Building Masterpiece Miniatures - Plans and instructions for creating fine reproductions of classsic American shops, houses, and furnishings

This is a very thorough reference book covering many architectural styles from various time periods, with profuse black and white photos of dollhouses as well as photos of the actual houses being copied. It is very well illustrated with detailed scale drawings of houses and floor plans including elevation drawings of interior paneling, staircases, windows, fireplaces and trim work to follow. The book covers electrical wiring and even covers subjects like making your own period chandaliers and various styles of "iron" strap hinges and hardware, fireplace cranes and tools. There are many very useful suggestions for effects to fool the eye in cases where the actual materials portrayed would be impractical to work with in a scale model dollhouse. Included are plans for fairly simple dioramas and roomboxes for the less ambitious, the beginner, or the space and budget conscious. But the book really concentrates on intricate contemporary, victorian, gambrel roofed and saltbox houses, colonial and victorian shops,etc. Aside from a Colonial Williamsburg milliner's shop, it includes plans for a lathe and woodworker's bench and tools for the colonial carpenter's shop and bellows and anvil and related tools for the blacksmith's shop. Different chimney and fireplace styles are included. If you are building from a kit, this book would still be useful for ideas to make your dollhouse more authentic and unique. The book contains very exaustive, detailed and clear information. The approach assumes some familiarity with tools, but is clear enough for a serious beginner to follow. Very inspirational. As this is an older book, it does not have color photos. Still, the drawings are excellent and the Back and white photos are clear. There are many newer dollhouse books with lavish color photography, but they don't all have the detailed quality of the plans included in this book, so I still give it 5 stars as a serious doll house book for the do-it-yourselfer, not just for the collector of other people's handwork. It aims for a good level of realism, not cutsiness. There are still some copies of this older book in the marketplace. Get 'em while they're hot!