't attach the addition to the house. It makes moving it around much easier. Plus, as someone who has had a helpful husband move a house for me and snapped an addition right off so both addition and house crashed to the floor, it's best not to assume others don't realize that it is merely glued onto the side.

I guess the most important thing I can offer is to follow RGT's instructions to the letter. It may not be immediately clear why you need to do some steps before others, but believe me there is a reason! Congrats on the new hobby, it's a fun one!

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Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I was debating going ahead and waiting until I had the first addition on hand to start the build. But now I have definitely decided that attaching them together would probably be bad considering I want to ad more then one and that would be far to large to safely move and not risk hurting it. Any other advice is greatly appreciated. I'm planning to dry fit in the next few days. Was thinking about marking lines in pencil to show where paint will end up on the wall and ceiling as a guide for when I start the " first coat step". Does any one have any suggestions on the best way to seal and or prime the wood for the actual paint. I have read so many ways not sure what the best seems to be. I also ready that with mdf the edges that will be glued should be sealed first with something to help strengthen those edges. I seen suggestions of use dry wall filler or wood filler. Does this help or add unneeded steps?

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Welcome Ashley :wave:

The Allison is a great house. There are many ways to seal MDF this little article has some good info https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/avoid-extra-sanding-prime-mdf-2365111

I like to use Zinser brand primer. It is a white shellac based primer.

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8 hours ago, Abrooks393 said:

...Was thinking about marking lines in pencil to show where paint will end up on the wall and ceiling as a guide for when I start the " first coat step"...

I do that to mask off where I will need to glue edges together, as bare wood adheres MUCH better to bare wood when using a good  quality wood glue (such as Tite Bond).

8 hours ago, Abrooks393 said:

...Does any one have any suggestions on the best way to seal and or prime the wood for the actual paint...

I just use flat white interior latex house paint from the hardware store.  With MDF I'd think about a skim coat of spackle or joint compound to make a smooth surface.

8 hours ago, Abrooks393 said:

...I also ready that with mdf the edges that will be glued should be sealed first with something to help strengthen those edges. I seen suggestions of use dry wall filler or wood filler. Does this help or add unneeded steps?

The only thing I ever built with MDF was a roombox from Hobby Builder's Supply and I just glued the edges together before I primed anything, and they held just fine.

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Hi Ashley,

I've built/finished 3 RGT houses and found them relatively easy in the sense that they fit together well - I especially love their windows and doors. Two of the houses were partially built when I bought them. I have not tried to bash a kit since the MDF is very hard and I don't have tools to do so. I did prime the surfaces (I tend to use mostly gesso, but there are alternatives) and I also wallpapered the rooms without incident. I used a Benjamin Moore paint for the exterior on the colonial because I wanted it to have a more authentic color but I usually just use acrylic and haven't had issues. The house will be quite heavy when it's done. It is also pretty sturdy and will withstand a little more "love" from younger children (but I really don't recommend dh's for children younger than 7). 

The Alison is a fun house and I am looking forward to seeing your project unfold. Enjoy!

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