# Munsters Mansion (Hints and Tips)



## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Well, I thought that I would start another thread on the wonderful Moebius Munster Mansion. I don’t want this thread to be all about my build but rather a place where we can all share ideas. (My model building is usually pretty slow and boring anyway.) 
Modelling houses is not the typical subject matter for these forums, unless you are a model railroader, so I reckon we can learn a lot from each other.

My kit arrived on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago. (I live in New Zealand so it is a long slow boat ride for the styrene to undertake.) I have also ordered the Paragafix photo etch and cast fence detail set. (Winging its way to me as I type. Thanks Steve.) 
I am not going to use the ODG Studios base or the VoodooFX sound and lighting kit on my build as I prefer to do this myself, but don’t let that stop you all from adding to this thread with your experiences, ideas and comments on those items.

Closely examining the kit, there were a couple of things that irritated me. (Mainly due to the compromises that have to be made in the injection molding process.)
1) The window frames are way too wide. Particularly, the vertical bars on most of the windows. Also the french doors on to Marylins balcony. 
2) The shingles are quite softly molded and would be very difficult to paint convincingly. 

It was a rainy day last Sunday so armed with my Dremel, X-Acto knife, needle files, Tamiya extra thin cement and some Evergreen 0.5x1.0mm stripes (That’s .02 x.04 inch for those living in the past.) I started cutting, filing and gluing. It was not as arduous as I envisaged as I developed a method that worked pretty well. If anyone is interested I will write it up.


I didn’t bother replacing the horizontal pieces of the frames, apart from Marylin’s french doors, as they look OK and I am lazy.

Shingles, shingles and more shingles. 
Rusty Stumps models produces a range of laser cut cardboard scale shingles. They also have a fantastic painting tutorial on their web site that worked wonderfully well and was really quick to do. As you can see, the shingles come in a sheet and that makes painting easy.
You then separate the lengths of shingles and start gluing. 
I made a cardboard template that fitted snugly over the towers roof segments. I then glued lengths of the shingles together and used my template to trim them to size. I just used good old PVA (White) glue to stick them down right over the top of the molded shingles. The ridge shingles, separating the eight triangular roof pieces, are the standard kit parts, painted before the cardboard shingles were added. 

Here is the result and a photo of the raw shingles and template.
(Not everything is glued in place yet. Hence the gaps!)


















I will continue shingling on the rest of the roof sections once I have primed the main roof sections and painted the edges and ridges. 

And so the build goes on. 

I also attacked Marylins balcony. I cut the railings off the floor and sanded their backs down so the balustrades where extremely thin. Made a new floor and stuck it all back together.

After the red brickwork has had another couple of days to dry I will paint the mortar to make it look a bit more ‘bricky’. A light grey acrylic paint can be slopped all over the brick work and then wiped off with a rag damped in acrylic thinner to clean off the red bricks and leave the grey in the recesses. Simple! But make sure you use enamels or lacquers for the red brickwork otherwise you will get a scale mess!



Here are a couple of questions from me. 
I have painted the finial on top of the tower as if it was wood. I have seen others paint it copper, or similar. Anyone have any clues on what it should be?

And has anyone noticed that Moebius have molded the ridge shingles on the mansard roof the wrong way around? I would not want to be in there in a rain storm!








I wish I had noticed that before I glued parts 18, 25 and 24 together. I am contemplating cutting them off and spinning them round as the weathering will look wrong otherwise. Am I being too picky? 

Do you think that the steps to the front of the house should be concrete or wood?

That's it from me at the moment…. Everybody post now!

Alien
Wellington, New Zealand


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## Opus Penguin (Apr 19, 2004)

I will be watching this thread with great interest since I have not started on mine yet. I do, however, have the ODG Studios base and will get the sound board as well. I also have the Paragrafix fence and photo-etch. The model is very nice, but any added details will be nice to view on this thread. I like the idea you have for the shingles, so please continue to share.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Alien said:


> ...I have painted the finial on top of the tower as if it was wood. I have seen others paint it copper, or similar. Anyone have any clues on what it should be?


In every color photo I've seen of the house/facade as it was when the series was still in production, the finial you're referring to was painted to match the roof. I've seen other photos in which it was painted to match the trim, and in one photo it was a nondescript gray color.



Alien said:


> ...Do you think that the steps to the front of the house should be concrete or wood?


The steps on the actual facade are wood. Regardless of how Universal had painted the facade, in every photo I've seen the facings (i.e., the vertical surfaces) were painted the same color as the trim. The steps (i.e., the horizontal surfaces) appear to have been painted the same color as the porch deck, but I haven't found any photos that were clear enough to determine what color that was; it appears to be either the same color used for the house or natural wood, but I can't say one way or the other with any certainty.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Thanks Zombie, that is a big help.

I will leave my finial alone. I was quite happy with my paint job on it so I am pleased to keep it that way.
And no concrete paint on the steps for me.

Thanks for your reply

Alien


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Alien said:


> ...I will leave my finial alone. I was quite happy with my paint job on it so I am pleased to keep it that way...


I'm glad to hear that. I like the way you've done it; it looks just like most of the photos I've seen (which, admittedly, aren't many). And the work you're doing on the shingles is a terrific improvement as well--very realistic for the scale. :thumbsup:

I'm happy to have helped in my small way. I'm sure there are other members here who are far more knowledgeable about the Munsters' house than I am, so don't be afraid to keep the questions coming!


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

Way too cool!!


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## Moonman27 (Aug 26, 2008)

Those shingles look great,very realistic! I think I will scratchbuild my base,but am pondering wheather to get the photo-etch front gate and railings. I think I may try to build my own trees,too. I also want to have "Spot" in the backyard chewing on a Fiat or something too.


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## Dirt (Dec 29, 1998)

Wow! Those shingles look GREAT! (Way above my level of modeling...)

One thing for accuracy: The bricks in the fence aren't the red variety. Here's a picture of the gate and another angle of the fence. The second picture is pre-production. It was before they added the mailbox to the gate pillar. 



















I look forward to more progress reports! Looks like it'll be amazing! Thank you for sharing!

My best,
Ernie
MunsterKoach.com


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## Dirt (Dec 29, 1998)

One more of the house...










My best,
Ernie
MunsterKoach.com


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## Dirt (Dec 29, 1998)

My bad... I thought you were talking about the fence and not the foundation of the house...

My best,
Ernie
MunsterKoach.com


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Hey guys, thanks for all your kind comments.

