Trashbashing is my name for making things that started out as toys or something else entirely and turning them into models. Generally I do it for my outdoor railroad. I started out back in the early 1990s when all the buildings you could buy looked Bavarian. I keep doing it because the buildings I've don this way are not only 1/20th the cost of commercial buildings, but also LAST LONGER outside.

Maria has posted a couple photos of plastic houses that she has given a sand coating to for her displays in the thread on Sand coating: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=188&start=0

That inspired me to post a few photos there. I added notes on PlaySkool Sesame Street Houses and a Fischer Price Western Town that I'm repurposing for use on my garden railroad - I'm on a timeline because I have an "open railroad" on November 10 (2012) and several of my old buildings are getting unusable.

Here's a photo of the PlaySkool Sesame Street houses and the cut-in-half Fischer Price Western Town primed and ready to mask for painting: (Note: All of the toys involved had lost all their little people and accessories and were moldy and or broken or both before I repurposed them, so I am NOT depriving any children of playing with classic toys.)



Here's what the Western Town looked like after sawing in half before priming:

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Here's what the PlaySkool Sesame Street buildings looked like before priming:

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Here is one pair of the PlaySkool buildings primed. Now that the obnoxious colors are gone, you can see the architectural details that give these buildings (especially the store) so much potential.

Here is one half of the Fischer Price Western Town primed. The detail is not as precise as the Sesame Street houses, and the scale is larger, but once you get rid of the orange you can see the potential at least. That's part of the process for me - when I start working with a new toy I can't really tell WHAT it's going to be until I've primed it. That lets me start with a "blank canvas" so to speak.

Here's the other half. Remember, this set comes as one piece molded together, and ripping it into two pieces is dangerous unless you have the right tools and know what you're doing. (In my case, I had the wrong tools and no idea what I was doing, but you get the idea.)

We have one in the attic in perfect condition with little people and accessories in case grandchildren ever come our way, so we DO understand its value. But this building was faded and damaged past its usefulness as a toy before I found it. (I think it has been used in a sandbox).

Again, you can see that what was definitely a toy now has at least some potential of becoming a model:

Here are two of the Playskool Sesame Street buildings masked and ready to paint.

Between the photo above and this photo, I have also dusted the buildings lightly with flat white paint to brighten up what will be the "concrete" and "limestone" bits once the rest is painted. This also adds a bit of "texture."

You'll notice that where the detail is fine, I used many little pieces of tape rather than trying to do anything heroic and clever. For instance, to do the arch in the store's second-story windows, I used strips of tape that I curved around to get the edge, then I roughly cut another piece to fill in the "gap."

I plan to paint the roofs flat black. Ordinarily I might not have bothered to mask them, but when I masked the stone "molding" around the edges, I had tape overlapping the roof anyway. So masking the whole roof now means that I'll have a more even painting surface when I come back with the black paint.

Again when you do one of these yourself, you start realizing just how much detail the company molded into these shape. I've actually contacted BOTH Fischer Price and Playskool to see of the old molds are laying around somewhere, but neither company ever got back to me.

Also, you'll realize that you don't want to do this twice, so you'll REALLY pay attention and make sure you do it right in the first place.

Just realized a benefit of photographing these things while I worked - I realized when I was looking at the photo that the top row of "stones" on the left building is not aligned with the rest of the "blocks." which means that it is part of the building's "crown" and needs to be masked off, too. That's done now.

Here's something interesting - even if the items you chose for this seem to be ratty and worn by the time you got them, they seem fresh and new by the time they're primed and prepped for the next coat of paint. If you do them right, there's no reason your children and children's children can't enjoy them as well.

paul...

i'm so looking forward to seeing the finished scene...but you'd better hurry...based on the past weekend...looks like an early winter for you...and you know how spray paint likes cold weather...not well at all...

my very best regards...

howard...here in humid and warm (almost hot) north florida...an wishing a for a little of your cold weather...

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The townhouse sprayed tan, still masked. I used a textured paint. But I bumped the paint on the upper left hand block, so I need to wait until that part's thoroughly dry and sand and repaint that corner before I can unmask the thing. Dry, like overnight. Don't you hate waiting?

The storefront, sprayed "brick red." This was a relatively expensive paint that sprayed in a wider pattern than I was used to, so I had to adjust my spraying style. I think it will be okay, though the end result was that I wound up spraying the paint on thicker than I usually would.

Will try unmasking tomorrow. I will still need to paint the roof black and add signage. Lucite windows if I have time. Curtains if I have time beyond that. Plus some painting details you'll see as I post.

Finally, here's a little pet-shop/toy store combo I picked up a year ago and thought I'd bring along with the rest of the projects. Don't know yet if it will fit in or if I need to make it part of another town. I primed the whole thing gray. The windows on this structure need to be white, though, I think. So after I took this photo, I masked the sidewalk to keep it gray, and sprayed the windows (and some other parts) flat white.

When the white is thoroughly dry, I'll remask the sidewalk and mask the windows and the pillars and other trim that should stay white, and spray on the base coat. So this will take one more color pass than the Sesame Street buildings did. If I get REALLY crazy, I might let a family member paint the little teddy bears or whatever, but that's WAY down the list.



I still have another pair of the Sesame Street buildings to mask and paint, as well as the Western town. Though I'm not 100% sure how to do the Western Town yet. We'll see. Hope you're enjoying the blow-by-blow.