A 1961 Shasta Airflyte trailer putz house DIY

For my final putz house design of 2015, Pam prodded me to create a mini vintage travel trailer inspired by the relaunch of the 1961 Shasta Airflyte trailer last September. Time to add some new elements to our growing Christmas Village subdivision, which now includes 11 little mod mod houses.

This little travel trailer has a secret underneath it — an opening for you to place over your flameless tea light.

Since the trailer is not anchored to the felt snow, I created a little forest scene, complete with several species of trees, and some miniature deer who are stopping by to investigate this visitor.

Assembly tips for this design:

Use lightweight cardboard (from cereal boxes or similar) or heavy weight card stock for this design. Skip the too thick cardboard boxes, which become too bulky to create the curve of the front, roof and back of the trailer.
No metallic silver paint? Use aluminum foil to create the chrome.
Once all pieces are cut out and painted, make sure to glue the wheels to each side before attaching the bottom of the trailer.
I attached the sides to the bottom first, then started at the back of the trailer and attached it to both sides, working my way slowly to the front.
Getting cardboard or card stock to curve in the right places can be tricky! Make sure to go slow — also, snow (glitter) can hide many sins. This is a difficult design to assemble folks! Pam says that for the curved top/front/back portion, she might try a coffee cup sleeve that is sort of pre-corrugated to curve easily.

After seeing my initial photos of the mini travel trailer putz, Pam said, “This needs a little something more!” and she searched out this flashing holiday lights necklace from Amazon that can be either draped over the top of the camper or arranged around the base. Once my necklace came in the mail, I could see that only one in three of the lights lights up, still, it’s a pretty addition.