Ernie, great photos, thanks. My wall should be arriving soon so we shall see how my paint skills will match up to the photos. (Don’t hold your breath.)
And believe me, the shingles are way too easy to do. I was a bit daunted when I first saw the plain sheet that I thought did not look that realistic but a quick paint job, pretty much following Rusty Stumps guide, and some simple cutting and gluing, I was stunned at the result.
I sound like I am a shingle expert, but no. If anyone has visited New Zealand you will know that a shingle roof is as rare as a Hollywood star without an ego in Kiwi-land.

Moonman, I love the idea of Spot chewing on a Fiat in the backyard. You sound like you have an idea for a new fast food chain. McMunsters with their Fillet-O-Fiat. What do you have against Fiats? I guess some of them are the right size for Spot to nibble on?

Well, I did a bit more work.
After Zombie_61 confirmed that the front steps are wooden I decided to build new steps that looked a bit more wood-ish. Evergreen styrene to the rescue!
It may not have been a clever idea as my wife saw what I was doing and reminded me that I had not yet built the steps she wants in the back garden. Guess what I am doing for the rest of the weekend? 

I also assembled the top of the porch with its deck. I used a couple of pin heads (You know the ones that hold folded shirts together in their packing) to make the little ball details at the top. I also Dremeled out a trench that will hold wires and a teeny tiny surface mount (SMD) LED that will light the porch. I have a warm white LED that I will use. SMD LEDs disperse light in a much wider angle than regular LEDs so I am hoping that it will look pretty good lighting the porch and not just create a spot light effect on the floor below.

I have not shown it in the photo, but the front wall, part #1, is missing weatherboard (I think that you call it Clapboard in the US) detail on its right hand side where it joins to the front wall, part #3. It appears that Moebius tried to detail it as there is some very faint detail but it has ended up essentially smooth. A piece of Evergreen 4061 Clapboard, cut to 6 x 41mm, fills the gap nicely. It may not be that noticeable once the kit is finished, but I had the Clapboard in my styrene stash so it was silly not to stick it on in there. 








And I had another idea. (Yes, another one.) 
I don’t know what to call them, maybe just railings, around the top of the tower balcony seem to be just square pieces of wood in all the photos that I have seen. The kit has them molded as if they are round and bulbous. I was looking through my big box of “stuff that may come in handy some day” and found some Plastruct N scale ladder stock. I am thinking of cutting out the kit parts and replacing them with cut off pieces of ladder. It won’t be perfect but it will make the tower look more like the original.

What do you think??


Off out to do 1:1 scale modelling in the garden now. At least it is a beautiful day.

Alien


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## JamesInNC (Sep 17, 2011)

That's some very incredible modeling there, Allen. I like your attention to all the various detail. Especially want to know how the SMD LED works on the porch. So please remember to post that result in particular.

Keep up the gat work.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Thanks for your comments James, and especially for you, a photo of the front porch with the LED lighting it up below.

Not too much progress at the moment, but I do have some interesting information. (At least I found it interesting!) 
My good friend and model railroad geek, Phil, came around last night. Phil was heartened to see a HO scale house on my workbench and not the usual spaceship. He took a look at my freshly primed roof sections and asked if I had been buying Plastruct plastic shingle sheet. I explained not and that it was all just part of standard kit molding. We did a quick search on the inter-web and it does look like that whoever made the masters for the Munster Mansion used Plastruct sheet shingle for the roof. (Frank or Dave would have to confirm for sure.) This would explain why the detail is a bit soft on the kit roof as the Plastruct sheets of shingles are created by vacuum forming. I only mention this because I saw a model on the web that had a garage added to the end of the drive. So if anyone else is planning to do something similar, and wanted the garage roof to match the standard molded mansion roof, go off and buy some Plastruct. 

Anyway, on with the action. 
I cut off the upstairs piece above the porch. This is the only piece of wall where adding the cardboard shingles over the top would make everything sit too proud. I will finish cutting out the shingle section and glue some styrene in behind to replace it. The peak will also get some modifications when the photo-etch arrives.
I made little door handles for the front doors.
You can see the surface mount (SMD) LED glued into the trench I created under the porch roof.
SMDs are great wee things but you do need to sharpen your tweezers and soldering skills to work with them. The wire I use is known in the electronics trade as “wire wrap” wire. Not used much any more but is still readily available. It is very thin, 0.5mm, and great for fitting into small spaces.









And here is it connected to some power. Looks pretty good. Just have to do some light blocking on the styrene.









And finally, I had to do it as it was irking me, I reversed the ridge shingles on the mansard roof. I didn’t bother attaching a photo as it is not that interesting.

Onwards and upwards.

Alien


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

The mailman delivered my photo-etch and resin fence on Friday. Thanks Steve. 

I had spent a little time cutting up my N scale ladder for the tower balcony. I also decided to replace the eight posts around it as they were molded flat on their back sides. Some rod and tube from my styrene stash did the trick. There is no reason for the different colors of styrene. Just used what I had.
I made a jig to keep everything lined up. (Sounds hi-tech but it was just a couple of wooded Popsicle sticks stuck to a block of MDF with double side tape.)
You can see the difference from the original kit part in the photo.
I installed the photo-etch in the peak detail above the front window. I deviated from the instructions and Dremeled out the raised plastic detail so I could install the photo-etch a little deeper.
Rather than using the kit poles for the weather vane and TV aerial I used brass rod and soldered everything together. That makes them a bit more solid rather than just super gluing the photo-etch to the styrene parts. I also added a dipole loop to the aerial. (Can’t really see it in the photo.)
I spent the afternoon airbrushing the edges of the roof that will been seen once the cardboard shingles are applied. Shingle application next week while I watch some mindless TV.
I also sloped on some of the thinned brown paint, from the airbrush, over the front doors with a brush. I just wanted to see what it would look like and I can’t believe how great it looks. (Pictures to follow next time.) The semi wash of paint highlighted all the door moldings fantastically so I won’t be painting over that, as was my original plan.
I also gave rest of the mansion a coat of white sandable primer from a rattle can. My aim is to just use this for all the white areas, with a dirty wash, and brush paint a fawn/tan color over the rest of the walls. I plan to try and use a thick wash to do that as I hope it will look old and dilapidated.
I find that the Plasticoat primer that I use is not affected by hobby enamels being applied by a brush, so you can get some nice effects.

I gave the stone fences a coat of primer and they will be ready for a stone wash (No, not denim! ) later in the week.









And come on, someone else in Hobbytalk land must be building the mansion. Come and share your ideas too. I don't want this to be www.itsallaboutme.com.

Hi ho, Hi ho, its shingling I will go....

