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 Post subject: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 6:45 pm 
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Posts: 13
Hi everyone! I wanted to share a city hall refurb project I worked on last year. I scooped up this half of a city hall putz house in an ebay auction and thought I could make a new tower section. I used a cereal box to build the tower. In hindsight, I would have used a thicker card stock as the tower does seem a bit less substantial than the bottom portion of the building. I used my own coconut for the walls and roof (all the photos I have seen of an original clock tower seem to show the tower roof in coconut and the bottom roof in crushed stone. Does anyone who has one know if this is the case?). I made a new fuzzy window using duralar film and flocking. I repaired a section of the fence and roofline using crushed marble and gesso. And finally, made a new luffa tree and printed a clock face out from Paul's website. I think it turned out pretty well and have been meaning to post pictures of it here since last year. As part of my overall village I think it is difficult to discern that the tower isn't original. What do you all think?

Best,

Leben


Attachments:
File comment: Clock house in as purchased state.
20180923_170333-800x736.png
20180923_170333-800x736.png [ 1017.09 KiB | Viewed 15019 times ]
File comment: After refurbishment.
20180922_231033-800x959.jpg
20180922_231033-800x959.jpg [ 243.31 KiB | Viewed 15019 times ]
File comment: Nestled in my village last year. Unfortunately, I don't have a good up close photo of it lit.
20171201_013735-800x1066.jpg
20171201_013735-800x1066.jpg [ 270.41 KiB | Viewed 15019 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 8:17 pm 
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Posts: 2249
A “world class” repair and restoration job! I’m impressed! Hope to see more of your village and any other projects.

Howard

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 Post subject: Re: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 9:02 pm 
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Posts: 706
Great job.

Love the flatties too.


Steve


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 Post subject: Re: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 12:35 am 
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You did a great job on rescuing this house. Now it can bring joy to people for many more years.

Lucy


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 Post subject: Re: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:02 am 
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Posts: 193
Looks like a pristine original to me. Excellent work.


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 Post subject: Re: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:15 am 
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Agreed!


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 Post subject: Re: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:51 am 
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You did a wonderful job restoring this.

The cocunut is perfect

As Howard said please share more pictures.


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 Post subject: Re: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 4:00 am 
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All I can say is WOW! Great refurb job Leben. Your coconut making skills are spot on. I liked how you "washed" out the clock to make it look more aged as well. I've been trying to make flocked windows myself for a few years, but just can't seem to get it. Any advice on that please? It all looks pristine vintage to me! ;)

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 Post subject: Re: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:59 pm 
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Thank you all so much for the kind words! I really worked hard on this one and there was a lot of trial and error involved to get it to this point. I regrettably did not take as many photos throughout the process as I should have. And since I worked on this about a year ago, I do not remember every specific detail :oops: . Clinton, I made many very unsuccessful attempts to recreate a flocked window that would blend in with the others on this house. I began by following the tutorial on Ted's archived website, using real red cellophane that I ordered off of the internet and some flocking I obtained on ebay. I could never get the cellophane to behave well. No matter what type of adhesive or paint I used to outline the grilles, the cellophane would always warp and shrink and just look messy. So I gave up on cellophane and got some red dura-lar from Hobby Lobby. I liked this material so much I have used it in all the window replacements I have completed so far. I cannot remember the specific adhesive I used to adhere the flocking to the film. Hopefully my memory will be jogged once I pull out all my putzing supplies this year.

I have attached a close up picture of the coconut for reference. The top portion is the new clock tower section with the coconut I made, the bottom portion is the old coconut. I think I was able to get very very close to the original texture of coconut. I restored a few other houses with this same coconut method and think it works very well. I will post some more pictures soon of other refurbished houses and if anyone is interested in the method I used to make the coconut I would be happy to share it!

Best,
Leben


Attachments:
File comment: Up close of the new coconut (top) and the original coconut (bottom).
20180928_112821-800x1001.jpg
20180928_112821-800x1001.jpg [ 295.32 KiB | Viewed 14921 times ]
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 Post subject: Re: City Hall Refurb
PostPosted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 4:57 pm 
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Posts: 288
Hello Leben, Great job on the refurbishing. If I may ask what technique did you employ to place the glue so perfectly for the Fuzzy windows? Also, what equipment did you use to chop of the coconut materials? It's fun to see that you rediscovered making the Fuzzy's.


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Note: To ask a question, sign up for our "Christmas Times" newsletter, or learn how
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Note: All content on this forum is Copyright (c) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 by Paul D. Race
and by the posters who have contributed specific content. All material is for your personal use only. No content
or plans may be republished or sold, nor may any plans be used to make products to sell without prior written
permission from Paul D. Race and the individual who contributed the content or plan in question.
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