Toy farm birthday- finally FINISHED !

[ColeyS1]

I also hinged the roof along the ridge, so she could get at the 'loft'. It all worked fine, and the fixings didn't get in the way of daughter's imagination.

Thanks for your post John. I read your post out loud about 8-10 times whilst rubbing my chin :-k The more i think about it, the more i think you've hit the nail right on the head ccasion5: \/- Amazing !!!! I could have the front fixed, and then have the roof hinged so one side folds over the other, and vice versa.

I cant imagine how fiddly it must be making doll house furniture. Im imagining lots of tiny snapped wood and plenty of fingers being stuck together ? :lol:

Suddenly my head doesn't seem to hurt any more and the outlook looks good (hammer) Thanks for posting and for sharing the idea John :wink:

Simon

P.S, The chimney idea sounds good, maybe if i've got the time......

Edit: Erik the Viking....

Can you attach the wall to the hayloft floor, so that they slide together as one unit?

If the roofs hinged, then i could have the whole front removable with the floor. 8) This is getting too much, im gonna need to sit down and try to calm down . Thanks again for your idea Erik The Viking :wink:

Simon

 

[TrimTheKing]

This is fantastic Simon. I absolutely love it. And I've now got at least 2 years in which to build one for when my new nipper is old enough to want it

 

[wobblycogs]

My thinking exactly Trim. Our first is due in about 8 weeks so I was thinking I should get started on the farm now. At the moment ours is getting a mobile with misshapen animals (I'm not very good on the scoll saw yet).

 

[adzeman]

Got to keep this thread going I need to see the finished farm! its like a nicotine addiction.

I was right, your head is buzzing.

What ever your taste is in music put on a CD then get back to it :roll:

 

[ColeyS1]

Thanks for all your words of encouragement people :wink:

Seems i've been a little busy lately doing.................well not much to show really.

John and Erik the viking, seems we've majorly over complicated it on the roof front. I told the little boy our problems with the roof etc , and he straight away came up with a simpler idea #-o -

'What you need Simon, is this ere like dat, see Simon ? Then this bit ere. This is the Door Simon !!!'
Im not sure his enviromental approach is going to be best for the farm but he means well :lol:

He seems happy with a 3inch offcut of grass carpet, so hopefully will like the finished farm.
He's also asked where the pigs live.- his dad assure's me i wont need to make any pig stys........................for now.

Im not looking forward to painting the pinky colour mortar between the concrete blocks :evil:

I was a little unsure of how the fences and gates were going to work.

I've tried to vary the fencing and gates. I couldn't get a traditional 5bar gate to work, so have had to make do with just 4 bars

The 2.5mm flute cutter has done really well on this build. Never thought i'd be using it to do morticing.
The last day has kind of reminded me of when i use to spend days and days machining window parts. All of a sudden the parts would all fit together and before you knew it, you had a batch of windows made. Im kind of hoping this will work out the same way

Pretty much all the parts are machined. Its just cleaning up inside edges and assembling them now :roll:

I've kind of gave myself another job. There was always going to be 2 pieces of carpet on each end of the farm (grass and straw), but i've decided to give him some movable fencing

It'll be using the same jig as the one for the gate, so its no big heave ho, just a bit more sanding and varnishing.

When i was thinking about how to join the fence, i had a flash back at what i had seen axminster selling. I cant seem to find a picture , but it was like some ball bearings connected with little plastic bits. You could move and arrange them in any shape, kind of how i wanted the fence to be (hammer)

By sticking a piece of metal up one of the stiles, the wood became magnetic. I ordered a selection of Bar magnets The 5x10 ones are mega strong. I can lift the wood with metal in it easy with these. Hopefully with metal in one end of the fence and a magnet drilled flush in the other end, i should have some flexible fencing.

I've been finding myself playing with the farm alot more lately- its for professional reasons only though :lol: :wink:

Cheers

Simon

 

[TrimTheKing]

I have only one question....

....Will you be my dad, please?



PS Meant in a completely non homo-erotic 'who's the daddy' kind of way, before you all start!

 

[rileytoolworks]

Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
That looks f%$king AMAZING. Such attention to detail.
I am truly in awe.
Well done.

Adam.

 

[neilricketts]

Hi, i can't tell properly from the picture. When you routed the slate tile roof pieces did you manage to make it look like the tiles are angled and if so how did you manage it. I am sorry if it seems a silly question but i am interested because i am making a dolls house mansion and this would look really good.

Cheers Neil

 

[Henning]

This is beyond comprehensible for a newbie like me.

How on EARTH do you manage to make things that small and... Oh never mind. I will probably not manage to understand it anyway

Fantastic work! I have no doubts that one will be used by the little boys grandchildren one day, and still look great!

 

[big soft moose]

Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
That looks f%$king AMAZING. Such attention to detail.
I am truly in awe.
Well done.

Adam.

totally agree with that - very comendable, and a very lucky little boy. (I'm going to copy the whole thread over to pdf and save it for when my brother in law has kids and i get to be a cool uncle)

I also bet you are having great fun playing with it all yourself as well

(btw if he moves on to castles and zoos in future there are some good patterns in the blizzards wooden toy books)

 

[ColeyS1]

Hey all,

did you manage to make it look like the tiles are angled and if so how did you manage it.