Alien


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## Dirt (Dec 29, 1998)

Very nice, Alien! This looks to be a totally amazing build! Thanks for sharing your talents with us here!

My best,
Ernie
MunsterKoach.com


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Not as much progress as I would have hoped this week. Too many other things going on.

I got out the ‘big boys toys’ this weekend and cut up and routed some MDF to be used as the base for the mansion.

Stand by for a joke: I made the base single handed, after the accident with the circular saw! 

Before anyone asks. No, MDF does not come in black here in New Zealand. The neighbor was throwing away an old piece of furniture made out of painted MDF. I liberated some of the shelves. I knew that they would come in handy some day.

I routed a bull-nose around the edges and routed out the triangle shape, that will turn into the road base, giving a nice step up to the footpath (AKA Sidewalk) 
Sanding sealer and some light sanding will get the base ready for painting. I will also route paths on the under side to house the wires for the lights and drill a hole to house a DC socket.









The stone fences have been given an air brushing with Floquil Concrete and then a black wash. It is a shame that while the columns have big stone block detail, the main walls are detailed with normal sized bricks. And one wall is slightly longer than the other. Not a problem at first thought, but the etched brass railings are both the same length. Oh well! Not 100% happy with the paint effect yet. Will try some dry brushing later.









This photo shows two of the main roof sections with their shingles glued on. You can also see the wood effect on the balconies.
And the front doors. As I said in an earlier post, this is just highly thinned Tamiya Matt Brown slopped on with a brush. No primer either. I didn’t think that it would work and I would end up priming and painting over it. But no, it looks good. The photo shows that the wall has been painted white and the scratch built door handles painted brass.

I have painted a scrap piece of Evergreen Clapboard sheet with the Plasticoat White Sandable Primer and I will try my idea for painting the tan color next week. Results to follow.

I will also have to start thinking about the trees. Might use an old model railway trick and use copper wire to form the dead tree (In front of the tower).

That is all I can think of at the moment. The build is going well.

Alien


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## lonestar8903 (May 9, 2013)

looking good


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## aurora fan (Jan 18, 1999)

Yes. Thank you for sharing. I am watching your good work with much interest.


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## Opus Penguin (Apr 19, 2004)

Very nice!


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

I too am enjoying this thread.
Not sure when I will ever get around to building mine, but watching yours come together really makes me want to start on mine.


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## 41-willys (Jan 7, 2000)

I am enjoying your build. Thank you.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Thanks for your comments guys. You are really buoying me along.

I have finished attaching all the shingles to the roof sections as well as the shingled walls.
It is actually really easy to do, it just takes some time, and the results speak for themselves.
All you need are a few simple tools:

PVA (White) Glue
Small Scissors (Like tiny sewing scissors borrowed from the wife’s sewing box. I do need to buy my own! ) 
Glue Applicator (Just a toothpick really.)
X-Acto knife
Ruler and pencil

I still have to glue the completed roof sections to the house. (They are just sitting there thanks to good Moebius fit.) I will glue them down after I have painted the tan color on the walls.










My MDF base has been sanding sealed, puttied, sprayed with sandable primer and then gloss black, both from rattle cans.

I will now impart some wisdom. It won’t take long as most of my wisdom can be written on the back of a postage stamp using a big felt tip pen.

I like putting lights into my models as it adds to the overall effect. Everything is better with lights!

I power my models with a 12 volt plug pack power supply. (I don't like using batteries.)

I decided that I would always use 12 volts DC and embed a DC socket into the each model’s base. 
DC sockets typically come in three types, chassis mount, cord mount (Both shown in the photo) and printed circuit board mount (Not that relevant). The chassis mount socket is designed to mount into a thin metal or plastic panel and does not lend itself into fitting into a wooden base, unless you mount it into a small plate and screw that over a hole in the wooden base. (Too much effort!)

I just use a cord socket with the plastic cover discarded. You just drill a hole into the base and epoxy glue it in. I actually like it to end up flush with the base so I drill a hole, the same size as the business end of the socket, just deep enough for that end to fit into. I then extend the hole with a drill bit the same size of the threaded section. I like to use ‘brad point’ drill bits as their point allows accurate placement, even when using a good old cordless drill.

In my mansion base I extended my drilled hole, with a smaller sized bit (Big enough for my wires to fit through.) as deep as I could. I then drilled a hole in the surface of the base, over that hole, (Measure twice) so I can feed the wires through up under the house.









The DC socket has not been pushed all the way into the base in the photo. I will do that once I have soldered wires on, as once it is in it will be hard to get out.

The base is almost ready for detailing.


I cut the railings and gates from my Paragrafix photo etch and I was about to give them a coat of primer when I remembered that I had a bottle of ‘Blacken-it’. It is a chemical solution that will react with certain metals and turn them black. It is the first time I have used it and it works like magic in just a few minutes. (Search on Google, lots of stores sell it.)
So I now have great looking flat black railings and gates and no tricky painting required.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Alien


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## 41-willys (Jan 7, 2000)

the roof and walls look great :thumbsup:


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## Opus Penguin (Apr 19, 2004)

How many packages of shingles did you need to get?


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Good question Opus_Penguin.
And the right time to ask as my shingling has been completed.

You are gonna need three packs of shingles. There is actually an awful lot of roof on the mansion, coupled with the fact that you waste a bit on the tower roof and the other roof angle joins. 
I have less than a quarter of a packet left over.

Alien


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Wow! Those shingles look great! Do they come in a slightly more weathered grayish tone?

I've been hemming and hawing on the Munster's mansion, but yer making me more interested in owning it now!


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Hi Gareee,

The shingles come in sheets in a number of a different colors.
Check out: http://www.rustystumps.com/ShingleColors.asp

All sheets are a uniform color overall so then its is up to you 'weather' them according to your own taste. 
Have a look at the RustyStumps 'How to' guide on weathering the shingles:
http://www.rustystumps.com/RSSMDownloads/Weathering%20RSSM%20Shingles.pdf

I used 'Manilla' color on my build. Gave it a quick blotchy airbrushing of Tamiya flat brown (You could use a rattle can) and then applied streaks of acrylic water color paint as detailed in the 'How to' guide. Surprisingly it took way less than an hour to weather all three packets of the shingles. 

I actually did a similar effect on the styrene pieces of the roof to blend them into the shingles. I painted them first with a light tan color. (Humbrol #63 Matt Sand) and then a blotchy airbrushing with Tamiya flat brown (XF10).
I also used a wash of the brown around details like the ridge shingles on the mansard roof.

I am pretty lousy at producing paint effects and I was a bit skeptical when reading the 'How to' guide, but I followed it to the letter and you can see that it worked. No one more surprised than me.

