View new posts | View your posts Kenner "This Old Firehouse"

CaptCyan · **Posted:** February 25th, 2010, 4:52 pm

It all started with the Matty Mattel Ray Stanz figure. He needed a place to stay, so I went on eBay and found him a Firehouse. Of course it was missing a few pieces, so I had to find a 2nd one to complete it. So I had one to display.

And one to play.

I made casts from the red containment unit, painted them and glued them on the first floor wall. I added some electrical warning signs that I scaled down in a paint program and printed out on decal paper.

I liked the 25 year logo, so I made a 3D buck from heavy paper and vac-u-formed the sign faces (yes, on an old Mattel Vac-U-Form machine). The printing is again, a decal.

Looks like the play turned into a display.

Dr.D · **Posted:** February 25th, 2010, 4:54 pm

Nice work. I wish I had one.

CaptCyan · **Posted:** February 25th, 2010, 5:00 pm

Sorry about the thumbnails, I got the first 2 right but muffed the urls on the others.

jettajeffro · **Posted:** February 25th, 2010, 5:40 pm

Awesome. I've been wanting to try this myself.

CaptCyan · **Posted:** February 25th, 2010, 5:44 pm

Here are some more pics. Lets see if I can get this right.

The sad thing about the Mattel figures is that they are too tall for the upper floors of the Firehouse.

Speaking of not fitting, I didn't know that the Kenner Ecto was too long to fit in the Firehouse without leaving the doors open.

I'll be putting pictures of the Ecto-1 in with all the other Ectos.

keoni · **Posted:** February 25th, 2010, 5:59 pm

nice!

ProtonCharger · **Posted:** February 25th, 2010, 5:59 pm

wow! takes me back to when i customized action figures.
im sitting on an extra fire house.

NeonMessiah · **Posted:** February 25th, 2010, 10:14 pm

Amazing work. Great job!

The Stiff · **Posted:** February 25th, 2010, 10:40 pm

That containment unit is win. And your comparison pictures really show the excellent work you put into it.

This calls for a massive congratulations!

ecto80 · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 6:21 am

Very nice work !! :crunch:

Now I want to see pictures of your ecto 1 :mrgreen:

Spengler28 · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 6:55 am

beautiful!

Demon Vice Commander · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 8:52 am

Excellent paint job! I love the weathered stone and bronze look.

:crunch:

Ectofiend666 · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 10:27 am

Sweet!! Now I have a reference to how to do mine when I get around to it, after I finish my custom ORGB/Pilot figures, and my EGB/Kenner Ecto combo that I'm [slowly] working on!! ;-)

...

CaptCyan · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 1:06 pm

Ecto-1 is up and running in the ectomobile section.

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=19007

Thanks all very much for the crunch bars!

Gareee · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 2:23 pm

VERY nice work.. and something I've been wanting to tackle for a few months now.

BTW, you didn't end up with two containment units, did you? I'm missing ours.

Ectofiend666 · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 3:08 pm

Btw...What did you use for the sign post and the firepole?

CaptCyan · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 3:19 pm

Btw...What did you use for the sign post and the firepole?

Styrene tubing made by Evergreen Scale Models.

The sign post is 2 different sized tubings, the large post has a metal ball bearing glued on the end.

The firepole is two tubes glued together by using a smaller tube as a joiner. The smaller tube also served as a peg top and bottom to hold it in place.

CaptCyan · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 6:33 pm

Sorry, that was one of the things missing from the first one. I could give you a dupe of the wall unit though.

joeghostbuster · **Posted:** February 26th, 2010, 7:24 pm

its so awesome someone posts pics from an epic project they've been working on, its even more exciting when its a new member! well done CaptCyan!

Top-notch comix · **Posted:** March 5th, 2010, 1:57 pm

That is so wicked! Nice repaint! I despratley want one now!!!

EgonYourMucus · **Posted:** March 9th, 2010, 11:45 am

NIcely done man. I always wondered as a kid why Ecto 1 didn't fit lol

darth venomous · **Posted:** March 9th, 2010, 11:48 am

This just really makes me hope my friend back home wasn't pulling my leg when she said she had one of these for me.

