Toys

I love working on toys. I can work on them all day and not get tired of it. I'm a little sad because my son's gift that I'm making him this year is almost finished but I'm so happy with the way it's turning out that I had to show it off. For the last two years my son has wanted the teenage mutant ninja turtle sewer lair playset for christmas. This thing is four feet tall and about eighty bucks, down from the two hundred it was last year. I can't justify that, let alone the amount of space it would take up in his room and the cost of the turtle action figures. Here's the playset.

 This year they have come out with smaller versions of the turtles called half shell heroes that the boys and myself really like. They are a lot like the imaginext toys which in my opinion are the best toys on the market right now. The half shell heroes cost about seven bucks each and come with a vehicle or if you get a figure other than the turtles like splinter it comes with another figure as well. The bigger turtles are about fifteen bucks a piece. Here's a size comparison to the regular sized action figures.

After these guys came out a lightbulb went on in my head. I figured I could make the sewer lair playset sized for the half shell heroes. They have since come out with a playset for the little guys but the sewer lair set is what my son always asks for. I know the size of it might be one of the selling points for him but I know he'll enjoy this one as well because he has an imaginext batcave playset that his cousins and him play with all the time. I took apart his train board that was a christmas present I made for him I believe two years ago. He's old enough now to arrange the tracks himself so he didn't need the huge board taking up space anymore and I was able to use the plywood to make the new playset. I believe I've spent about six bucks total on material for this, with most of the cost going towards buying the guys because the Leo turtle is the only one he currently has. I used scraps, material, and paint I already had on hand. It's not finished yet. I still have some detail painting to do and then I'll spray a finish coat on all of it to protect it from little hands. Here's a full view of the playset as it is now. I tried to make it look as much like the original as I could.

There's a computer here on the bottom level

Here's a shot of the tire swing and a little bit of the skate ramp. On the right you can see an orange circle. This part spins around and I'll put a computer screen or something on it that hides when you spin it back. 

The top level is street level that they can access through the manhole that opens like a door. The top part of the set is where I have to do most of the detail painting. The red is a building that needs bricks and to the left of the building I'll paint an alley way.