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Home » Dolls House Projects » Bay View Dolls House Project
This dolls house is
a new design from Bromley Craft Products.
It is based on a classic late Victorian terrace town house.
Houses of this design are very common throughout the country
and feedback from customers suggests that many have lived in similar
houses at some stage during their lives. The house is available to
purchase as a kit in both 1:12 and 1:24 Scales.
A matching basement is also available as an option.
In this project I
will show how I built and decorated the 1:24 scale kit version of
the house in step by step detail.
This will include assembling the kit, creating the realistic
brick and tile exterior effects, installing the lighting and
floorboards and painting.
In addition I am including the plans for the house for any
brave and skilful individuals wanting to build it from scratch
rather than buying the kit.
Building from
Scratch Using Plans Provided
The plans for this dolls house are designed for commercial
production using a computer controlled CNC router machine which
allows complex parts to be cut with near perfect accuracy.
The kit parts fit together
very precisely with rebated joints making the house quick and easy
to assemble and only requiring PVA adhesive to create a strong
construction.
It would be difficult to
reproduce many of the parts sufficiently accurately for this method
of construction using normal DIY tools so I would recommend using
the plans provided as a guide only and adapting the design to make
it easier to build. I
have included some common sense tips below, but will not go into
great detail here because I assume anyone with the practical skills
to build the house from scratch will prefer to do it their own way
based on their own ability and tools available.
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Download FREE Dolls
House Plans Here! Click Dollshouse Plan Thumbnail Images to Download PDF Plans Dolls House Plans provided for personal non-commercial use only and must not be copied or re-distributed in any form. Copyright © Bromley Craft Products Limited |
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Tips
and Suggestions for DIY construction
Use a large layout square when marking out parts and cut parts as
accurately as possible.
Clamp matching parts together (e.g. the two side walls) and trim so
they are identical to ensure perfect alignment when the house is
assembled.
Substitute
the rebated joints with butt joints which can be glued and tacked
with panel pins. (It
will be necessary to adjust the dimensions of some parts to
compensate).
The
window frames, stairs and door in the kit are machined from single
pieces of MDF. It would
be easier to make these by hand by using suitable pieces of strip
wood / mouldings or alternatively you could buy ready made parts of
a suitable size where available.
Do not
attempt to build the house from scratch unless you have the
necessary skills and tools.
Avoid breathing dust when working with MDF.
(This project was completed using a prototype version of the 1:24
scale kit so some parts may appear to differ slightly from the plans
provided).
As with any project
it is a good idea to plan ahead before starting work to establish
exactly what is involved and the best order to complete each stage.
This is particularly important for 1:24 scale houses where
the small parts and small room sizes can make some tasks more
difficult after assembly.
I have broken this
project down into the following stages:
3
Note: See video below for more images.
1.
Trial Assembly.
Unpack and identify all of the kit parts.
It is a good idea to assemble the house without glue
initially to familiarise yourself with the parts and check that
everything fits together correctly.
Refer to the dolls house kit instructions provided for step
by step detail and pictures.
At this stage I
decided that it would be a easier to decorate the roof dormer and
bay window parts ready assembled to I glued these parts together
before proceeding.
2.
Interior and Exterior Painting
I used matt emulsion paint for painting all interior and exterior
surfaces – sample pots can be purchased from DIY stores which are
ideal for this purpose.
For the roof I used a very dark grey colour and for the exterior
walls I used a lime mortar colour.
This will form a base for the realistic exterior finish and
the colour will be visible in-between the bricks and tiles.
I used a neutral cream colour for the internal walls (can be
wallpapered over later is desired).
TIP:
Before painting apply sanding sealer to all exposed edges of MDF
parts. This allows them
to be sanded to a much smoother finish and prevents paint being
absorbed into the MDF.
3.
Realistic Exterior Finish
Application
On this house I used the red brick colour Realistic Brick Compound
and an extra large size 1:24 scale stretcher bond stencil
(the extra large stencil
covers a larger area which makes the application process much
faster). I am also using
a Brick Arch stencil to apply the arched brickwork around the porch
opening. Numerous other
colours, patterns and scales are available to choose from.
Tip:
Apply masking tape to any parts where you don’t want the brick
compound to be applied.
After the brick finish has been applied the tape can be removed
leaving accurate and neat edges.
Begin by spraying the stencil generously with repositionable stencil
adhesive (allow this to dry before use), and mixing some Realistic
Brick Compound with water to form a smooth easily spreadable
consistency. The compound is an air-drying material and allows
unlimited working time (just add more water as necessary or cover to
prevent drying) so there’s no need to rush and very little material
is wasted. It’s also
very easy to clean off and re-apply the compound if you’re not happy
with it so there’s no need to worry if you make a mistake.
TIP:
Before starting to apply the brick finish it is important to work
out the best starting position.
As well as ensuring that the bricks are squarely aligned on
the wall, it is important to consider how the bricks align with the
edges of the walls and windows.
On this house the starting position is dictated by the arch around
the porch so the brick arch stencil is being used here.
Position the stencil on the wall ensuring that it is
correctly aligned and press down firmly ensuring that all parts are
firmly in contact with the wall.
The next step is to spread on the Realistic Brick Compound
mixture using a pallet knife.
