# No rest for the wicked :)



## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Hard at it again......one day i'll be happy with the living conditions of my herps :lol2:

So I've been working at fitting all my reps into the house in the best way for them and the most aesthetically pleasing for us. With this in mind a couple of my recent build have been shown, and I'm carrying on with a monster!

The viv I built weeks ago, it's just been waiting for me to show it a little love!! Here's the start of the background










Come the new year, ther will be glass lining this viv, but being slightly impatient to get cracking, I got.......cracking :lol2:
Anyways, this is the reason for the pallet wrap that you can see behind the foam. At the point this picture was taken most of the foaming had occurred, or so I thought. So I called it a night, and went to bed. Came down in the morning to find a foot long phallic shape protruding from the centre......had to go before the mother-in-law came round :blush

Here's a picture of it in situ (everything is in darkness because the picture was taken at about 11pm, the kids stuff is on because I'd just turned the xbox off.......honest:lol2










And where i'm at now, after another can of foam, and a lot of carving!










Next up for this will be a load of gorilla glue and soil, a large poster that i'll get printed for the back and sides, similar to my chameleon viv for anyone familiar, but with the picture spreading round all three sides. Hopefully I've picked the perfect picture that won't look daft......we shall see. 
I'm aiming for it to look like a rotten tree trunk at the top of an earth bank that has had the earth partially washed from around its roots. There will be a cheese plant in the pot to its left, and something that I picked up but can't remember it's name in the pot to the right. There will also be brom offsets all over the trunk, a lipstick plant growing up it,maybe a spider plant and some pothos too 

Thoughts, questions and comments welcome as always, 

Dave


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## jojothefirst (Nov 13, 2009)

Looks good, gota love a bit of jake and the neverland pirates lol.


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## rexob (Sep 1, 2012)

looking very good dave, i'll keep an eye out for youre updates. :2thumb:


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

jojothefirst said:


> Looks good, gota love a bit of jake and the neverland pirates lol.


Shhhhh!! *Whispers* It's supposed to be a secret that we enjoy the cartoons as much as the kids do!



rexob said:


> looking very good dave, i'll keep an eye out for youre updates. :2thumb:


Ta mate, here's your update 

Began gluing the substrate on........my "workshop" in all it's glory 



















Put back into the viv to allow me to gorilla glue the very edges, hence the pallet wrap, to stop it sticking to the sides



















And what it looks like now










And this, unfortunately, is where it will come to a grinding halt for a bit I think. I need to get


1) Glass to line out the whole thing (6 vent holes in the lower plinth, from the previous one I don't think lining it out is going to cost me much less than £250 because of these holes)
2) Egg crate
3) Vents for top and bottom
4) 21.5mm overflow pipe, tank connector and elbow
5) Pulse stat (umming and ahhing between one of the new ones coming out or the istat, or sticking with the komodo 600W pulse so I can match the cham viv on the other side, where it is displayed at the top)
6) Glass runners
7) Waterproof poster for background
8) X10 controller and lamp module for my dimmable lighting
9) T5 tubes x2, one will be UVB 6%, the other a natural daylight tube for plant growth
10) Undoubtedly more stuff that I can't remember right now

Aaaaannnnnnd, since it's xmas soon, I don't think the missus is viewing this as a priority 

On the plus side, I already have dimmable ballasts to do the T5 lighting, ceramic heater + guard, aquarium sealant and plants.

There isn't much of an area for substrate in the bottom, I want it to be well stocked with plants from top to bottom so rather than trying to encourage big tall plants i'm going to put a few creeping plants in the floor substrate (ficus, pothos, lipstick plant, etc) and concentrate on broms on the stump itself. And of course the cheese plant on the left to fill that big open space.

Anyways, sorry for the huge post, hope you all enjoy

Dave


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## caddie (Dec 11, 2011)

lookin good fella, I hate it when you get to areas where yo uhave to stop to get things, im nearly at planting stage, so quite excited. know of any planting guides?


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

caddie said:


> lookin good fella, I hate it when you get to areas where yo uhave to stop to get things, im nearly at planting stage, so quite excited. know of any planting guides?


