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Thinking of doing a 1/2" scale house....anyone done one?


AnnC

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I am tempted to try out a 1/2" scale house. The challenge of having a harder time finding the 'right' furniture and accessories for it is enticing to me (I hate it when things come too easily).

Has anyone here done one? If so, how difficult is it to find great, realistic looking furnishings for it?

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Hi and welcome. :flowers: It real depends where you go, I have not worked in that scale much, but most peces the grain or the thickness of wood is really off. That's why i don't work in that scale much. Honestly where would you find a foot wide knot hole in real life? I have to see the piece before i buy it, and since i buy a lot online, that isn't going to happen. I have worked in 144th a bit though.

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I have found that the Town Square Miniatures are about the best for acurate scale in 1/2 inch, and they sell, have many different sets of excellent furniture, at a reasonable price. I have done an RGT Farmhouse Junior, and the Greenleaf Fairfield in 1/2 inch.

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oooooo interesting thread....i have done a scratch 1/2 scale but i NEED to go to this scale due to space restrictions.....the furniture puts me off though...as you say it just doesnt look to scale :flowers:

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Love your question, because my next project will be a half scale cottage. Like Linda (pin1056) I need to go to half scale because I have limited space. :p

It's definitely going to be a challenge for me to find furniture. Not only whether it's to scale, but also because Ikea is more my style than, say Victorian. Anyway, I found some furniture plans in a local store: bedroom, livingroom, kitchen and bathroom. They claim to be to scale for the Greenleaf Fairfield. They're Victorian of course, but I plan to use them as a guide for measurements.

And I've read online that half scale is becoming more popular. If that's the case, then it's only a matter of time before more furniture becomes available. Also it's generally timeconsuming to build and finish a dollhouse. There might be more on the market, once you've finished it. :flowers:

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I built a couple of the Puzzle houses that are half scale but you are correct about the scale of the wood and details are a little "off". Finding the accessories and furniture is a fun challenge for me because I made most of it.

I like half scale because it takes up a lot less space in my real house. :flowers:

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Are the 1/2 houses more difficult to put together or easier? I would have assumed that they would be easier and take less time because they are smaller, but perhaps I am wrong on this??????? My make/sell handmade doll jewelry, so working with the tiny scale isn't a problem....I am fortunate to have pretty good fine motor skills:)

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1/2" scale is great! Here are some recent threads you might want to look at, to get ideas:

Michael's puzzle house (warning, this is a LONG thread, but has tons of great pictures and ideas for what people have done with this 1/2" house)

Proper scale of 1/2" furniture is driving me nuts (includes a link to a gallery I put together showing different types of 1/2" furniture in the Fairfield)

If you're interested in learning more about half scale builds, check out the Greenleaf dollhouse forum and look for threads about the Fairfield, Victoriana, and half scale lighthouse (not sure if anyone has posted a thread about building that one yet?) I have a lot of pictures of my own Fairfield build on my website. Half scale houses are obviously smaller than 1" with smaller pieces, but I don't think they're harder to build. I prefer it actually. Less area to paint!

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I'm working on Greenleaf's Fairfield and think I like working in 1/2 scale even more than 1". I absolutely LOVE my Fairfield. If you search on the internet you'll find many sources for 1/2 scale furniture. The one problem I've found is in mixing brands of furniture, as they all don't seem to be in scale with each other, so keep that in mind as you select pieces. I've measured the pieces I have so I can compare before I buy anything. Have fun!!!

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Hello, I am always late to respond, but i love half scale and i have found some gorgeous stuff on ebay. Bespaq, jbm, are more highline(expensive) but when you find a bargain on ebay on these it is worth it.

I am working on an old half-scale house, had to strip several layers of paint remove rotted stuff and am now moving forward a bit at a time to put it back together. I find 1/2 scale easier than 1" scale simply because it is smaller. You can lay out all the pieces on one table--instead of spreading out all over the house!

A scale ruler is extremely helpful, it keeps you from wandering off scale. :flowers:

An earlier thread here was offering 1/2 scale plans for Sears houses. You might want to check that out.

Dot

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hello, I just remembered sdkminiatures.com has lots of 1/2 scale kits for furniture and other stuff. I've bought a lot of their kits--haven't put them together but the wood looks nice.

Also the NUTSHELL NEWS__Dec 1989 discusses the Sears 1/2 scale house plans

Dot

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I enjoyed putting together my Fairfield. It went together a lot faster than the bigger houses I've done, even with the bashing I did. I haven't finished the structure completely so I haven't furnished it yet, but I'm planning on trying some of the kits from SDK and maybe handmaking some stuff.

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I got so use to working in half scale that I had trouble readjusting to 1:12 scale for my farm house. I keep having to measure and think bigger! I did a 1/4 scale house also and that was so tiny and cute to make.

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Andrea, I added a layer of challenge to my first 1/2" scale project by converting the 1:12 scale houseboat to a 1:24 scale mansionboat with a two-story ballroom. :flowers:

I was lucky enough to wander into a dollhouse shop that was selling off their 1:24 furniture, which helped. I bought some in various on-line shops, made some furnishings from scratch, and assembled some kits. Much of this is explained in my Greenleaf blog. The Lily Pad won an honorable mention in Hobby Builders Supply's 14th Annual Creatin' Contest.

So far as time is concerned, I don't think the scale matters as much as the amount of detail put into the project.

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I would love to make some of the GL houses in half scale like the Jefferson or the Orchid etc. Small ones on a small scale. I don't mind making my own furnishings I just love the smaller sizes. I can picture them sitting up on shelves on the walls of my house for display. :flowers:

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La Casita was my first 1:24 scale house. I customized some store-bought furniture

gallery_8_1766_24486.jpg

and made the rest from kits except the cookstove and the kitchen chairs, which I made myself from "scratch". The stove was a DHM how-to from the first issue under the present publisher (so of course I never got any more copies on my subscription):

gallery_8_1766_136679.jpg

I just made a second stove for my Fairfield.

To make the chairs I just scaled down from a 1:12 chair I'd made for the pub:

gallery_8_1766_14693.jpg

gallery_8_8_11792.jpg

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