Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 17 November 2014

Doll Houses (1)

Front of house #2, (rear of house #1)
Earlier this year I bought six doll houses from Poundlandworld as I posted about here, the photograph shows the two different versions hinged together (notice the hinge).
There are two quite distinct versions, this one with the chimneys and the other one without, the latter was the version I would use for the 'front' of the first house.
The first task was of course taking the thing apart, filing off the hinge and removing the awful decals that were everywhere on the blessed things and stuck down with the most powerful glue known to man. I actually ended up using a scraper to remove them (a bit of one can just be seen as 'paving' in the photo).
Gutted interior
The next stage was gutting the two buildings, removing the fencing I wasn't going to use etc. I used a craft knife to score lines on the floors and then snipped off bits using a pair of pliers (not unlike nibbling at tiles). The many lugs that kept the roof securely screwed in place had to go and were also eventually cut off.
The small curved bits near the apex were to hold the rood in place but were eventually removed .
The whole model was of course filed down so that the ragged bits were less so .
The 'corners' of the upper floor were left to support a 'lift-out' upper floor that I'd make for each house. All the windows were easily pressed out as I didn't want them present when I was spray undercoating the model.


House#1undercoated.
The roof deserves a bit of a mention here, as the two halves had to be secured together (there's nothing worse than a lift-off roof that falls into two halves when you remove it). The roof ridge was reinforced with a strip of plastic (both the top and underside) whilst the chimneys had their fourth side built up from bits and pieces, The roof ridge finally had a bamboo skewer glued along its length for aesthetic purposes , but it probably also helps the rigidity of the roof. 
the two houses have very distinct features, the wall of one have a facade of brickwork whilst the other is timber planking.
To make the two houses I would be building out of four of the kits as different as I could, I would one as a stone=clad house and the second as a timber house.
House#1 spray painted
The house was sprayed with a "stone finish" type can of stuff I've had lying around for ages, it disguised the planking very nicely as I hadn't completely filed it all off.
The extended base was card covered in filler , the card extending under the original model for extra strength, by snipping off bits of the models base.
 When I'd got to this stage of the first house build I decided to start the second, which would be a completely planked version.



Rear of house #2
I used card and filler on the walls then scribed the planking onto the shell of the building.
The chimneys for this house were removed and the holes filled in with filler, ( to later have tiles scribed onto them).
The side walls on both houses were also a pain as the didn't quite match up so inserts of card were the order of the day to match them up.


Front of house #2

Front of House #1 alongside the originals 
Side of house#1 compared to originals
You can see on the photograph to the left (side view of house #1 
House #1compared to original) how different the two original models are and what I did to alleviate the problem (card and filler).








House #1 'window side' compared the originals.
 Similarly with the other side 'window' where the differences were just as noticeable.

 Outside landscaping was of course flock. (quite possibly homemade, but the origins of it are lost to the annals of time - not that my memory is fading or anything)
 



Rear of house #1

I was pretty pleased with  how both these houses turned out and next week I'll show all the outside views of house #2 and relate the trials and tribulations I had making the internal bits.









Bonus rubbish picture


So that's it for another week, as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated and here's a bonus picture showing detail of the pile of rubbish at the side of the house that some of you may have noticed.

36 comments:

  1. Simply stunning conversion. Absolutely stunning. What a difference you've made. The new piece looks great and the rubbish is a nice touch. Clearly you've put a lot of effort into these buildings and it certainly shows. Great posting :-)

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    1. Thanks BlaxKleric, I can honestly say that I wasn't too ethusiastic with these and of the hour a day I spend with hobby related activities these were low on the priority list - I started these in September !

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  2. That is outstanding! What a stunning conversion - best thing I've seen all day!

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    1. Thanks you Michael, though I suspect you couldn't have seen much today, but I'll take the compliment !

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  3. Superb work! You really do have an eye for transforming and re-purposing things. Very impressive :-)

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    1. Thanks Paul, I do it out of necessity - current day prices restrict any purchases I can make so I guess I'm forced into re-purposing !

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  4. Great work on those houses I'm very impressed!

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    1. Thank you Robert, more to follow next week for the pitfalls I encoutered on their inside elements.

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  5. Great conversion Joe.
    Can't wait to see the insides!

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    1. Thanks Bob, next week all will be revealed, I hope you're equally impressed then.

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  6. Excellent conversion, looks great.

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  7. That is *such* a change from the originals - I would scarcely have believed it to be possible! You should be very pleased with the results, I think.

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    1. Thanks C6, that was the original intention, to make them little like Doll houses as possible. I just pleased to have two more buildings for such little outlay.

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    1. Thanks Tito, much appreciated (and it did feel like work at times, doing these)

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  9. Well, you certainly have transformed them and most definitely for the better. I look forward to seeing your interiors.

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    1. Thanks Bryan, I was very pleased that it does only have a passing resemblance to the original.
      Interiors to follow of course

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  10. Excellent work! I love those toy houses for scenery, you did a great job with the re-purpose. I can't wait to see the interior!

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    1. Thanks N667, I think they're at least table worthy and the interiors will be posted next week !

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  11. Wow.... thats a great conversion.

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    1. Thanks Hw, mostly done out of necessity , but well worth it.

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  12. You look at the BEFORE photograph and don't recognise the AFTER building. A really great transformation At first glance they do not look like the same product. I would go further and say the Before is a cheap kids toy while the After is a MODEL.

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    1. Thanks Clint, I thik that that's a great compliment and sums up what I'd hope to get from the build - from toy to model.

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  13. Such a MASSIVE difference between the beginning and end products. You sell yourself short mate. Great looking building and a worthy addition to the table.

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    1. Thanks Brummie, it was the intention. I'm very surprised at hiw well these conversions have been received. I'll be making some more observations next week about these.

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  14. Fantastic work Joe, really great. By far more elaborate than I imagined when you were saying what you wanted to do with them. They are really great.

    I do think that two pink halves don't actually fit together, though, as they stocked some darker purple halves that probably matched better. Not that it matters, though!

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    1. Thanks Mattyoo, they would have been far less elaborate had I opted to make them as solid "shells". When we first viewed these I can't say I spotted any differences in any of them, but they do fit fairly well together, but need a lot of flash filed off.

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    1. Thanks you AL, (good to see you blogging again btw)

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  16. Superb! But where are the zombie dolls ?

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    1. Thanks Shuby, the Zombie Dolls I fear are elsewhere.

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  17. I have seen these before and thought they must be good for something. Now I know.

    It looks like a typical 1920's 3 bed semi- very common in the UK (As you know)- in fact I think it is odd none of the UK Laser cut MDF manufacturers make a model like yours. It would have saved you a bit of work.

    That said, you have done a great job, and it looks perfect.

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    1. Thanks Rob, when I was shown these by Vampifan (Bryan), I snapped up six of these immediately. He had dismissed them previously but was shown the error of his ways and bought some two. I always thought them more US looking, given the verandah, slatted walls and shutters., but I guess they're just as usable for England (they're only going to be used for wargaming after al). I would be delighted to purchase MDF laser cut buildings (and there are many that I really like) but alas the price of them is too prohibitive for me.

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  18. That is really amazing!!! I do so envy you with that creative talent you have. All the interior stuff you have done as well.

    Well done Joe, yet again!

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    1. Many Thanks LS for the kind comments. I do tryuly think though that I don't do anything that others could just as easily do also.

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