And as we are prone to say in New Zealand, every thing is 'Sweet As.'

Alien


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## Dirt (Dec 29, 1998)

Don't suppose you'd consider making another set of roofs? _(Totally amazed!)

_My best,
Ernie
MunsterKoach.com


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Ernie,

If I had the time I would love to build you a roof. But you can do it yourself.
But don’t overestimate how difficult this is to do. It just takes a bit of time, but you can do most of the installation in front of the TV. (Just watch out that the off cuts don’t go all over the floor otherwise there may be trouble with the wife.)
I reckon that the most difficult piece of the work was cutting the shingles to go around the curved top windows on the mansard roof. (Parts 5 and 6) And that wasn't really too hard.

I put together some hints and tips that may help.

Follow the painting instructions on the Rusty Stumps website. You may be under whelmed with the results on the sheets of shingles, but once the shingle strips are sniped into lengths, shuffled around, the results will impress you.

If you are gluing the tiles on with PVA glue make sure that you prime the roof sections as the matt primer will give the PVA something extra to stick to.
Also, paint all the roof edges as well as the roof ridges before you start gluing the shingle strips on.

Measure everything first. You don’t want to get to the top of a roof section and only have room for a third height row of shingles. I always glued the bottom row of shingles on first and then measured from the top of that to the top of the roof part. 3.5mm spacing works very well, but you may have to tweak that very slightly on some of the sections. Make some pencil marks so you can align the rows. The molded in shingle detail is also quite helpful aligning everything.

Octagon Tower Roof
Make a paper template that fits snuggly into one of the triangular roof sections.
Just for this roof part I glued the shingle strips together off the model (ie. On my workbench) and then used my paper template to cut the glued shingles to the right size and then glued them on as one complete triangular sheet.

Other Roof Sections
Just glue the shingles on row by row, bottom to top, over the roof sections.
But note the following:

Before gluing, trim the first (bottom) row of shingles to go on part 12, the front of part 10, part 3, and parts 5 and 6 to get rid of the random shingle lengths. The bottom of the shingles for these parts has to be flat to butt up nicely with the part or detail below it. No shingle over hang from the styrene roof edges is needed here.
Make paper templates for the difficult cuts like around the curved top windows and the end angles on parts 5 and 6, the mansard roof parts 18, 24 and 25 and the angle on part 10 where parts 8 and 9 join it. This will make the cutting of the shingle rows quicker, easier and more accurate.
For the top two rows of shingles on all the parts: Glue the two rows of shingles together on your workbench. Cut off the top (The carrier?) of the top row of shingles. This would normally be covered by the next row of shingles but as this is the top row there isn’t one. And if you cut off the top of a shingle row without it being glued on to another row, you will end up with lots of loose shingles that you will have to glue on one by one. (Tweezer-tastic!)

And that is all I know. I certainly did not have any big dramas when doing the work. It just takes a bit of time and patience.

Alien


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Well I got out my paintbrush and started painting the mansion “old style”.
As I said in previous posts, I primed the whole mansion with Plasticoat white sandable primer. I normally use their grey primer but I went out and brought some white as it served a dual role of priming and a base color in one go. Yes, I am lazy and not to keen on painting at the best of times!  

So with the white primer having a good week or more to completely cure I tried my idea for an old peeling and faded paint finish. 

I thinned Humbrol #63 Matt Sand (I seem to be using this color a lot on this build.) down to quite a thick ‘wash’ consistency and applied it with a brush.
I can hear your comments… “That would take hours and you would need a very steady hand to paint around all the windows and trim” 
Actually no and no! Capillary action is your friend and does most of the work for you. Getting a loaded brush near raised window or other detail causes the paint to just flow around it like magic. You don’t have to be too precise with the paint job as you want a mottled effect, like it is old and weathered paint.
After this had dried for a couple of days I attacked the whole mansion again, this time with a thin wash of matt black. The black wash went over everything including the all white areas of the mansion.









So you can tell me what you think. The photo shows the end result but everything is still not glued together, hence there are a few “wobbly” bits.
You can also see the effects of the ‘Blacken-it’ on the photo-etch. I have also built a concrete sidewalk and curb (Not weathered yet.)


Alien


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

A quick photoshop job to bring it down to the B&W tv show level...










I imagine indoors in dimmer light it looks much like this.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Good on you Gareee.

Starts to look more like black and white TV and a bit gloomy and spooky as well.

I love Photoshop :thumbsup:

Once I get the trees in place out front it should look even better.

Alien


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Yeah I was thinking it REALLY needed the trees n such.

Maybe around halloween you can find a few of those cheap minature led spotlights to shine through them to add that low angle "lightening" type lighting effect?

This makes me also want to finally break out my Adams family house and build her up.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Gareee,

I like your idea of lighting up the trees. I never thought about installing 'garden lighting'.
And the more I think about it, the more I like it. 

I will see what I have in my stash of LEDs. 
Halloween is a bit far away and nowhere near as popular here as it is in the US so I will have to source LEDs the standard way.

Thanks for the idea. Have virtual Chocolate Fish. (A popular New Zealand candy.)










Alien


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Yum! 

I've purchased cheap dollar store small pocket flashlights to use the refelctors in props and displays before.. maybe there's something you can find locally to use as the same thing? They focus the light so it looks more like a spotlight.


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## Dirt (Dec 29, 1998)

Looks great, Alien! 

My best,
Ernie
MunsterKoach.com


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## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

Very nice painting their Alien, that 1st photo on page 3 looked just like a real house I took a double take, very nicely done brick work and that iron fence looks awesome, BTW I see you have the Triton work station saw table I bought one years ago when they were available here in Oregon I've been using it with great success, and all the attachments makes it an easy to use all in one wood shop system. Karl


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Thanks for your comments Karl.

Good spotting, yes it is a Triton Workcentre. It is a great tool isn't it?
Especially when you are a home handyman renovator or hobby wood worker.

Even though it was designed by an Australian (There is a bit of rivalry between the Aussies and Kiwis.) I still think its a great product.

I will try and post some more photos of the Mansion this weekend.
I have been mulling over Gareees idea of lighting the trees in the front yard.
I am going to order up some small green LEDs and embed them in my MDF base shooting up into the tree branches. Fingers crossed, it should look pretty cool and spooky. It will add a bit more interest to the mansion instead of just having some of the windows lit.
I went and visited my friend Phil this week and stole one of his model railway trees. (I convinced him that a tree stump would much be better where he had this big tree planted ) It should look good out front of the Marilyn's balcony.
For the dead tree, I have built a frame out of old copper wire soldered together and am coating the frame with artists acrylic matt medium. This stuff is a paste that you can brush on with an old stiff brush and it sets up pretty hard. 
I also plan to put a light dependent resistor (LDR) in the chimney that will activate the lighting circuits when the surroundings go dark.

