Zee-Mastor
In-progress Billy DIY dollhouse "Naniwa's skewer shop"
Here's an in-progress shot of the Billy DIY dollhouse project. This photo shows how one increases the height of a wooden dollhouse in order to bring it in-scale with larger figures, in this case going from 1:20/1:24 scale to 1:18.
Clockwise from the top:
1) Main building: The 3/4" basswood strips can be seen on the outside. On the inside, the booster strips had already been covered-up with a wide baseboard, which is a textured paper strip. The outside will eventually be covered up with siding.
2) Doors: Since the building height is being increased, the doors also need to be taller. There's a 1/2" basswood strip on the bottom of the door. Once the door is painted, the booster will not be visible.
3) "L" shaped counter: The instructions called for cutting the countertop from foamboard and the cabinet from cardboard. I completely replaced all of it with a hand-cut basswood countertop and very thin MDF from a picture frame backing board.
4) Small counter: Also has a 1/2" basswood strip to boost the height. The outside is covered with a strip of bamboo mat.
5) The original stools actually fit Rement Pose skeletons pretty well. I decided to designate them as "kid's stools". Then I made 4 slightly larger ones from scratch (same style) for the "grownups". I found some excellent "textured cloth" origami paper at Daiso, so I used that to replace the original paper chair covering.
6) The yatai (street food stall) cabinet also needed a height boost to make it proportional to the new height of the building and furniture. I added a 1/2" basswood strip, and replaced the intended cardboard counter with thin MDF. All of the changes will be invisible once the cabinet is painted.
The Billy dollhouse kit includes 3 small bottles of paint. After trying them out, I'll say that the paint is definitely unlike the craft and hobby paints that we have in the US. The Billy paints are water based, but they are semi-transparent, semi-gloss, really quick-drying and have a lot more "stick" to them. They adhere to the surfaces very well- almost too well, because it was difficult to wash the dried paint off of my hands! I had to use a pot scrubbing sponge..
In-progress Billy DIY dollhouse "Naniwa's skewer shop"
Here's an in-progress shot of the Billy DIY dollhouse project. This photo shows how one increases the height of a wooden dollhouse in order to bring it in-scale with larger figures, in this case going from 1:20/1:24 scale to 1:18.
Clockwise from the top:
1) Main building: The 3/4" basswood strips can be seen on the outside. On the inside, the booster strips had already been covered-up with a wide baseboard, which is a textured paper strip. The outside will eventually be covered up with siding.
2) Doors: Since the building height is being increased, the doors also need to be taller. There's a 1/2" basswood strip on the bottom of the door. Once the door is painted, the booster will not be visible.
3) "L" shaped counter: The instructions called for cutting the countertop from foamboard and the cabinet from cardboard. I completely replaced all of it with a hand-cut basswood countertop and very thin MDF from a picture frame backing board.
4) Small counter: Also has a 1/2" basswood strip to boost the height. The outside is covered with a strip of bamboo mat.
5) The original stools actually fit Rement Pose skeletons pretty well. I decided to designate them as "kid's stools". Then I made 4 slightly larger ones from scratch (same style) for the "grownups". I found some excellent "textured cloth" origami paper at Daiso, so I used that to replace the original paper chair covering.
6) The yatai (street food stall) cabinet also needed a height boost to make it proportional to the new height of the building and furniture. I added a 1/2" basswood strip, and replaced the intended cardboard counter with thin MDF. All of the changes will be invisible once the cabinet is painted.
The Billy dollhouse kit includes 3 small bottles of paint. After trying them out, I'll say that the paint is definitely unlike the craft and hobby paints that we have in the US. The Billy paints are water based, but they are semi-transparent, semi-gloss, really quick-drying and have a lot more "stick" to them. They adhere to the surfaces very well- almost too well, because it was difficult to wash the dried paint off of my hands! I had to use a pot scrubbing sponge..