Hi Neil. To make them look angled i stuck a piece of wood onto the bottom of the router. Something like this

By working off the ridge on the clamp and guide, meant the router always bared at the same level

HTH

How on EARTH do you manage to make things that small

Henning, having some small router cutters and selection of bushes is a must for this job. This is the adapter insert on the dewalt 625, i'd love an adapter for the smaller dewalt 621 :?: :?: Small bushes on a small router [-o< .....mmm

-although to be fair alot of it isn't as small as it seems. id have liked to have made it all exactly to scale but the parents were having none of it :lol: The dad started getting majorly concerned when i told him some sheds needed to be 500x700mm to be to scale :shock:

Progress has gone to a snail's pace now. Making fencing has started affecting my sanity. Same thing, over and over........................

Hoped to have had it all finished by yesterday, ready for a new job the following week.

Oh well :roll:

Cheers

Simon

 

[Henning]

How on EARTH do you manage to make things that small

Henning, having some small router cutters and selection of bushes is a must for this job. This is the adapter insert on the dewalt 625, i'd love an adapter for the smaller dewalt 621 :?: :?: Small bushes on a small router [-o< .....mmm

-although to be fair alot of it isn't as small as it seems. id have liked to have made it all exactly to scale but the parents were having none of it :lol: The dad started getting majorly concerned when i told him some sheds needed to be 500x700mm to be to scale :shock:

Progress has gone to a snail's pace now. Making fencing has started affecting my sanity. Same thing, over and over........................

Hoped to have had it all finished by yesterday, ready for a new job the following week.

Oh well :roll:

Cheers

Simon

I probably have the most router cutters in the world, from tiny to huge, i still don't think i would've managed to make even a roof...
Probably because i'm a newbie and has absolutely no talent for woodworking

I'll get back in line and stop asking stupid questions now

Beatifully made in all aspects and your ability to get the most out of your tools and thinking in 3D is Fantastic!

 

[softtop]

This is stunning work. Can't believe the attention to detail - what a lucky little boy.

Can you make one for me too please?!?

 

[Shrubby]

Brilliant project Simon !
Now where did I stash those Britains tractors Hmmm - cue much loft rummaging.
If you want to paint the blockwork you could try model and scenic painting tricks:
A thin wash coat of the mortar colour, wipe off with a sponge or cloth leaving the wash in the grooves
Paint the mortar colour ,then sponge on the block colour - not too much paint and you should pick out the blocks
Dry brushing where you use a lighter shade, wiping most of the paint off the brush with a rag and drag the brush over the surface hitting the high spots
A very superficial explanation - experimenting on scraps will show if It's the look you want
Matt

 

[adzeman]

On the question of scale, a few years back the architect for a project I was involved with had a model made of the project and employed a top London architectural modeler to produce a model.
He stated some items are better not to scale such as bricks roof tiles etc. Its all about perception. Depending on the scale of the model say a very large building you would not show bricks. If the scale allowed and he did depict bricks he used computer punch shards. One point he did make was roof tiles/slates should be larger than life to look right. If it looks right the brain tells you it is right. He also said how many roofs have you looked down on from a great height?

From what i've seen of your farm is it looks right.

Another useless fact. You make forts, dolls houses and even farms. Which toy do they play with for hours.

A Cardboard Box!

 

[ColeyS1]

Has it really been going on this long :shock: Its the boys birthday on friday

 

[ColeyS1]

Morning all,

Just thought id post a update of how the farms coming along. The deadline is Friday so i've had a major panic the last week or so trying to push it along.

The thing that caused all the hassle, and put me off doing the job for a while was the fence, and figuring out how to hang the ruddy gates. Im so glad the horrible nightmare is finally over.

I tried several ways hanging the gate, but finally ended up just drilling a hole in the stile, and using a nut and bolt for it to swing on. It finally works and doesn't drag on the floor \/ I cant describe the amount of stress, just hanging the gates caused :lol:

Heres the boss trying out his and his brothers new fence

Originally i thought one magnet in each stile was enough, but after id began playing/testing them i later had to add a second ](*,)

The other issue with the fence, was trying to put a 1mm groove in it for the wire fencing

I tried using this slitting disc in the place of the saw scriber

The pic speaks a 1000 words. The blade went majorly wobbly. I nearly needed some clean underwear [-X In the end i had to sandwich the blade between 2 big sized washers

It worked, but i wont be trying that one again. Is there another way to put a 1mm groove in wood ?

Seems to be fencing that caused all the headaches with this job

In the end, i decided to have the roof lift off in one piece. Having the roof on hinges would have just over complicated it and id possibly miss the deadline.

Im at the assembling stage now, so will hopefully finish in time. I've got to finish off painting the concrete block shed, and gravel the road.

I will be so relieved when its finished

So relieved when its finished =P~

Cheers

Simon

 

[Max Power]

Simon that is WAY too good for kids to play with. Keep it for your self :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[squib]

I missed this all before and have really enjoyed reading it now! truly brilliant i love all the thought behind every detail,beautifully made, well done . =D> =D> =D>

 

[xy mosian]

I tend to start a job, lose interest half way through (usually when it gets to the painting stage :lol: ) so am determined to see this one right through with no big long breaks........


Simon

My problem most of my life sadly, but I don't have your tenacity

Simon, that work is staggering, staggering! I for one am pleased you stuck to it. I bet you are as well deep down. This WIP should have been a magazine series, or perhaps a book.

Well done!
xy