More to come when I find the time. Now where did I put that time? I am always loosing it!

Alien


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## DinoMike (Jan 1, 1970)

Alien said:


> I will try and post some more photos of the Mansion this weekend.
> I have been mulling over Gareees idea of lighting the trees in the front yard.
> I am going to order up some small green LEDs and embed them in my MDF base shooting up into the tree branches. Fingers crossed, it should look pretty cool and spooky. It will add a bit more interest to the mansion instead of just having some of the windows lit.


 I saw these folks at Wonderfest. Some of their products might help with your ideas. http://www.starlightingprojects.com/


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Hi DinoMike,

Thanks for the suggestion. I have previously stumbled upon that website and they do have a couple of great products.
I am jealous for two reasons. You saw them in the flesh and you got to go to Wonderfest. (Kentucky is a long way from New Zealand, 15+ hours in a plane. But I will get there one day.)

StarlingLighting's Phantom Footlights would be great to light up the trees in front of the mansion but they will be too big for me. I want to be able to drill a hole in my MDF base and embed a tiny LED into it. I don't really want the LED to be too visible when it is not turned on.

I started work on the dead tree and here is an in progress photo.








As I have already said, it is just copper wire soldered together and I am starting to brush on acrylic matt medium with an old stiff paint brush.
The stiff paint brush will give a bark-like texture. (Well that is the plan )

Last night I shone a tiny LED torch (Sorry, we call flashlights 'torches' in this part of the world) up from under the tree to see what the lighting idea could look like. It looks GREAT! I am ordering my tiny LEDs as soon as I finish typing this post.

Happy Queens Birthday. (Long weekend here, holiday on Monday. :hat: Yeah!)
Alien


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

It has been a busy week. Sadly not on the Munster Mansion. 

I ordered my green LEDs, to light up the trees, but as is always the case the ones I ordered were out of stock and have to come in from the UK. They are going to take a few more days..  

But I had a couple of hours to spare this weekend so I glued down the brick fence and got out some Woodland Scenics products to plant out in front.
I also coated the road surface with some PVA and sand and then painted that, complete with pot hole. I also temporarily stuck the tree (Thanks Phil) in front of the house to see what it looked like.

Something I found out, the hard way, is that the resin used to make the stone fence reacts with the Plasticoat spray paint that I used on the base. The fence sort of glued itself into the paint over a few days. The base needed a bit of a quick repair as the parts were sitting right on the edge of the base and that is not going to be covered with grass. 











So this is the finished piece in front of the fence with weeds and leaf scatter.

I soldered small pieces of brass wire on each side on the bottom of the photo etch piece that goes over the gate. I drilled holes in the tops of the brick gate posts and the wire on photo etch fits down into them. That holds it all secure.

I will try and finish up the dead tree and start on the interior lighting this week.

Alien


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

I got out my stash of warm white LEDs to start putting lights into the Mansion.
My plan is to use a micro-controller chip to turn lights on and off randomly in various rooms. A light dependent resistor, mounted in the chimney, will trigger the chip to start the sequence when it gets dark. (Or when you put your thumb over the top of the chimney.)

I thought that I would share a couple of photos showing how I tackle some of this.
I like to use surface mount (SMD) LEDs as they have a wider light dispersion (120 degrees) and are quite a bit smaller than standard 3 or 5mm standard LEDs.
I often get mine from eBay and I always look for ones that are at least 2000mcd (Milli Candella) in brightness. These are more than bright enough to light up a few rooms in an HO scale house and you certainly will need to do some light blocking on the walls..
SMD LEDs come in a variety of packages and are pretty tiny, so I do the following:
1. Get some blank printed circuit board (PCB) and cut a long strip. I generally do 7-8mm wide.
2. With a Tamiya Plastic Scriber, or similar, score a line lengthwise down the middle breaking the copper.
3. Make sure that the copper is clean and shiny. Solder will stick mush easier to clean copper. A kitchen Scotchbrite scourer works just fine to do this
4. Using a pair of spring loaded tweezers, hold your LED across your scribed trench and solder it to the PCB.
5. You can cut your PCB strip to any size that will fit into your model.
6. Solder on some wires and you are ready to glue it into position. Use epoxy or CA glue or even double sided sticky tape.










Note: The illuminated LEDs in the photos are running at very low intensity otherwise my camera would be blinded.

Now I just have to make some interior walls so I can light up individual rooms.


Fun fun.

Alien


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

How do you calculate power requirements for these?


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

This is amazing! I just got some mini LED lights from Michaels Crafts and put them inside (I'm not hi tech lighting capable).


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Mitchellmania, don’t under estimate using LED strings from craft stores. They work just fine and are sometimes cheaper than using individual LEDs. I use individual LEDs because I want to do some individual lighting control.

Gareee, using individual LEDs does tend to freak a lot of people out, especially because you need to use this mystical (dropping) resistor in series with the LED. The Model Lighting forum on HobbyTalk has lots of information but here is my two cents worth. (It will have to be 10c worth as we have got rid of 1, 2 and 5c coins in New Zealand!)

Like the good old light bulb, LED’s have a voltage rating. This is called the ‘Forward Voltage’ (Vf)
Consider this problem: 
We want one light bulb to light up our model, but we only have a 12 volt battery and 6 volt bulbs.
We all understand that if we connect a 6 volt bulb to that battery, the bulb will glow VERY bright for a short amount of time and then burn out. (Note: LEDs burn out almost instantly.)
But, if we connect two 6 volt bulbs in series (One after the other) to the battery then the voltage will be split across them and they will each receive 6 volts and be happy campers.
But we only want one bulb in our model!
If we knew the resistance of the bulb we could replace one of our two bulbs with a resistor of a similar value and then we would be able to run our single bulb from the 12 volt supply. ​
Same methodology applies when using LEDs. We use an Ohms law calculation to calculate the value of our dropping resistor as LEDs come in many different voltages and current ratings depending on their brightness and color. And we modellers want to power them from different supply voltages.

You only need three pieces of information to make this calculation:

Supply voltage: The voltage that you are going to use to power the LEDs
LEDs Forward Voltage (Vf): From the LED manufacturers specs in volts (V).
LEDs Forward Current (If): From the LED manufacturers specs in milli-amperes (mA).

