Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Cleaning the Show Stable

This part of prep-work for the future Sweet Apple Acres Cat House was done a while ago, but it's important none-the-less!  Besides, these tips can be used for any pony playset with the intent to restore or customize.

When I got the stable, it was covered in a weird white powder. You could tell it had been stored in someones garage.  Now, the stickrs on this were very odd.  Normally, when I get a playset, the stickers are falling off, but not on this one! The stickers seem to have fused with the plastic.

As with any restoration/cleaning process, I start with the least chemical-laden method possible. These stickers are just paper, right?  Soak them in water! I filled the tub and let the whole playset soak.  Later, I realized I forgot the door, so it got to chill out in the sink while I scrubbed the playset with Spic'n'Span and a Magic Eraser.



Soaking only removed the top layer, which turned into a papery mess.  But, at least that was off! Time to scrub.


Scrubbing started out with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser...

Didn't work. Neither did the scrub brush. A search online suggested WD40 for removing the adhesive.  After nearly passing out from the fumes and letting it set in the garage overnight, I discovered that WD40 does nothing for dried adhesive other than turn the playset into a slimy mess that needed to be washed yet again. By the way, it takes some serious grease cutting power to get WD40 off, so use at your own risk.

Now, it was time to get serious on removing that adhesive residue!


Sand paper!  I used a sand paper block that was 650 grit.  This did the trick on smoothing out the walls.  The whole playset had to sit in the tub again to get all of the sandpaper dust and adhesive powder off. 

I think the adhesive discolored the plastic under it. In fact, if you look in the corners, you can see yellowed glue from where the walls were put together. Hey, it's smooth and it'll be painted over anyway.


Finally, I have a clean base, ready for priming!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Smile!


Sometimes, you just need to cram yourself into a tiny basket and reach for what you love

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Inspiration for my next project!

Well, October was certainly full of changes for me. I got a job!  Yay!  And, the best part is, it's part time.  That means I still have time to spend online. Well, now that I have a schedule figured out, that is.

Hopefully now that all the insanity of October is over, I can focus on projects. I have about a dozen things I'm working on right now, but really want to focus on this one.

My current project is one that will certainly take a while, but should be quite rewarding. About three months ago, my wonderful father found a bunch of ponies at a garage sale.  About 20 ponies were crammed into the Show Stable and the whole lot was only $10! Awesome!  I was thrilled about getting so many ponies so cheaply, but at a loss for what to do with the stable.  The stable was horribly yellowed, missing three of the five doors, the weathervane was bent and ready to fall off... In short, I couldn't sell this thing for $5 in that condition.  It got stuck out in the garage for the past few months until inspiration struck.

Spinky69er posted this picture in a thread at the MLP Arena:

Isn't her cat adorable?  He fits in that Paradise Estate so perfectly and looks quite at home.  But, there are clearly accessories there to get in his way and it doesn't look very comfortable. I think he needs a special cat house to live in.  Well, maybe not this cat in particular, but some cat needs a pony house!

I ran out to the garage, grabbed my stable, and tracked down my faithful assistant Mist Luin (Misty).  Is the Show Stable large enough for a cat to fit inside comfortably?



I think that's a yes. Now to start the customization process!