Tiny Old Town is a set of 8 miniature paper buildings. There are three color choices available for this kit, white, black and gingerbread brown. There are two sizes available for this kit, Tiny Old Town and Micro Tiny Old Town. These instructions work for both sizes. The buildings in this kit are numbered 16 thru 23. The letter M before a number indicates Micro size.
You may need to use a sharp knife to clear the chads from some of the window openings but don't remove the hinged doors.
Please refer to the photos to make sure you have the folds going in the correct direction before you apply any adhesive to the pieces.
Please refer to the posting on this blog http://glitterhouses.blogspot.com/2014/03/tips-for-folding-tiny-pieces.html for extra advice on making and handling the folds on some of the very small pieces. As all the fold lines have been perforated they are easy to bend but the micro size kits do best with a bit of assistance from tweezers and such.
Tools needed are as follows. A sharp pointed craft knife, a #11 blade is good, I use the knife for removing any hanging chads from windows and for helping to remove excess glue before it dries. It is also good for gently pushing the walls into position. You can use a toothpick or fine point glue applicator bottle for adding just the right amount of glue. Toothpicks can also reach into deep spaces to help you adjust the edges of pieces during the glue steps. Bamboo skewers are also a great tool for reaching inside of the buildings to encourage the walls into proper position. Tweezers with slanted, straight across tips, often called eyebrow tweezers, will help you hold onto the very small parts and help with making bends on them. Your finger are the only clamps you will need. Just use them to gently press the parts together until the glue grabs. When gluing paper only use a small amount of glue as you don't want the parts to get soggy. Clear drying, thick, PVA glues work well but choose one that dries water resistant if you wish to decorate the building with paint or glitter. My favorite glue is Crafters Pick "The Ultimate". See the sidebar of this blog for sources on materials such as glue, glitter and tools such as the fine point glue applicator bottle with a .7mm metal tip. I love these applicator bottles, they make the assembly go super fast! A #17 stainless steel sewing pin with a beaded top makes a great stopper for the metal tip. It is important to only use stainless steel pins as the nickle plated pins will form rust.
# 16
The instructions are presented with red lines indicating where glue is to be applied. You should use a fine tipped glue bottle or use a toothpick or other small tipped object to apply the glue. Excess glue can be quickly removed by scraping with the edge of a craft knife. When applying glue along the cut edges of the walls swipe the knife moving it off the paper to remove any excess glue from the outside of the walls.If needed a small fillet of glue can be applied in the corners on the inside of the building at joints to reinforce them. But do avoid getting the cardstock soggy, a small amount is sufficient.
Please glance through all the photos for a building before you start on it. It is useful to know what comes next before you begin. You can do a dry fit check of parts before you apply and glue. That gives you a quick, no risk, mini lesson on how that part goes together.
I will be stating whether a part sits on top of another part or if it has a butt join where the edges meet but do not overlap so please do read the written instructions as well as look at the photos.
Please fold the parts on all of the perforated lines before you begin. That makes things go together much easier instead of trying to make those initial bends during the glue up.
The chimney for the building will all be the first part assembled so they will be nice and dry before you need them. I will not be showing the assembly of chimneys as a separate photographic step in this tutorial.
It is joined with a butt join along the open edges.
In this series of buildings the walls of the building will always rest on top of the surface of the base section. The outside of the walls and the cut edge of the base will be flush on the outside surface of the building. This is typical of all the buildings in this series.
Apply glue on the top of the base as indicated by the red lines and along the side wall. Then fold and hold until the glue grips.
When you set the roof in place be sure to immediately inspect from all sides to be sure it is centered and that the tops of the wall are standing up straight. If needed it is possible to slip the tip of the knife under the roof and gently persuade the wall into proper position.
Using tweezers to guide the dormer roof into place makes this task much easier on small parts such as dormer roofs.
Glue the chimney into place on the upper roof section as indicated in this photo.
Congratulations, you have completed the first building in this set.
#17
Begin the kit by gluing the sides of the chimney together and set it aside to dry. The mating edges are a butt join, they do not overlap. You make place a little extra glue along the inside of the seam for reinforcement.
Hold for a minute or so until the glue dries then set the roof aside to dry.
The glue is applied to the inside of the wall surface as indicated. That wall will overlap (be on the top of the cut edge) of the wall it mates to.
Apply glue as indicated in photo.
Set the roof on top of the walls and push gently into the glue. Hold for a minute or two until the glue grips.
Glue the chimney in position as shown.
Congratulations you have completed this building
Begin the kit by assembling the chimney. Set it aside to dry. The edges on the chimney are a butt join, touching but not overlapping.
