DIY Miniature House Kits-Hongda Versus Robotime

In the miniature world, the sweetest people on this planet are so proud to show me their work, that sometimes I don’t even need to do any research at all on particular DIY miniature house kits, for example.

As a “thank you” for my reviews on Hongda and Robotime so far, a wonderful craft-friend that has been emailing me for some time now, has been sending me her findings on 2 DIY miniature house kits.

And what is also important, is the differences between the two brands!

Let’s dive a little deeper into my craft friends’ review! (thank you so much again!).

A Dollhouse Kit From Hongda Versus One From Robotime.

“Paris By Midnight, made by Robotime”

This is my craft friends’ first completion, and she is quite happy about it (of course, it looks great !)

If you compare this with the catalog view, you will notice her changes.

It is still available on Amazon. (click on the picture below for a larger view) or at the Robotime store.

Her observations on this Robotime kit:

• they give one everything you need to complete the picture on the box, with the usual pros and cons of all the miniature kits that I have ever worked with. So I can give it an OK evaluation, with limits.
  

• I think the manual and the electrics are problematic. (tell me about it haha!)
  
  
• A lot of the paper objects I made my own out of balsa.
  
  
• And I prefer PVA glue to theirs.
  

• As usual, you have to “kitbash” to get something that works for you. But I do like their room style, something nice and traditional, but full of clutter.
  But you can just select the objects you want.
  
  
• Another thing you can do with the Robotime kits, I find, is group them together. For instance, I will have the room, Soho Time on top of Paris Midnight.
  
  I also envision putting Sam’s Study next to Simon’s Coffee. They will be one building: a coffee shop connected to a used book store. (I am looking forward to that, Edi!)
  
  
• Next, I am going to group the 2 fantasy buildings, Joy’s Living room, and Dora’s Loft on top, to create a 3 story high-rise dwelling.
  
  

“A Dollhouse Kit From Hongda: Hongda Blue Coast Beach Cottage”

My craft friend also has several Hongda miniature kits and she prefers their style, as well as the presentation.

She has sent me a picture of her Hongda Blue Coast beach cottage, and it is extensively redone, with many additions to it.

Compared to how Hongda does it is totally different.

Her findings:

• Less painting to do, unless you don’t like their color.
  

• Looks like there are fewer paper objects to make
  
  
• The mini kits from Hongda have several rooms, and apartments if you like.
  
  
• She noted that the Hongda battery units are nicely done and look reliable. The music box mechanism is well constructed.
  
  
• Apparently, music boxes come with most of the Hongda kits. I do not think Robotime supplies music boxes.
  
  
• The battery unit consists of 2 small watch batteries and a tiny on-off switch. It could easily be glued to the back wall.
  
  One could also mount the music box unit in a small box outside somewhere. Now there is more space for the cottage.
  
  
• The larger Hongda kits mostly come with dust covers. A lot of the others can come with dust covers or as an option.
  
  I don’t think there are dust covers for their single-room kits.

.

The “Hongda Blue Coast beach cottage” befóre the “kitbashing”. (click on the picture below for a better view and more details)

( the title says ‘Flever’, but that is a reseller )

The things that my craft friend changed about the HONGDA Beach cottage:

• First, you will see that she added the omitted left wall, and then a pitched roof.
  She extended the walls forward for more interior space in the living room.
  
  
• Then she added a hardwood base. You can see that Hongda had the beach and the floor at the same level. so there are 2 steps up to reach the exterior deck, which looked funny.
  
  After the changes, the floor and the deck are at the same height, and one takes only 2 steps down to be on the beach, which is more normal.
  
  Also, she lengthened the exterior deck and changed things around on it. No more plants, for one. Good luck if you can grow anything at the beach 😉
  
  
• On the Hongda original beach cottage, only a small triangle of water suggests the ocean. In my ‘friends’ version, she extended the beach and added a removable large water unit. (how clever!)
  
  
• The original Hongda has a room-size space behind the sofa.
  
  This is for a windup music box and the electric battery unit.
  
  And you will see a bathroom behind the stairs, on the left side.
  
  I thought that a kitchen would look better in that space so I scratch-built one, my first attempt.
  
  Now the bathroom is in the music box/electric space, and I made a doorway connecting them.
  
  

• Here is the rear view of Blue Coast. My friend has cut out the wall portion of the space in which Hongda places the music box and the battery/switch unit.
  
  As you can see, it is large enough for a room!
  

• She has now converted it into the bathroom (unfinished) and has glued Hongda’s resin toilet in place. Hongda also supplies material for a sink and shower.
  

My friend has also purchased the most expensive Hongda model “Love You All The Way”, a three-story dollhouse with a connecting tower unit and it will be a future build.

(I am looking forward again to that!)

The differences in scales between Robotime and Hongda.

Although the scales of these dollhouse kits from Robotime and Hongda are supposed to be the same (on a scale of 1:24), apparently they are not quite the same (as I thought).

My friend confirmed this:

” You will see that the Hongda units can accommodate Lego mini-figures, so I added them.
Now I am able to add “dolls” easily to my Hongda units. One can buy many Lego mini-figures of various kinds on the internet.

Here is a picture of Hongda Blue Coast on the left and Robotime Paris Midnight on the right.”

There is a big size difference: the beach cottage has a similar size to the bedroom from Robotime!

“I have placed 2 1/12 child dolls in front of Paris Midnight. Hongda Blue Coast has Lego Minifigures, which are about 4.5 centimeters tall”

“The Alice 1/12 doll will still have to use her “Drink Me” bottle to shrink down a bit, for a good night’s sleep in Paris Midnight.”

A Clear Overview On The Most Remarkable Differences Between Robotime And Hongda.

Just to be clear and to have an overview and summary, I made this list:

Characteristic	Robotime versus	Hongda
– Scale	Larger then Hongda	Smaller then Robotime
– Painting	More to Paint	Already Painted
– Stackable?	Yes	No
– Materials Included?	Sometimes: paint(brush), batteries, tweezer	No materials included
– Musicbox?	No	Yes
– Paper projects	Many paper objects	Fewer paper objects
–How Many Rooms?	One room only	Multiple rooms
– Dust covers?	Not included	Lots of times included, check with seller though

This blog post contains affiliate links from Amazon, no extra charges for you.

My Final Conclusion

I owe my craft friend many thanks for emailing me her process on these two different brands of DIY miniature house kits, such a nice community the miniature world has, wouldn’t you agree?

If any updates come up, then of course I will update this blog post.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask them below or join me on one of my social media pages below or on my Facebook group.

I wish you happy crafting!

Kind regards,

Lizzy

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