First, installing the bay can be very difficult. Usually these types of bays are pretty simple to install but for some reason, this one wasn't. It probably has to do with the large porch roof, where the top part of the bays have to go into. Usually these bays have a small roof, which is much easier to handle. The larger roof goes all along the front of the dollhouse so installing it into the bay tops and keeping it together on the other side of the dollhouse is pretty hard to do.
Aligning the top and bottom of the bay had its own challenge as well, especially since it's already finished and getting tabs into slots of finished parts, can be difficult. Also, remember that the bay is composed of three individual pieces that have to be kept together and must align exactly with each other, in order for the tabs to fit the top and bottom slots.
To make matters worse, I wanted to reinforce the bay walls since they were so difficult to install, so I added dowels in between each wall. It worked perfectly and I didn't see any problems until I remembered the window sill which I had forgotten during the ordeal.
The bay exterior window sill is all one piece that locks all three walls into place and the dowels I had placed between the walls will not allow for the sill to fit. The dowels were already dry so trying to pry them off to fix this was out of the question. It would have caused more damage than not and separated the bay from the porch roof. That was something I wasn't willing to deal with a second time around. So, I had to cut the sill in several areas in order to make it fit. So, even though this is invisible now, my window sill is actually joined in multiple places and part of it is made from spackle, molded into the shape of the sill.
Of course, this all took several days to complete. You can mold spackle into just about anything but the drying time is very long and you have to sand it into the right shape, only after it is thoroughly dry.
You always have to be one step ahead of the step you're working on when assembling dollhouses in order to avoid mishaps like these. Any mistake on wooden dollhouses can be fixed but the fixes are usually very time consuming, tedious, and difficult. Avoiding them is always best but when that doesn't work you have to really be inventive and creative in solving these mistakes.
My bay ordeal is over and in the end I am happy that I was able to salvage it and keep it looking as it was intended to for this model dollhouse. Sometimes fixes do not permit that and you are left having to modify the assembly in order to correct something.
Now I have to work on the front door because it has to be complete before the porch can be installed.