(You may find Minimum, Typical and Maximum Forward Voltage and Current ratings in the specifications. Always use Typical.) 

And here comes the maths. There are lots of on-line calculators but it is ridiculously easy.

*(Supply Voltage - Vf) / (If / 1000) = Dropping resistor value in ohms*​
For the larger LED in my previous post, here are its specifications pasted direct from the supplier:

LED, SMD, PLCC2, WARM WHITE 2700K
LED Colour: Warm White
Luminous Intensity: 3.55cd
Viewing Angle: 120°
Forward Current If: 20mA
Forward Voltage: 2.8V
LED Mounting: SMD
Lens Shape: Round
Colour Temperature Typ: 2700K

Plugging those numbers in to the calculation, based on the 12 volts that I am using to power the mansion’s LEDs, yields:
(12V – 2.8V) / (20mA /1000) = 460 ohms.​
Resistors only come in a certain range of values. (Called ‘Preferred Values’) so chances are that you will not be able to get one exactly equal to what you have calculated. Just choose a resistor with next closest higher resistance. In my example I chose 470 ohms. 
You can use higher value resistors and this will reduce the light output of your LED. No real rule or calculation here, just try it and see the effect.

The other question often asked with resistors is what wattage to use?

½ or ¼ watt resistors are fine for running almost all low power LEDs.
But the calculation is:
*Supply Voltage x (If / 1000) = wattage*​
In my example:
12V x (20mA /1000) = 0.24 watts​(So a ¼ watt resistor will be OK, just! ½ watt probably would be better.)
Using higher wattage resistors is OK. The wattage is just the amount of power that can go through without it overheating.

BTW. We are always dividing the current in milli-amps by 1000 to convert it to Amps. Ohms Law calculations are always in Amps.

And that’s it. All there is to it…

Let me know if I have confused anyone or it is just me that is confused?

Alien


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

My green surface mount LEDs for use as garden lights arrived. Woo Hoo!

I had brought 10 of these for 61c each. At a grand total of $6.10, they were couriered to me! The company won’t be making any money on that sale, as the courier cost alone would have been more than $6.10.

I bought these particular LEDs as they have a dome lens on them. A bit unusual for SMD LEDs!
I drilled out some brass tube to snuggly fit around the lens and cut some small lengths.
Once the tube was sitting over the LED lens, I filled it up with clear encapsulating resin. This served to glue the tube on the LED and to act a bit like a piece of fibre optic. Once the resin was dry I sanded the top flat and coated it with some Tamiya clear green enamel. (Saves polishing the resin.)

I then used very thin ‘wire wrapping’ wire to connect each LED up to a dropping resistor and then to some more flexible wire. The LEDs, wire wrap wire and resistors will be buried in the Mansions MDF base.
I painted the LEDs matt black to avoid any light leaks .








Out with the Dremel to cut some trenches in the model base for the wires, resistors and LEDs. OK they did not end up being too straight, but I will fill them in with polyester filler. No one will see my wavy trench digging. 
I epoxied the LEDs in place making sure they angled up to where the tree was going to be planted. (In the hole between the LEDs in the right hand photo.)
Only the very tips of the brass tube will be visible once the grass is in place and as the resin has been tinted green with the Tamiya clear green they should not be very obvious in the day light.

And now for the test..








Wow! It looks pretty good. Thanks again for the great idea Gareee.

(The blob of clay to the left of the base of the tree was just put there to mask the light from the LED behind it hitting the camera.) 

So now I will do the same thing where the dead tree will go in front of the tower.
I am also making a few interior walls, out of cardboard, that will block the lights and allow me to light a few individual windows without any light leaking out others.

Starting to take shape.

Alien


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Looks great! Maybe sculpt the clay blobs into rocks, a coffin or something? There were a few episodes where they were doing something in the yard.

Are any of the reproductions of the vehicles in scale with the model? It'd be cool to add those parked out front along the street.

BTW, is there a garage on the house?


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

Everything went over my head, but I like the green lights!!


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

Alien said:


> Resistors only come in a certain range of values. (Called ‘Preferred Values’) so chances are that you will not be able to get one exactly equal to what you have calculated.
> 
> Alien


http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/resistors/through-hole-resistors/66690

I think you'll find 1% resistors have the value any LED calculator might give you. If you can't find the value you need from here, then you're just not looking hard enough....


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

I just stumbled across this build link this afternoon: 

http://culttvman.com/main/?p=19780

Maybe you can snitch some ideas?


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Thanks Guys,

Great link to Cult's site Gareee. I had not spotted that before. A great scratch built effort. I am jealous. It prompts me to find a couple of tall thin trees for either side of the porch.

The Moebius Munster Mansion kit does not come with a garage. I thought about scratch building one, but in the end I thought it would make the whole thing a bit too big.
BTW. The bit of clay was just stuck there for the purposes of that photo. I won't need it after the grass goes down. But I will end up littering the lawn with a few oddments. A coffin sounds like a plan!

As far as I know the only small scale versions of the Munster cars (Coach and Dragular) were the Johnny Lightning die cast ones. I think that these were 1/64th scale (S) and would probably look out of place out front the 1/87th scale (HO) mansion. (I could be wrong!)
I do have the Johnny Lightning cars packed away somewhere. I may dig them out and see what they look like.

My other idea was to build a Universal Studios tour tram. Have a look at the photo at the bottom of this page: http://www.1164.com/munsters/photos/index.html

Teslabe, you are sooooo right about the 1% resistors. These are only typically available from specialist electronics suppliers. You are more limited going to a local retail outlet like a Radio Shack (Jaycar Electronics in my case.) and a slightly higher resistance makes little difference to the brightness of the LED.
That's my excuse 

Alien


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Alien said:


> ...As far as I know the only small scale versions of the Munster cars (Coach and Dragular) were the Johnny Lightning die cast ones. I think that these were 1/64th scale (S) and would probably look out of place out front the 1/87th scale (HO) mansion. (I could be wrong!)...


Personal opinion--yes, the differences in scale are far too obvious, and the Johnny Lightning Koach and Drag-U-La cars look too big when placed in front of the built-up kit.


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Shame about the cars.

Alien: After seeing your exterior lighting, something I just tested last night was using some led snake neck book readers to add top lighting to my seaview. I added some light scrims to the lenses to fake that underwater light refraction.

I'll have to mount them on a display stand or something, but the additional lighting (kind of what you are doing) really makes a huge difference.

Thanks for that idea!


