This kit brings good instructional pictures so you shouldn’t have a problem putting it together. I didn’t even read the instructions, I used only the pictures as a guide and had no problems.
The first thing you have to put together is the base. All of the tabs and slots go together perfectly and seamlessly because of the laser cutting. I didn’t have any problems putting the walls and floors together. They fit perfectly without any struggles.
Make sure you clamp tightly with tape so that there are no gaps between the walls and floors.
Assembling the little roof is a bit challenging but I found a pretty easy way to do it.
First lay the parts of the roof completely flat on your work surface. Use tape, not glue, to hold them together at the seams. The taped side will be the interior of your roof. Notice that it creates a flat circle.
Do all of the parts this way until you reach the very last piece. Place the roof in the cone shape its suppose to be and then use tape to hold the final piece together. That final piece will hold all of the other pieces in the cone shape.
Now, all of the tape should be on the inside of the roof. Use glue on all the exterior seams and let the roof dry. When it's dry, carefully remove the tape and put glue on the interior seams.
I installed the exterior trim and door to the lighthouse today. I also began painting it. I stained the floors a dark brown color.
I used a mixture of spackle and paint for the interior to create a stucco or plaster effect.
I glued on the top ring that will hold the light room.
I assembled the top lightroom. It's not difficult at all. Because the lighthouse is laser cut, everything was clean and ready to be installed. No punching out of windows or railing was required and that makes a big difference. These parts were ready to be painted and installed. They fit together like a puzzle, no gaps or seams and you end up with a very clean finish.
The roof of my lightroom is removable. I did not glue it permanently on.
You will need to sand and use spackle at each wall joint, especially on the trims. They tend to end up with gaps between them. You will have to pile a small blob of spackle over these gaps, let dry overnight and sand it the next day to achieve a nice finish.
I added the little windows and window trim, brackets and glued on the light room.
I used the sandpaper that came with the lighthouse to cover the roof. Thankfully the sandpaper was gray, so it matches the Fairfield’s color scheme.
Covering this cone shaped roof with sandpaper can be a little tricky. I did it in two parts and then joined the seam right through the middle of the roof. I will place the roof with the seam facing the back of the lighthouse so it's not visible. I really like the sandpaper for this roof so I rather hide the seam than not do it.
Hot melt glue works best for gluing on sandpaper roofs because it's less messy and quicker. It will also not warp the sandpaper. Remember that anything that gets on your sandpaper like paint or glue, will not be able to be removed and it will basically ruin it.
I glued the finished roof to the roof base. Remember that I will not be glueing the roof base to the light room, it will be removable.
Also be careful when you use masking tape to clamp the roof to the base. It can tear your sandpaper if it's not removed carefully.
I added the finishing touches to the lighthouse. I sanded, touched up paint, etc. It's now complete. You can see how the roof is removable so I can access the light room in the future if necessary.
There are two side door trims that the house comes with which are really not needed but since they were there, I used them on the interior sides of the front door. These angled door sides are simply to help the door not fall back through the opening because of the slanted wall but I found that the door fits snuggly in the opening and it won't need these so you can omit them if you want to.
Now the only thing left to do is to add this little building to my Fairfield Dollhouse display.
I had to buy a larger foam core base to fit the lighthouse. I covered it with a piece of grass sheet. When you use foam core, the edges under your grass sheet will be stark white so remember to paint them with green or brown paint before adding your sheet so they don’t end up looking out of place.
I went to the floral department of the craft store and bought some river pebbles. I put them all around the base of the lighthouse to make it seem like the shore is close by. I also bought some small trees to put around the Fairfield Dollhouse.
