Because of the slope of this roof, a template can not be used. It's too difficult to get a shingled panel template in place because it won't bend as far as it needs to in order to fit properly. This dollhouse has to be shingled straight to the roof. This means you have to carefully measure each shingle and cut it around the trims.
You can glue your dormers on first or last, it doesn’t matter. It's up to you. I decided to do it afterwards because I don’t want to fuss with fitting shingles around them. I just think it will give the dollhouse a more finished look for them to go over the shingles instead.
I painted the white panels in the same hue of brown I made my stain with. That way white will not show between shingles. Then I began shingling. I used hot glue and drew the same lines with a ruler as I would on the templates.
I used the same pattern as on the box. The first bottom rows are square shingles and then two octagon rows and then square again. All I did was flip the octagon shingles over to create the square ones. I then stained the shingles after they were on. I did all the roof panels except the back two, which I will later.
There is a gap between the roof panels and the top roof verge board. This allows for your shingles to peek through on the interior. There are multiple ways of fixing this and I’m yet unsure as to what I will do. You can hide it with a wide enough wood trim or with fabric, etc but I'll decide later.
While the stain dried, I sanded and touched up all of the areas I had spackled. When I was done with that, I went ahead and glued on the dormers to their openings. You will need to clamp from the inside and outside.