Next fold the lower front wall over the two sidewalls. The front wall will rest on the cut edges of the sidewalls. The front wall will be flush with the outside of the sidewalls.
Apply glue on the cut edges as shown in this photo. Fold in the two sides of the upper bay, they will rest over the cut edges of the bay bottom being flush at the lower edge with the outside of the bottom. Hold in place until the glue grabs.
Fold the upper section of the front over and hold until the glue grabs
The roof is to be centered on the building.
Congratulations you have completed this building.
# 19
This is the building as it looks when completed.
Your package for building should include the parts as shown in this photo.
Please fold and glue the chimney at this time.
When making the folds on the chimney press the crease flat at the lower tips for a crisp edged fold.
The long tab on the wall at the left will wrap behind the short upright wall.
To get good adhesion on that tab use tweezers to reach into the building and clamp the tab against the wall of the building.
Fold the upper section of the front wall in place. The lower edge of the front surface will sit on top of the bent bottom of the overhanging jettied wall. (jetty is the historic architecture definition for this type of overhang).
The short side wall of the portion is longer than the bent bottom of the jetty and will protrude on into the building. It is longer simply because it is easier to bend with a bit of extra length.
Note that the roof has an extended section on the edge that faces the front of the building.
Congratulations you have completed this building.
This is the building as it looks when completed.
Your package for building should include the parts as shown in this photo.
Please fold and glue the chimney at this time.
For this step you will be folding in the two side walls and folding up the lower wall section of the building's front.
The sidewalls of the building will sit on top of the base section.
The front wall will lay on top of the cut edges of the sidewalls. The front wall should be flush at its edges to the outside of the two sidewalls.
Now the center section of the front wall will fold across to the sidewall. It will rest on top of the cut edge of the sidewall and the outside of the wall and this center front should be flush to each other.
The upper section of the sidewall is now folded over. It will rest on top of the cut edge of the sidewall. The cut edge of that section should be flushed with the outside of the sidewall.
The main roof is now installed.
The glue is applied to the cut edges of the building walls.
There is also a small amount of glue applied to the edge of the roof where it will touch the sides of the front dormer walls.
The roof for the dormer is now installed.
Glue the chimney in place as shown in the photo.
Congratulations your building is now completed.
# 21
The building as it will look when completed
Your package for building should include the parts as shown in this photo.
Please fold and glue the chimney at this time. Set it aside to dry while you work on the other parts.
The main lower section of the front wall is now folded across to mate to the opposite sidewall.
It will rest on top of the cut edge of the sidewall and they will be flushed at the outside of the sidewall.
At the lower edge of this wall section it is folded in to mate against the upper edge front's lower wall. Please look at the previous and following photos to more clearly see what that folded projection looks like.
There are very small tabs on the side walls of the bay that will slip into mating slots on the lower wall of the front of the building. The will spread out to rest against the outside edges of those slots. This will hep properly align the walls of the bay to be vertical.
Glue the chimney in position as shown.
Congratulations you have completed this building.
# 22
The building as it will look when completed
Your package for building should include the parts as shown in this photo.
Please fold and glue the chimney at this time and set it aside to dry.
The edge of the sidewalls that you wrap around to reach its mate will be resting on top of that wall's inside surface with the outside edges made flush.
The back wall of that section folds around to adhere against the main tower walls.
The small side section of the entry folds in and will rest against the edge of that back wall section and on top of the entry base to align it in the proper vertical position.
Tweezers should be used to help hold the roofs for an easy installation.
Glue the chimney in position as shown.
Congratulations you have completed this building.
#23
The building as it will look when complete.
This piece was inspired by a real life, stone medieval gatehouse. But it also makes a nice small chapel.
Your package for building should include the parts as shown in this photo.
Watch to make sure you have the micro kit's main roof folded the right direction to match the building.
The lower edge of the dormer walls will rest on top of the base that is folded out from the main front wall section.
The small tabs are there to help align these long walls top to bottom. They do not need to be folded over. The one tab slips between the two tabs on the other wall. It is a tight fit.
There are two slots for mating tabs from the main lower section. The tabs do not need to be folded. They should however rest against the outside cut edge of those slots. That will align the walls of the main lower section into perfect vertical position.
When installing the tower roof be sure to look at it from all sides and make any needed adjustments before the glue dries so that it sits level.
The dormer roof is now glued in place.
Glue the chimney in position as shown.
Congratulations you have completed the last building in the Old Town 2014 set.
If you wish to join up these buildings so there is no gap between them just place them against each other. Mark where the roofs need to be trimmed back for that flush fit and then use small curved scissors and/or a craft knife to trim the roofs back flush to the walls.
There are a number of different ways to configure and join the buildings to create a row for a street scene.