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Great idea Gareee. I have been looking at your Seaview build on Hobbytalk and it looks great. My four window version is built and waiting for me to pimp out the control room.
I was thinking of buying one of these things to light up the outside hull. (Probably with a bit of conversion.) Maybe of interest to you? http://dx.com/p/5-led-blue-light-ocean-waves-projector-pot-speaker-4-x-aa-104539


And back on the Mansion tact.
Just spotted, the hard way, the Printed Window Insert [2] to go on the window under Marilyn's balcony only has two mounting holes punched in it. There are, however, three lugs around the window. You either need to punch an extra hole in the window insert (Hard to get it lined up) or just cut off the third lug at the top of the window. Cutting of the lug is the easiest thing to do, but is so much easier to do before you have assembled everything. 

And has anyone else noticed? The Mansion kit has no back door, how did that get past health and safety? 

Alien


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Alien said:


> ...And has anyone else noticed? The Mansion kit has no back door, how did that get past health and safety?


Well, the "house" on the Universal backlot didn't have a back door either (or a back wall, for that matter), so _technically_ it's accurate.


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Alien said:


> Great idea Gareee. I have been looking at your Seaview build on Hobbytalk and it looks great. My four window version is built and waiting for me to pimp out the control room.
> I was thinking of buying one of these things to light up the outside hull. (Probably with a bit of conversion.) Maybe of interest to you? http://dx.com/p/5-led-blue-light-ocean-waves-projector-pot-speaker-4-x-aa-104539


I wonder what that actually does? If it holds liquid, or how it emulates the effect?

The only concern for me, would be since I already have a blue seaview, that the blue color would be too intense using blue leds.

A moving underwater effect though would be killer for a display though!

EDIT: You can find these underwater projectors direct from china on ebay for $15 a pop including shipping. Looks like it can be tipped on its side, so I'm guessing it could be inverted for overhead light shining down as well. They even have a small speaker, so you could hook up an old cellphone or cheap mp3 player to play the sub Ping sonar sound. These are also available on Amazon for about $15 with free supersaver shipping on orders of $25 or more. Reviews on them are VERY iffy though.. seems they are cheaply made. I might have to snag one though to try it out!  Thanks for the heads up!


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Alien: found a decent youtube demo of it. Think I'll pop for one, and hope I get a working one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SlWC733F7Q


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Well, it has been an interesting week. 
We have had a big storm travel through New Zealand. 
Wellington City, where I live, is known as the windy city, like Chicago, but 200kph (125mph) winds and swells of 5m (16ft) in the harbour made life a bit exciting. 
A few roofs blown off, windows blown in, 30,000 houses without power, some flooding, some railway track washed away around the harbour, and even one of our large vehicle and rail ferries was torn from the wharf. 
Nothing compared to the twisters in the US, but it was our strongest recorded wind since 1968. Lots of dead umbrellas in rubbish bins (AKA trash cans) around the CBD. Ski fields down south were pleased to get the snow, ready for the season opening, but one field had so much snow that it buried the ski lifts. 

Gareee, I will be interested to hear how the water projector works out. 
I am pretty sure that there is no water in it. The lid on the top has a ripple texture and that coupled with a motorized moving ripple filter at the bottom of the pot causes the effect. Even if it goes faulty, it should be an easy fix as it is just a motor and LEDs.


On the Mansion, I made cardboard light barriers for the individual windows that I am lighting and glued them in. Cardboard can block more light than unpainted styrene, but the cardboard still glows somewhat, so this will provide very low light levels to the other windows. It will look like the room lights are off but the door is open so some light is getting in.

I soldered my surface mount LEDs on to their bits of printed circuit board (As described earlier) and cut sections that were long enough so the LEDs fitted into the cardboard area and the PCB stuck out the other side ready for the wires to be soldered on.









The spaghetti is starting to cook..









I drilled out the chimney and mounted the light sensor into it ready to be connected to the micro controller.
I found some nice trees for either side of the porch from my local hobby shop.

Now I have to switch from model making to computer geek programming of a micro controller to switch the lights on and off. Once that is done and constructed, I can terminate the spaghetti of wires and screw the mansion down to the base. 

I will be screwing the mansions styrene base to my MDF base and then, rather than gluing the house to it, I will screw it in from under the MDF. I have already drilled screw holes and glued styrene blocks to the interior walls of the house to accept the screws. 
If I take the trouble of doing this I will never have to open everything up, but if I don’t do it Murphy’s Law says that something will go wrong.

And then, lay the grass and plant the trees.

Alien


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## Dirt (Dec 29, 1998)

Smoke coming from the chimney? 

This stuff is so far over my head. It's a good thing for you that you live in New Zealand, I'd be over bothering you constantly... So cool!!! :thumbsup:

My best,
Ernie
MunsterKoach.com


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

Dirt said:


> Smoke coming from the chimney?


http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/ari/ari29311.htm

I would use something like this......


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

No, I am not going to do a smokey chimney. 
Won't go down too well with the wife. 

The chimney just has a light dependent resistor (LDR) stuck in it. This reacts to light levels and it will signal the micro controller to start turning on the Mansions LEDs when the surroundings get dark, and turn them off when they lighten up.










The chimney seems to be an ideal place to secret the LDR so it is not obvious to someone looking at the model. And pointing to the sky makes it an ideal place to pick up the ambient light level and it will not be affected by the Mansions LEDs turning on. 

Alien


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

A bit more progress, but not technically on the modeling front.

I have built up a small circuit using a PIC-AXE micro controller and a transistor array chip that will switch the LEDs.
The chip I am using has eight outputs so they will be connected to independently control the LEDs as follows:

Green LEDs to light up the front trees.
The french doors on Marilyns Balcony.
The ground floor window below Marilyns balcony.
The porch light, as well as the windows by the door and the window above the porch.
The french doors on top of the tower
The main three windows on the tower.
The TV room. (Under the mansard roof)
A baby blue LED to simulate a TV, also in the TV room.

The PIC-AXE will turn on the porch light, and then the garden lights, as it gets dark. Then, the other room lights will randomly turn on and off to create a bit of interest.
I have programmed the PIC-AXE to flicker a baby blue LED, shooting towards the windows in the front, to simulate the flickering of a TV in the TV room.

It took a bit of time and research to make the LED flicker like a real TV. I spent a bit of time outside my house, peering through the window at the flickering of the TV inside. 










So now the mansion foundation is screwed to my MDF base. The trees are glued in and I have given the base a coat of tan paint ready for the lawn to be glued down on top.
(The tree at the bottom of the picture will have foliage added to it.)

The wiring to the DC socket in the base, as well as the garden lights, have been soldered on to the circuit board and all appears to be working. Phew!:thumbsup:

Grass tomorrow..

