I removed the chimney from the roof section, interlocked the roofs, and glued them onto the flat, mural ceiling, ensuring they are straight. The interior part of the chimney that I cut off has not been installed yet.
Next, I added the roof panels, which need to be clamped with handheld weights until the glue dries. Cutting off the interior portion of the chimney does not affect the exterior part that extends from the dollhouse roof. This way, you can have a chimney without using any interior attic space.
Mansard Roof
For your mansard roof panels, use stiff poster board. This will make the process much easier. This is my top recommendation for this kit. Unlike The Beacon Hill Dollhouse, this kit does not include composite wood veneer mansard roof panels. Composite panels are flexible and user-friendly. The Willowcrest Dollhouse kit comes with scored plywood panels, which are difficult to fit and curve properly. They often break at the score line, resulting in a buckled appearance instead of a smooth curve. You may have an easier time if Greenleaf Dollhouses switches to composite panels in future releases of The Willowcrest Dollhouse kit.
Once you cut your panels from poster board, installation is straightforward. Dry fit them and trim as needed. I chose black poster board because my shingles will be charcoal. The black background prevents light from showing between the dark shingles. If you can't find poster board in a color that matches your planned shingles, you'll need to paint it to match. I added Victorian trim over the fascia of my top mansard roof.
Copper Barrel Roof
I painted the barrel roof sections with copper paint and then installed them. There will be gaps in this roof assembly, but they will disappear as you add more parts. I used black sandpaper to cover the top and side pieces of the barrel roof for a nicer look that conceals gaps. You can substitute stiff copper paper for your roofs, but it can be hard to find. I prefer using scored lines on the curved roof.
I'm using copper metallic acrylic craft paint, which looks just like real copper. The photos don’t capture its true appearance due to flash distortion; it even has an uneven patina typical of real copper roofing. Some people paint parts black or gray before applying metallic paint or cover them with poster board or brown paper first. There’s no wrong method—choose what works best for you. You can also use spray paints or other types of metallic paint but remember to spray away from the dollhouse to protect it. I plan to cover the entire top roof of this dollhouse in copper paint, which will require significant effort.
Copper Top Roof
I started by applying strip wood along the joints of the top roof to fill in large gaps. If you're not making your top roof copper, I suggest covering it with sandpaper. Work on one section at a time and join the sandpaper closely at the edges to hide gaps. If sandpaper doesn't conceal them well enough, you can paint strip wood to match and apply it like I'm doing. Alternatively, you could use texture on your roof as I did with my first Willowcrest Dollhouse, although it will take a lot of texture to cover those gaps.
After hiding the roof joints with strip wood, I need to continue applying wood strips along all of the roof panels to simulate copper beams typical in copper roofs. I've run out of strip wood for now, so I'll return to this part later as it still needs considerable work.