Thanks  I haven't seen a planting guide as such, but it tends to be many of the same plants that come up in the planted habitat section all the time. Broms feature largely, plus fittonia, tradescantia, pothos, spanish moss, chlorphytum, ficus, parlour palms. I also use calathea in larger vivs, they're good to fill a bit of space and give plenty of shade and privacy. I also love lipstick plants, they can be a bi:censor:ch to keep alive and flowering but make up for it with long vines and great flowers 

Dave


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## JPalmer (Jul 7, 2012)

Looking brilliant! Will be watching how it takes shapes! 
Josh


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

JPalmer said:


> Looking brilliant! Will be watching how it takes shapes!
> Josh


You'll be waiting a while i'm afraid, from doing the chameleon viv in the same size on the other side of the room, I'm looking at £250 + for the glass to line it out. This is mostly due to the pieces that line the inside of the vents parts on the front. The two pieces have to be made out of 10mm thick glass with 6 holes cut into each, and they cost more than the whole rest of the glass combined!

I'm excited about this build though (i'm alwats excited about my builds  my wife despairs!!) as not only is it based around an awesome planting platform, but it will be the first viv that will have a sunrise sunset dimming UV lighting system in, with complete season based daylight hours control, as well as varying humidity depending on the time of year. This system willbe expanded to all of my vivs over time, but as this will be the first I can't wait!

Sorry for the long post.......over excited :lol2:

Dave


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## JPalmer (Jul 7, 2012)

my_shed said:


> You'll be waiting a while i'm afraid, from doing the chameleon viv in the same size on the other side of the room, I'm looking at £250 + for the glass to line it out. This is mostly due to the pieces that line the inside of the vents parts on the front. The two pieces have to be made out of 10mm thick glass with 6 holes cut into each, and they cost more than the whole rest of the glass combined!
> 
> I'm excited about this build though (i'm alwats excited about my builds  my wife despairs!!) as not only is it based around an awesome planting platform, but it will be the first viv that will have a sunrise sunset dimming UV lighting system in, with complete season based daylight hours control, as well as varying humidity depending on the time of year. This system willbe expanded to all of my vivs over time, but as this will be the first I can't wait!
> 
> ...



That sounds epic! No wonder why your excited! I would be! My Missus still has to put up with tanks in the bedroom while we're redecorating the new house! I can't want to exspand! I know that full glass lining is better than sealing but is it worth the cost difference? I will really be watching how it takes shape however long it takes lol 
Josh


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

JPalmer said:


> That sounds epic! No wonder why your excited! I would be! My Missus still has to put up with tanks in the bedroom while we're redecorating the new house! I can't want to exspand!* I know that full glass lining is better than sealing but is it worth the cost difference?* I will really be watching how it takes shape however long it takes lol
> Josh


Yes.....yes it is  

Well, in my opinion anyways, I began lining with glass for these vivs because they're never going anywhere but here, and because it's a fixed space in the alcove I just wanted the vivs in place and left there, not messing around with them every 6 months or so. I've never seen anyone have much luck, nor have I myself, with other methods of sealing vivs, sooner or later they all seem to fail.

Know the feeling with redecorating, I've got 9 vivs in the front room, five in the dining room and another 3 in a small backroom, and we've been decorating the whole house, problem is most of the vivs are pretty big so not easily manoueverable, and custom sizes for specific areas so not really stackable........in other words a pain in the a:censor:e to decorate around!

Dave


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## JPalmer (Jul 7, 2012)

Haha your place sounds like what my new one is going to turn into if I have my way lol! If the vivs are never going to move I can understand the glass!  see my problem is I'm allways doing something in one of the tanks so I keep buying more tanks so I have more todo! Lol  it's great fun! Getting the tanks set up and the animals in the new year once were all moved in! Gives me tonnes of time to let them grow on and change things ect  
Josh


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

JPalmer said:


> Haha your place sounds like what my new one is going to turn into if I have my way lol! If the vivs are never going to move I can understand the glass!  see my problem is I'm allways doing something in one of the tanks so I keep buying more tanks so I have more todo! Lol  it's great fun! Getting the tanks set up and the animals in the new year once were all moved in! Gives me tonnes of time to let them grow on and change things ect
> Josh


My problem is that I see new stuff and get inspired. Not a problem you might think.......but with 17 vivs, and deciding a couple of times a month to change one or other of them, means I spend a disproportionately large amount of time with my head in a wooden box!! 

As far as the glass goes, now i'm doing all my vivs like it, it doen't actually cost all that much provided there aren't too many vent holes, and they last sooo much better.

Dave


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## JPalmer (Jul 7, 2012)

Cool you should do a thread on the full installation! If you can find the time while doing it! Would be cool to see how you do it all, iv read about it but not seen the fitting stage!  would be great!
Josh


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

JPalmer said:


> Cool you should do a thread on the full installation! If you can find the time while doing it! Would be cool to see how you do it all, iv read about it but not seen the fitting stage!  would be great!
> Josh


Good idea, i'm going to put it on this thread. It's my first full build thread, well nearly full.....ummm more like half full.......already built the viv shell and done half the background before thinking about taking pictures lol. But I was planning on putting it on here anyway, it may come in handy for others thinking about doing it.

