Those are going to look very interesting Paul. In the meantime, I thought readers might want to see other ways they can use "trashbashed" buildings in their putz displays. Here's my trashbashed log cabin--it was a child's toy--either Fisher Price or Playskool I forget which; I also blog about individual pieces in the display here http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/20 ... ds_15.html

Maria,

Thanks for the Easter putz photo. Looks like a fun bunch of projects. Plus the "Easter" barns are a good way to show how flexible Howard's designs can be with just a little imagination!

Paul

I just want to say how much I appreciate all the tips on "trashbashing" and photos too--which have inspired me to look at "throw-away objects" in a whole new light. Recently I came across a smashed pink children's doll house at the curb----beyond all redemption or so I thought--when I saw that the back "deck" was in pretty good shape. I whacked it off cleanly with a hammer as luck would have it and decided it would make a perfect platform for some of my vintage Christmas items, if not the centerpiece for a future fence crafting project. Sadly I neglected to take a "before picture"--just imagine it in ugly plastic pink--I primed it first, painted it in white, added a layer of sand, diamond dust and bits of blue glitter--and....the results are below.

Looks good to me.

Added glazing. Instructions at: http://www.familygardentrains.com/prime ... lazing.htm

Started replacing fake lamps on townhouse doorposts with clear marbles that will hopefully conduct light:

All three Playskool townhouses with the marbles installed:

The marbles make a neat addition.

With the trash cans. I expect "oscar the grouch" to pop out any minute.

Oscar is actually still in the two lighter-colored ones. The Oscar in the darker one has been out in the weather for about 13 years, so he's pretty much a black spot on the paper now.
I've thought about getting good art from one of the new ones and reproducing it to restore him. When I set these out I position accessories, parked cars, etc., so the "Oscar pile" isn't as obvious.

BTW, if you ever come across these the Playskool store (shown a few pages up) is more detailed than the FisherPrice store (shown below). But the FisherPrice townhouse (in the middle, below) is a better model than the Playskool townhouse (above). That said, the Playskool buildings are smaller in scale so I don't put the Playskool stores and the FisherPrice townhouses into the same town. BOTH sets are more suitable for use with Large Scale (Garden or LGB trains) or Standard Gauge trains (like the old Ives tinplate) than they are with putz houses and Lionel O/O27 trains. But I included the process on this site because it can apply to smaller toy houses as well.

Working desperately on my OUTDOOR "villages," in view of an open house June 6. Sorry all you indoor people whose projects I had to backburner.

If you've been following the trashbashing thread, I want to add that:

A few days after the photo with the marbles was taken, one building still had both marbles, one building had one marble, and one building had lost both marbles. Either the glue didn't hold outdoors or the crows picked them off. So I reglued new marbles in. Then when they had dried I turned the buildings face down and put a big glob of glue on the back to provide a little extra protection against the things just falling off. Stay tuned.

I also put curtains in the windows, using color-laser-printed overhead projector sheets. In the photo you can see that I left the curtains out of the lower windows of the storefront, because I plan to have other graphics and maybe some items to set in the window.