Two Steck custom houses

[playmofire]

I've just finished a Steck custom I've been working on for a few weeks so I thought I'd show some photos of that and of one I made some years ago.

First, the new one.  It's a one and a half storey design and it's this, plus the lack of a couple of blank walls, that required the custom work.  So here are the first four photos, front, side view, barn end view, and then a view with the barn roof off to show the custom wall and the timber work and drainage pieces which help position and support the barn roof.  The drainage pieces also disguise the gap between the barn roof and the house end wall.  There are close ups of the drainage arrangements later.

The custom walls are made using the large Steck open frame piece and fitting a piece of plastic sheet in it and then sticking strips of painted plastic to the outside of this to represent the wooden framework of the house.

Edited so photos in better order and more detail more  custom work.

[playmofire]

The end of the barn roof against the house has to be trimmed slightly to get it to fit without fouling the original timber frame at the top of the new wall (picture 1) - the trimmed roof is on the right.  There is a gap between the barn roof and the new wall, and so I fitted some grey right-angle strip to the new wall partly to hide the gap but also to provide a ledge to position and support the barn roof picture 2).  I chose grey plastic so it would look like lead flashing sealing the join between the old and new parts of the building to guide rainwater away.  The side of the grey angle strip facing then had brown painted thick plastic (about 3mm) strip stuck to it to represent the wooden framework of the wall, with a piece of the same size strip along the bottom of the new wall and at the top where the angle strips met.

The wooden frame on the bottom of the house gable had to have a hole cut in it to take the ridge tiles of the barn roof (pictures 3 and 4).

(Edited to put photos in correct order.)

[playmofire]

Now the other custom, a multi-storey red house which is used as the town hall in Copt Hewick.  I made this some years ago simply by taking the white walls out of the framework and spraying them with red acrylic primer.  It was all done in about 45 minutes and on reflection it would have looked better if I had sprayed the inside of the walls too.  I may do that this summer. 

The last photo is of an idea that's been in my mind for some time - a double fronted house, either as here or as two separate houses in a single building.  Needs some thinking about how to do it though.

[Gepetto]

Hello Playmofire,

I love the look of the extended houses, do you just break kits or do you order spares from DS to make the extra walls and roof sections?  Nice photos, i appreciate the added side shots and close-ups! Thank you.


Gepetto

P.S.  I am still not used to the scale of things in Playmobil, the amount of space you would need for a town would be tremendous!

[playmofire]

Hello Playmofire,

I love the look of the extended houses, do you just break kits or do you order spares from DS to make the extra walls and roof sections?  Nice photos, i appreciate the added side shots and close-ups! Thank you.


Gepetto

P.S.  I am still not used to the scale of things in Playmobil, the amount of space you would need for a town would be tremendous!

Thank you, Gepetto.  In answer to your questions, I try not to break kits, although I will maybe "plunder" a piece temporarily from a house for use elsewhere.  Instead, I try to think of a design which will have more than one use and is a bit different.  Currently, I have parts on order to make a large barn/stable which can be assembled in two different ways so it could be living space above a double garage.  With the doors on the lower part, it is a stable, without the doors it is a barn.  I'll post pictures when I have the parts in about three weeks.  I buy the parts I need either from Direct Service or from eBay.

The size of Playmobil is, indeed,  a problem.  I hope if our plans to move house succeed to have a small room for storing Playmobil and another which will be partly a study and partly a display room.

[playmofire]

I also meant to say, Gepetto, that I am planning to buy a set of spares along the following lines which could be used to connect houses up in different ways and add outside walls.

6 flat two-way connectors

6 three-way conectors

4 corner pieces

6 wall pieces (maybe 12)

1 wall piece with space for a curved top door

1 curved top door

In addition, I have one spare wall unit to take the large door.

[CountBogro]

Nice houses, Gordon.

I like to see how you handled the problem of a roof against a wall - should try that too (after having finished my castle  )

Bogro

[Richard]

Hello, Gordon ... 

I really like how you solved the problem of joining a steck roof to a wall.

Making a master and mould of such a wall section has been on my long, long list to do for a long, long time ...

As you know, Playmobil did make a similar steck wall system for their Colorado Springs Train Depot (set 3770). I always wished that they would also make one for their steck medieval houses (which, of course, they never did).

Gordon, I think that you may have inspired me to revisit my plans (of long ago) to "home manufacture" some missing steck parts.

Thanks for sharing a great custom and all the best,
Richard

see attachments (part illustration from Heather's PlaymoDB)

[cachalote]

 

[Timotheos]

Hi Gordon

Those look great!

For your first-pictured house, did you press poster-paper into the open frame and add timbers?

If so, could you explain what you did.

I've been pressing poster paper into my open-frames with OK results, but haven't attempted to add timber (which they really need).  I guess any properly cut balsa wood works with a little closely-matched paint?

Also, is there a trick for popping the plastic out of the framework?  I quit trying after I came close to breaking mine in half.

-Tim