Dave


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## nathans (Nov 28, 2012)

Love the dedication no need for a fire just fit another viv in there lol :2thumb: , I am the exact same no matter what i do to the vivs i always want to add more stuff and take away lol


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

nathans said:


> Love the dedication no need for a fire just fit another viv in there lol :2thumb: , I am the exact same no matter what i do to the vivs i always want to add more stuff and take away lol


Lol yeah, that viv is a "temporary" solution! As in, i'm half way through doing a wall hanging rounded viv for the occupant......but got distracted :blush: 

Ah well, it'll get there one day :whistling2:

Dave


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## Mr X (Oct 24, 2012)

Shame you are not closer to where I am as I have a 3ft glass table top that you would be able to use for it.


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## JPalmer (Jul 7, 2012)

Mr X said:


> Shame you are not closer to where I am as I have a 3ft glass table top that you would be able to use for it.


Not anywhere near me by any chance? All ways on the look out for glass! Lol
Cheers! 
Josh


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## Mr X (Oct 24, 2012)

I am afraid not as I am in Birmingham, not a million miles but I can't imagine anyone wanting to travel that far for a piece of glass LOL

I had great ideas for it, I even did the plans for it to including a hatch system to be able to get into it and maintain it but decided that my woodworking wouldn't be good enough for it so scrapped the plan and got left with the glass.


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## acromyrmexbob (Oct 3, 2010)

> I don't think lining it out is going to cost me much less than £250 because of these holes


Guys, glass wise, I have glass. I'm in Scotland but I can supply you all with glass for buttons. I can drill it, cut it to size, basically do anything with it. 4mm is next to free, 6mm would cost around 50p per sq ft, 10mm, depends on size, offcuts are, again, nearly free. I would charge £3 per hole (any size). I would have thought 4mm glass would be perfectly fine for lining a wooden viv. Not making any money from this, just thought it might help anyone who can get to me. £250 sounds like an awful lot of money for some bits of glass.


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

acromyrmexbob said:


> Guys, glass wise, I have glass. I'm in Scotland but I can supply you all with glass for buttons. I can drill it, cut it to size, basically do anything with it. 4mm is next to free, 6mm would cost around 50p per sq ft, 10mm, depends on size, offcuts are, again, nearly free. I would charge £3 per hole (any size). I would have thought 4mm glass would be perfectly fine for lining a wooden viv. Not making any money from this, just thought it might help anyone who can get to me. £250 sounds like an awful lot of money for some bits of glass.


Its how close the holes are to each other and to the edges. Theres only about 60mm between the vent holes and the edge, and between each other too. If you're able to cut the plinths for me and courier them it could save me a fortune, just depends if you can do 65 or 70mm holes that close to each other? Even if its not practical or cost effective, thank you for the offer 

Dave


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Mr X said:


> I am afraid not as I am in Birmingham, not a million miles but I can't imagine anyone wanting to travel that far for a piece of glass LOL
> 
> I had great ideas for it, I even did the plans for it to including a hatch system to be able to get into it and maintain it but decided that my woodworking wouldn't be good enough for it so scrapped the plan and got left with the glass.


Thanks for the offer, as you say its a shame you're so far away. However you may need to be careful in using it, tabletop glass is usually toughened, which means it cannot be cut or drilled, it just shatters. 

Dave


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

No movement on this one I'm afraid guys, been really busy with other commitments and lack the money for glass for the moment, however I did get a few hours to knock something else together as an upgrade for my African Eyed Lizards.

Take two old wardrobes (well, selected pieces)










(I used some other bits from them but these are the main parts)

Knock them into a rough semblance of a wooden box



















(Ignore the holes in the sides, it's 6 foot long, and going into a space 6'2" long, I doubt we'll notice them )

Got excited after this bit and forgot to take photos, but I guess you can all work out what went on! Added a divider, a cupboard door and some plinths.










Then put the runners and glass on. Tadaaaa!!



















Need some edging trim to tart up the exposed edges, then it's onto the fun parts, building the background, instralling the electrics, and finally installing the new owners :2thumb:

The African Eyed Lizards love to hide away, so i'll be borrowing an idea I once saw Meko use and building a tunnel network for the from 50mm waste pipe, with sand glued to the inside. This will be buried in their background and substrate, with any luck I won't need to access it much, but I will make it removeable (somehow) 

The cupboard will mostly be for storage and to have the electrics hidden but accessible. 

