Thread: Building Crowies Dolls House - A slow WIP

I've got to watch this one.....

As things progress the plans may (will) change to reflect a better reality.
Once I had some basis of plans I got a sheet of 18mm ply for the base and marked it out.
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The first change to the plan was forced by the fact the sheet I had was 610mm wide and not the 615mm of the plan. No other consequential change that I can think of – the upper storey will overhang the base by 5mm, so what. Next I cut the 9 posts for the arcade section from some 150 x 50 pine I had re-cycled from a building skip.
Attachment 219500
Once they are stained up I hope they look OK. Rather than cut tenons on the posts and mortices in the base as suggested by the original plan I intend drilling holes for dowels.
The next item on the agenda is the beams that go over the arcade area and deep thought is required

Right, deep thought made me realise that the beam ‘lattice’ needs to cover the entire house first floor area as the plans show beam ends sticking out from underneath walls everywhere. These I cut from decking timber offcuts (thanks again to building skips) to a size of 25 x 20.
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Lack of foresight/planning/measuring had the posts ending up 25 x 25 so this matched the beams beautifully. I used my mitre saw with some scrap to pack under the stops which meant I didn’t have to measure how deep to cut the housings.
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48 housings later I had the beams done and laid up only to find I had missed one.
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A quick fix and some fine tuning resulted in a reasonable mesh for the first floor bearers.
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The reason for the double beams is that at this point one beam straddles the posts in the arcade and the other forms the top plate of the ground floor walls as well as the bottom plate of the first floor walls.
Ground floor walls are next to hold the beam ‘lattice’ up along with the posts. More to come . . .

looking great so far
keep the pictures coming

Following with interest. I have a 1/24th scale hot rod garage I started a couple of years ago but never finished. Every once in a while I get the urge to work on it. Maybe your build will inspire me.

Bret

I cut the walls to size using 9mm ply (Bunnings this time) and had a dry run to make sure my measurements weren’t too far out.
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So far, so good. The first floor floor and walls go on this covering right out to the ends of the beams which give the overhang characteristic of Tudor houses.
As described in the original plans I marked up the wall exteriors to show the posts, rails and infill panels.
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I am now in the throes of free-hand bevelling to provide relief to make the panels stand out against the posts and rails. The suggestion to not worry about being dead straight makes the task a lot easier. The pine ply is also soft enough that I can do the whole lot with a ‘snap-off’ cutter.
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I think I will pre-finish staining the posts and rails black and painting the panels white before final construction of the ground floor.
More as and when . . .

This build is coming along very well, and very interesting to see the way you are building it, as I have a great interest in Doll houses,Keep the pics coming .


Eddie.

I'll try to keep the pics coming, Eddie. If you want any particular detail, please ask and I'll try.

What a pig of a task this weekend! Staining and painting was a lot easier said than done but at least the first coat has been completed – just a retouch needed with the white for neatness. The unpainted areas are to be cut out for doors and windows.
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A question for watchers . . . The black stain and white paint are both a very matt flat finish and I am wondering whether I should seal the lot with a satin coat of polyurethane to assist with dirt resistance etc. Comments please.
The other side of the walls (ie the interior) will be done in white only with walnut stained trim for doors and windows.

Hi Otakirilad,You are moving along at a good pace,and its looking good, I must say you have devised a different and probaly a quicker way,to get the exterior walls forward,and I think it a good Idear to put a coat of something on to protect, and it will give the stain a bit of a lift,Keep the pics coming, just a reminder that the rooms will get smaller to work in as you close them off and I allways try to finish the room before it gets to awkward,you no doubt know that,it was just a thought ,

Eddie.

G'day OtakiriLad,
Like Eddie said, you are certainly powering on with the house.
When I do a child's toy which I paint, I always do a top coat of "clear gloss" pressure pack.
It both seals the colour and gives a hard surface for the bumps & knocks of play.
Keep up the good work and thank you for the WIP photos.
Cheers, crowie

Looking good Otakiriland. As the others have said definately would apply a topcoat. After all the time you spent staining and painting you want to protect that and make it easy to clean if neccassary. I vote for satin poly. Keep the pics coming. One question I have will you be making furnishings as well? Such as kitchen cabinets, tables, chairs, curtains, and the like.


Bret

I'm with the others - Satin Poly.

Add me as well for the stain finish. Certainly starting to take shape now the walls are nearly complete.

At least with the interiors you will not have to worry about the wallpapering can be a bit of a pain I know

I will follow the wisdom of the sages and coat the walls with polyurethane but as I don’t have any on hand that will have to wait.
Visitors today have limited my time in the workshop, however I managed to get an hour to start on the internal stairs and have now settled down with a nice glass of malt to continue the saga.
The stairs will be set in the corner with the two flights meeting on a landing. I ripped some of the left over 20mm beams at an angle to give a triangular fillet of 20mm x 15mm, then cut to 65mm length.
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To make the stairs I lay out 7 on a couple of packing strips and sandwich them between two stringers cut from some 24mm x 6mm strips of Western Red Cedar left over from a boat build some years back. Hey presto, instant stairs! The packing strips are only used to centre the steps between the stringers and don’t form part of the finished article.
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Bret, as yet I haven't sorted out where the house is going - no (young) females in the family so it may end up being donated to the likes of the RSL for raffling off for charity. Depending on how the exercise goes I will decide on furnishings and furniture closer to completion. After all it is merely a project to improve my wood skills and knowledge.
More as and when . . .