Topic: Keke's Garage

[DocOutlands]

Keke has decided playing with styrofoam looked like too much fun to allow Dad to have alone.  She demanded coolers.  She got them today.  Herein shall be the chronicles of Keke's adventures in styro construction.

Fig1 - Keke ponders the fate of two innocent coolers.

Fig2 - The Doctor says, "Let's begin!"

[DocOutlands]

I made the first cuts for her, cutting thru the bottom of the coolers along one side so she would have a reference point to work from.

[DocOutlands]

She tore into it with a vengence!  Actually, she was *quite* deliberate and careful in her tool-use.  I was quite proud!  Finally, we had two coolers with their ends removed, as in fig2 below.

[DocOutlands]

Here we have both coolers rough-cut and set the ends together for the vague outline of a building.  Now came the trimming!  Keke marked areas for fine-tuning and we shared that job.

[DocOutlands]

Once we were satisfied with the fit of the trim-work, we called a halt to the project for the day and ran the vacuum cleaner.  Next up, she will be designing a door to go on one of the long sides.  Given the way the walls slope back, I expect she'll go with a Mos Eisley-ish doorframe that sticks out a bit.  I may get brave and take a shot at fastening the two halves of the shell together tomorrow or we may opt to wait until there's something of a doorframe to work with, first.  The door will have to be removable, as she plans to park her speeder inside and leave it where passersby may then oogle her classy vehicle.  We'll also be covering both exterior and interior with spackling paste to seal the styro and provide a stucco look.  This should also allow us to then paint the building.

I know how *I* would approach the main door, but I want her to work one out on her own that we implement. 

She's quite excited at all this.  Bren was kind enough to take a slew of pics for us and Lonnie got involved, (wo)manning the measuring-tape (which we never needed, but it gave her a way to be involved!).

[Tamer]

Simply outstanding! Tell KeKe I am loving the look of this so far.

[StenHunter]

Awesome job, and I'm eagerly awaiting when my kids get old enough to start customizing too!

[Tamer]

If I can talk my daughter into this I might just start being a customizing fool too. Any progress on the garage today Doc?

[spudafett]

looks great.  those make great forts too!  and the styrofoam padding that comes out of computer/tv boxes makes great bases. 

How is she going to display it?  with the open side forward or is the open end going down on the floor and the speeders going inside? 


as for my garage I am beginning to think I need to add some more floor space to it cuz my guys can hardly move around in there with all the speeders! lol

[DocOutlands]

No, nothing on it today.  We looked it over and studied it some.  We discussed approaches to the door-frame and need to go into town tomorrow to get a slab of styrofoam.

[Clonehead]

Cool beans, Doc! I am anxious to see how this turns out.

[r1bb1t]

Doc, great WIP pix. Everyone looks like they're having fun, which is always great.
Steps really spice up a building front, and they're easy to make, once you get the right styrofoam.
Look forward to everyone's progress.

r1bb1t

[spudafett]

that pink or blue insulation styrofoam used for houses is a nice thick compressed foam which is realy good for carving and sculpting.  I once carved a flying wing out of one which did loops out of the stuff. 

how do plan on painting it or are you going to leave it white?

[DocOutlands]

Forgot to answer - the mouths of the coolers will face down as the base of the building.

As for painting, our plan is to cover the surfaces with spackling plaster.  That should give us a solid base for painting - I *think* we'd need to base-coat it in latex before moving on to the textured paint.  She wants a stone-texture finish on the outside.  Inside is a variable as yet.

[spudafett]

are you going to use some of that "stone in a can" spray paint?  I've never used that stuff and always wondered how good that textured spray paint realy is......   good luck with the spackling!  That should add some weight and reinforcement to the styrofoam.

Is she going to cut a large enough door into it so that it's playable?  or is it going to hing apart in the middle like a doll-house?  or have a removable roof?  or just be a box to stick the speeders in?....  just curious....