Any thoughts and comments welcome.

Dave


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## Breakspear (Aug 28, 2012)

my_shed said:


> No movement on this one I'm afraid guys, been really busy with other commitments and lack the money for glass for the moment, however I did get a few hours to knock something else together as an upgrade for my African Eyed Lizards.
> 
> Take two old wardrobes (well, selected pieces)
> 
> ...


Looking good there pal, by the time you finish upgrading all your vivs you'll want to do them all over again :lol2:


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## fatlad69 (Oct 22, 2009)

my_shed said:


> No movement on this one I'm afraid guys, been really busy with other commitments and lack the money for glass for the moment, however I did get a few hours to *knock something else together* as an upgrade for my African Eyed Lizards.
> 
> Take two old wardrobes (well, selected pieces)
> 
> ...


Dave, that's a bit more than knock something together mate. People would pay good money for something that nice!


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Breakspear said:


> Looking good there pal, by the time you finish upgrading all your vivs you'll want to do them all over again :lol2:


Thanks fella :2thumb: Hmmm, seems you know me better than the missus......she still believes these are the final upgrades for all the pets :lol2:



fatlad69 said:


> Dave, that's a bit more than knock something together mate. People would pay good money for something that nice!


Made out of new boards then maybe.....made out of bits of wardrobe full of holes, maybe not :lol2: But thank you, I'm pleased with how it all came together, I'm particularly pleased with the new design for the plinths that I put together, they give it a slightly more "furniture" type look I think, although in the pics it's hard to tell. Should be some updates on a background build for this one pretty soon hopefully (after pursuading the "boss" that I NEED gorilla glue and kingspan)

Dave


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## Breakspear (Aug 28, 2012)

my_shed said:


> Thanks fella :2thumb: Hmmm, seems you know me better than the missus......she still believes these are the final upgrades for all the pets :lol2:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


*gets out 'The Big Bang' whip app and promptly activates it* :lol2:
I know that feeling at times :bash: let them think they have control so we can get what we want, we know how to play the game :2thumb:


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Well, got a bit of time and some bits and pieces together today to do a little more. 

Here's the pipework to go in for the burrows, i've got some left over to extend it too.









And here's the pipework in place and a load of kingspan "bricks"



















And this is the bricks numbered, so I know where they'll go after I've made them more bricky and less foamy :2thumb: (the numbers will be copied onto the backs too, don't worry!)










In the gap where the wall has fallen down i'll be putting a picture background up, one of the generic cactus and rocks ones that comes on the back of fish tank backgrounds, but you'll only see a bit of it, and will hopefully maych the stone effectr i'm aiming for. The fallen bricks will sit atop a small pile of rubble and substrate, and the pipes will have substrate glued to the insides and the substrate layer on the floor will cover them. 

Going with grout for this one, as I want a mix of slightly different colours for the individual bricks, they're getting grouted first then stuck in the viv, i'm hoping it'll look more realiastic this way. The grouting will probably take several weeks  it's going to take about four to five coats, the eyed lizards don't weigh enough to cause the sort of damage a beardie would to a background so I can skip a couple of layers :2thumb:

Dave


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Finally......

Got time to do some more over the last couple of days. Not much explanation needed really.

Worked out the final(ish) positions for the bricks, and changed the pipe "burrows", as well as got some grout on them










Final coats of grout, here's a couple of pics of the grey ones. I rubbed playsand over them all when the grout was still damp, not going for total coverage, just a smattering. This was to take away from the one tone colour that would otherwise have looked pants!



















And here is the whole "wall", with various colours but all done with the play sand method. The flash on my camera makes the colours seem bolder than they are in real life, but this gives an idea of how it looks.



















The colours also look a little weird as the grout and sand is still a little damp on some of them, leading to a distinct two tone look. Here is a close up of the bricks, the grey one and the bottom left reddish one are pretty near dry and give a good idea of how the play sand gives some definition to the stone, whereas the two above are obviously much wetter still, and have a distinct two tone look.










So thats where i'm at so far. I built the whole wall even though several of the bricks will have fallen off when I make it up properly, I built it as a wall to ensure that all the bricks would actually be the correct dimensions, so the fallen ones would actually fit the wall. No-one would notice if they didn't, just like to make it right in my head lol!!

Next up, fit the burrow back in (after filling it with grout and sand and so on for grip), get the picture background in place for the gap in the wall, silicont the bricks up, gorrilla glue sand in the gaps between the bricks (this will be quite deep down, I want to maintain the look of an old weathered wall, where the mortar has eroded from the joints. 