As soon as the compound has been applied the stencil can be
peeled away to reveal the brick wall effect.
Next rinse the stencil clean in water and pat dry with a
cloth before repeating the process.
Applying Bricks around Arch
Tip:
The stencil adhesive is not water soluble so will remain active on
the stencil after it has been cleaned and dried so there is not need
to re-apply after each use. However, after a while it will start to
become less tacky and need to be re-sprayed with more adhesive.
When re-positioning the stencil to continue the application it
should be carefully aligned so it overlaps one or two courses of the
previously applied bricks. Simply
repeat the application process until the whole area is covered, then
leave to dry.
Tip:
The newly applied brick finish may initially look a little uneven in
places, however, any imperfections can generally be removed easily
by lightly sanding the finish when dry.
After applying the brick finish to the bay window I decided that it
would look better if I created the effect of stone lintels over the
windows. To achieve this
I simply scraped the brick compound off from these areas added
mouldings and painted.
The roof tile effect was created using exactly the same method as
described above for the brick walls except dark grey / slate
compound and a roof tile stencil were used.
Roof Dormer
To finish the front of the roof dormer I cut some strips of oak
veneer and glued into position to create a timber framework effect.
I applied a texture to the space in-between the wooden beams
using our Render / Stucco Compound.
This is a similar material to the brick compound … it was
simply mixed with water to a creamy consistency and applied with a
paint brush. The final
texture was created using a stippling technique with the paintbrush
before finally painting.
4.
Lighting Installation.
I decided to fit two ceiling lights on each floor of the house, one
in the centre of each of the main rooms and one on each floor of the
hallway. When fitting
dolls house lighting it is
important to plan and make provision for the wiring early in the
project so the wires can be hidden without damaging the decor later
on. After marking
the exact position of the lights on the ceilings I drilled small
holes where the lights fit (just large enough for the wires to be
passed through. I then
used a router to cut a channel in the floor above creating a path
for the lighting wires to be routed to the rear of the house.
Finally a small hole was drilled in the rear wall of the
house to align with the channel (the house parts were temporarily
assembled to work out the exact positions).
The ceiling lights can now be
fitted, but care should be taken as they are delicate and
easily damaged. Before
fitting the lights the two pin plugs should be removed from the
wires by pulling out the metal pins with pliers.
The wires from the lights can then be threaded through the
holes in the ceiling and fitted along the channel in the floor above
towards the rear of the house.
The lights are attached to the ceiling by small self adhesive
pads. Small pieces of
tape can be used to keep the wires in the floor channels temporarily
until the floorboards have been fitted over them.
At this stage I
proceeded to fitting the floorboards and then the final assembly of
the house which is described in the following sections for clarity.
After this has been completed all that remains is to
re-attach the two pin plugs to the lighting wires after they have
been passed through the back of the house.
These can then be plugged into the socket connector strip and
the transformer connected.
All being well the lights should now work!
Troubleshooting:
Dolls house lighting is fairly simple, but loose connections are a
common problem which can cause one or all of the lights to fail.
These can usually be resolved quite easily by systematically
checking each part in turn.
Start by checking that the wires are properly connected to
the two pin plugs and that the bulbs are firmly screwed into the
light fittings. Further
troubleshooting information can be found on our website.
5.
Floorboards.
The floorboards are made using iron-on real hardwood veneer strips
(available in Oak or Cherry).
These can easily be cut to length with scissors or a craft
knife and then quickly fixed into position by applying heat from an
iron. The iron-on
adhesive is very strong, fast acting and permanent.
I used wooden battens to support the floors when applying the
floorboards to avoid damaging the light fittings below.
Tip:
Floorboards can be removed if necessary by re-heating with a hot
iron. This is occasionally necessary to access concealed wiring.
If you
prefer not to apply the floorboards directly to the dolls house
floor or if access is difficult you could cut a thin sheet of
plywood (or similar) to fit the floor area and apply the floorboards
to this. This can then
be loosely fitted in the house and removed as necessary.
The
floorboard strips are 11mm wide which is the width usually used for
a 1:12 scale building so for 1:24 scale a groove is scored along the
centre of each board using a straight edge and a sharp scribe tool.
This effectively splits each 1:12 scale floorboard into two
1:24 scale floorboards.
To finish off the floorboards were lightly sanded before applying
wood stain and wax polish.
Dark coloured antique wax polish is recommended as the dark
coloured wax will go into the grooves between the boards which will
enhance the finished effect.
6.
Final Assembly
Now that most of the fiddly work is complete the house can finally
be assembled. This is
simply a case of applying PVA adhesive to the grooves and locating
the various parts in accordance with the instructions provided.
Tip:
After final assembly of the house, whilst the adhesive is setting it
is important to ensure that the house is sitting n a flat level
surface and that all parts are correctly located and square.
7.
Finishing Touches
1:12 & 1:24 Scale Dolls House Kits
Decorated 1:12 scale Bay View Dolls House
Close-up Brick Detail (1:12 scale)
Decorated Dolls House Interior (1:12 Scale)
24th scale
Bay View Dolls House with optional Basement
Our products are regularly featured in various dolls house
magazines.
To see more past features click here.