faraway tree dolls house construction

Step two

Gathering together the materials. I have put a lot of thought into this project, but ultimately there comes a point where you have to stop thinking and start building!! The previous tree dolls houses I built, used a large diameter cardboard tube at its heart then various blocks of polystyrene, then expanding foam, papier mache and plaster. This allows a great degree of sculpting and getting texture just as I want.
However after I started cutting the plywood to make the basic framework it has become apparent that using cardboard tubes isn't really going to be suitable. The tree is going to stand 8 feet tall, it needs enough strength to not only be self supporting but to also be able to handle being taken apart and transported then reassembled. So with this in mind the tree will be made using more plywood and without cardboard tubes. This does make it trickier to plan the rooms out and to make the opening sections to get into the rooms, but should result ultimately in a dolls house that will stand the test of time.
So, here are the first cuts!

The plywood is 3mm in 8 x4 sheets

And cuts are made using an electric jigsaw. At this point I have drawn out roughly where the rooms are going to be and have marked out were the join will be between the main part and the base. As you can see my work is being well supervised!!

here I have cut out the base plate, base section and main section. I have also cut out the room areas. These sections will get reinforced with 2x1 pine strips and joined with screws.