It also looks far too new right now, I think what separates this from stone walls in arid and semi arid areas is.......Dust. Whenever I've been to hot places everything is always covered in fine grit and dust. So I need to find a way to replicate this, I have a few ideas (including using dust :lol2 but am open to suggestions (please!!)

Dave


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## JPalmer (Jul 7, 2012)

It's looking brilliant! But I agree with an above post! That's not just knocking something up that looks amazing!!
Josh


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

JPalmer said:


> It's looking brilliant! But I agree with an above post! That's not just knocking something up that looks amazing!!
> Josh


Thanks mate  I guess I just consider it knocked together because I designed it around the bottom, top and back, so barely had to touch them, then it was cutting the rest to fit. As the sides and divider came off a piece the same as the back they literally only needed a cut each, and the plinths were the doors of the wardrobe so they were the right length straight away. It went together so easily and was automatically square, it just felt like an Ikea kitchen unit!! 

Anyways, got a little more done. The "brand new" look was annoying me big time, soooooo, 



















I set out to age them :2thumb:

Close ups



















And here's the "pre aged" ones just to give a comparison











:no1::no1::no1:50 points to the first person who guesses the primary ingredient in my aging process. The other two ingredients are play sand and a sprinkle of charcoal grout powder, but what is the main one?!:no1::no1::no1:

Lol all the best

Dave


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## fatlad69 (Oct 22, 2009)

Talc?


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

fatlad69 said:


> Talc?


It' s good.......but it's not right! :lol2: Didn't think of talc, i wonder if it's reptile safe? 

Dave


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Getting there.....

Blocks fixed to the wall and picture background in place, as well as the pipes loosely placed in their final configuration.










Electrics in, just a four way adapter to be pinned to the back of the cupboard and plugs placed  










And here are the entrances to the tunnels



















This one also shows the location of the thermostat probe, it's drilled through the back of the block and comes out of the top, with the angle that the block will be at should mostly keep it out of sight, but still allow it sufficient air around it to measure the temperature accurately.










A little more "weathering of a few of the loose blocks, then it's just the flooring to do, which could be interesting. I'm considering wrapping clingfilm around the loose blocks, the base of the wall and around the pipe network, as wellk as over the floor, then spraying a little expanding foam to create the floor. I can carve this to create my slope and set the blocks into it, but with the clingfilm it should be possible to make the pipes removeable from the bottom, the blocks removeable from the top and the whole thing removeable from the viv. I can then use gorilla glue and sand to coat it, and use some loose substrate atop it.

Good theory.......we'll see how it works out!! :lol2:

Comments, criticisms and thoughts welcome

Dave


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## fatlad69 (Oct 22, 2009)

Having used cling film with expanding foam before make sure you leave it a good couple of days to dry. I found that the foam was still wet under the cling film a good 24 hours after the rest of the foam.

Looking fantastic, love the view through the wall. Would look great with a blue LED shining there at night.

Adam


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

fatlad69 said:


> Having used cling film with expanding foam before make sure you leave it a good couple of days to dry. I found that the foam was still wet under the cling film a good 24 hours after the rest of the foam.
> 
> Looking fantastic, love the view through the wall. Would look great with a blue LED shining there at night.
> 
> Adam


Thanx for the advice  

Got a load more done over the last couple of days, will update tonight. Waiting for the layers of grout to dry takes forever  

Dave


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

Ok, here goes....

Styrofoam base, moulded to suit with bricks inset, followed by expanding foam (note the use of clingfilm to prevent unwanted foam everywhere, the bricks themselves were foamed, as were the buried pipes)



















After shaping



















And after a couple of layers of grout



















Not long to go now :2thumb: Just need to glue sand to the inside of the pipes, turn the whole thing upside down to grout the inside of a couple of the tunnel entrances, do a final top coat and then install it all, add substrate and I'm done!! YAY!!!

:lol2:

Dave


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

FINISHED!!!!! :2thumb:










And the happy chaps enjoying an explore of their new home 



















Dave

edit: looking at the pics, not quite finished, it would seem I need to put a strip of something along the inside of the top plinth and the top of the top runner to block the light. Damn!!


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## JPalmer (Jul 7, 2012)

Looks brilliant race! Really really good! Hope the occupants like it!
Josh


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## my_shed (Jan 5, 2011)

JPalmer said:


> Looks brilliant race! Really really good! Hope the occupants like it!
> Josh


Thanks mate, just glad to have it off the dining table tbh!! :lol2:

Dave


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