Ecto-Cooler · **Posted:** March 9th, 2010, 12:11 pm

Pure awesome. Very nice work!

LUDY · **Posted:** March 10th, 2010, 11:09 am

Awesome work...VERY cool indeed!! I was checking out your progress pics of the Ecto you restored/customized. Question... how on Earth did you get it all deconstructed and apart? I tried SO hard getting mine undone, but for the life of me, I couldn't get the bottom apart from the body. I was afraid of breaking it.

CaptCyan · **Posted:** March 10th, 2010, 2:10 pm

LUDY wrote:

Awesome work...VERY cool indeed!! I was checking out your progress pics of the Ecto you restored/customized. Question... how on Earth did you get it all deconstructed and apart? I tried SO hard getting mine undone, but for the life of me, I couldn't get the bottom apart from the body. I was afraid of breaking it.

Hey Ludy,

You mean the Firehouse, right? The Firehouse is held together by 3 round "pegs' that snap into 3 tabbed clips that are molded into the base. You need 4 things to take the bottom off.; a large sink or tub, hot water, liquid soap and a flat head screw driver. An electrician's screw driver is the best as the head is small and thin.

Soak the botom of the Firehouse in the hot water to help the plastic soften up and become bendable. Flip it upside down and apply some liguid soap around the first peg to work on. Slip the screw driver between the peg and one of the tabs and gently pry (bend) it back. As you do this, apply pressure to the bottom of the "peg" to pop it out of the base. You may have to bend back all 3 tabs to get the "peg" to let go. If you wind up breaking a tab or two (or don't have the patients and just bust them all off), you can always glue the bottom back on.

LUDY · **Posted:** March 10th, 2010, 3:41 pm

Thanks Capt... that info will definitely come in handy down the line, but I meant the Ecto-1 vehicle. I presume, after reading how you took apart the firehouse, that taking apart Ecto is done with a similar process? When trying to remove the "chassis" from the body, I found that popping them apart at the back bumper more challenging than I'd have guessed it'd be.

CaptCyan · **Posted:** March 10th, 2010, 4:24 pm

LUDY wrote:

Thanks Capt... that info will definitely come in handy down the line, but I meant the Ecto-1 vehicle. I presume, after reading how you took apart the firehouse, that taking apart Ecto is done with a similar process? When trying to remove the "chassis" from the body, I found that popping them apart at the back bumper more challenging than I'd have guessed it'd be.

Oh, You're crossing the streams. :lol:

Well, they actually do pop apart at the back bumper. Slowly separate the front grill from the hood and the back bumper should snap loose from the body.

CaptCyan · **Posted:** March 14th, 2010, 3:22 pm

Had a request for a "proper" sign for the Firehouse. While I was at it, I figured I might as well try to make it light up. We shall see how it goes. First step is to copy the origional Kenner sign and use that for a size reference. It works out that it will fit on the Vac-U-Form, so I'm in business. I make multiple copies on heavy weight paper.

I attach double faced tape to the back of the paper. I then take the base shape for the sign and stick it on a thin sheet of styrene and cut it out.

Next I cut out each additional layer that I will be adding to make a 3D paper buck.

Once I have all the layers, I drill out the eyes and mouth. I'm ready for a test run, so I heat up the ol' Vac-U-Form and pop in a plastic sheet.

The first pull looks pretty good so I will make one more.

I now have the 2 sign faces. The next trick will be to make the sign box.

Kingpin · **Posted:** March 14th, 2010, 4:42 pm

How durable are the sign sides?

Second question: Would you be willing to a run of them?

CaptCyan · **Posted:** March 14th, 2010, 5:39 pm

Kingpin wrote:

How durable are the sign sides?

Second question: Would you be willing to a run of them?

If you don't use them, they could last forever. They are as durable as thin plastic, which is what they are made of. So they would also be susceptible to extreme heat and cold, whatever makes plastic break.

I'm not done refining the buck, yet, but yeah I could crank out a few when I'm done.

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