Alien


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## Y3a (Jan 18, 2001)

Are you using the model on a model railroad? I have both the "Psyco House" and the Addams Family house as well as a background Martian War machine and Flying saucer hovering, to see if anybody notices them on an otherwise dead serious Norfolk & Western in the 1930's model railroad.

Good Luck to the Kiwi's in the Americas Cup Yacht races!


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Hi Y3a,

No, I am not putting the Mansion on a Model Railroad, just on its own stand alone base. I could almost start a model railroad... I too have the Psycho house and Adams Family house (Both on my build list!) in my stash and I have also scratch built 1164 Morning Glory Circle (Home of Darren and Samantha Stevens in Bewitched) and, awaiting a complex paint job, Carl's house from Disney/Pixar's Up.
I am also about to start scratch building the shop (Bell Book and Candle) from the Hallmark series of TV movies "The Good Witch". Its favorite set of movies of a friend (Who is going to visit the real shop when she visits Canada in a couple of months. That's dedication!) It will make a great Christmas gift for her.

I am not surprised that the kits on your model railroad are not "standing out" to visitors. (Martian War machine is a different matter though.) My friend Phil, mentioned earlier in this thread, has the Psycho House on his layout and I think I may have been the only person to spot it. And how many people noticed the Munster Mansion down Wisteria Lane on Desperate Housewives?

And Team NZ won the first race in the Americas Cup series today. Yeah!
Sadly they raced against themselves as Luna Rossa didn't front up as they were protesting the rule changes. But the boat did look pretty impressive on San Fran harbor. 


I am gluing grass around the Mansion so it is starting to look more real. 
I will post pictures soon.
And let me share an appropriate 'grass' joke from a friends daughter.
*Question:* What did Dora the Explorer say when she fell over on the lawn?
*Answer:* "Grassy Ass" 

I thought that it was quite clever..

Alien


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Alien said:


> ...And how many people noticed the Munster Mansion down Wisteria Lane on Desperate Housewives?


To be fair, Universal _did_ remodel the Munsters' facade for _Desperate Housewives_ to such a degree that it bears little resemblance to it's former glory; only us hardcore lunatics would recognize it now.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

I do agree Zombie.
But.... My wife and I had had a photo taken on the lawn in front of the remodeled Mansion on a Universal Studios tour, and she then completely failed to notice it as she was glued to Desperate Housewives. 

And she complains when I can't see things that are right in front of me. 

Alien


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Well guys, we are on the sprint to the finish.
I can't believe that I have almost actually finished a build. I normally get a bit bored and put models aside for weeks, months, years. 
I think documenting the build on Hobbytalk has helped me get to this point, plus all your good feedback and suggestions. Thanks. :thumbsup:

Woodland Scenics and PVA glue to the rescue, the grass and weeds have been layed down.

I have finished programming my micro controller and plugged all the light leaks around the mansion.
I also doubled the resistance of the dropping resistors for the LEDs. They were just too darn bright otherwise.

I also added a micro switch and drilled a small hole in the back wall so it can be actuated by poking a thin wire through. (You can't see it in the photo as it is under the circuit board.) My program in the micro controller will turn all the LEDs on for a few seconds when the switch is pressed. This is just for photographic purposes so I can take a photo with all lights on.

Here is a photo of the completed base with the 'hood up working on the engine'.









You can see my cardboard room boxes to block the light.

Now just some final testing, screw the mansion down to its foundations, and glue the last two roof pieces on and it's done.

I will take some photos of it completed, as well as it lit up in the dark.

Such fun..
Alien


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## Dirt (Dec 29, 1998)

_*Incredible!*_

My best,
Ernie
MunsterKoach.com


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Well guys, I am finally done with the Mansion.

All I am planning to add is a Universal Studios Tour Tram on the road out front.
That will happen when I find a suitable donor vehicle that I can pick up cheaply. (As I will only end up using the chassis, wheels and maybe the front seats and dash, I don't want to pay a lot of bucks for it.)
At the same time I think I may dig a hole and add a coffin.

So here come the photos....









An overall view of the mansion on its base.









More of a street level view.









A film crew has already turned up to take advantage of the mansion.









And here it is at night will all lights blazing. The lights do wash out the camera so the window inserts are not visible. (But they are there. You have to be there in person.)
You can see the blue tinge of the 'TV' in the top right window which flickers.


Phew, I thought that it was going to be a quick build but not so. However I am really happy at how it has turned out.

Thanks again for all your support, comments and suggestions.
Munster Mansion ticked off the build list.:wave:

Alien


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## Dirt (Dec 29, 1998)

*Awesome!!!

*
My best,
Ernie
MunsterKoach.com


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

That is beautiful! I love how you did the base too, very clean looking. The light sensor in the chimney is a great idea, I'll have to remember that one.


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

Sweet!


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## nana4life (Mar 16, 2014)

You have done an amazing job on this house, I also have this model and it is waiting for me to start it, I am new at this and you have given me some great ideas. When I saw this post I got really excited and told my husband wow look at his house now I can not wait to start mine.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Thanks for your very kind comments.

Good luck on your build. Do post some photos as you progress with it.

I may actually have to start on another version of the mansion. The wife would like me to kitbash one to look more like the more current pristine house at Universal Studios. I will probably model it as it looked pre-Desperate Housewives as it has now changed quite dramatically and looks very different and almost unrecognizable. 
I will have to build a big front porch, change some widows and other features, and paint it gray and white. The aim is to have it lit up for a Christmas display at the end of the year. (Or so I am told  )

Alien


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## BobbysMonsterModels (Mar 8, 2014)

Hey all,

Been checking out this thread. Lots of great modeling tips here! For whatever reason, as excited as I was about this model being released, and although it's a great job by Moebius, I think I'm going to pass on it. I am a big fan of the Aurora Addams Family House (which I built), and I am also a huge fan of the Bates Mansion, which I bought years ago when it came out (but have yet to build). I cannot pinpoint what it is about this Munsters Mansion model, but it lacks the "creepy" factor of the other two aforementioned houses, and I wish I could say exactly why that is for me. I have seen some great builds of the Bates Mansion around the net, but I have yet to see one of this house that captures the "spookiness" of the actual house on the show…and not that anyone's skills are lacking at all, it's just not a scary looking house to me, and I wish it was because I really wanted to like this model alot.

That being said, I am a huge fan of creepy old gothic mansions. Aside from building models, I am a technical illustrator of 30 years by profession. This past winter, I had my gall bladder removed (it died), and as I was recuperating, I had the itch to draw a gothic mansion. So I went surfing on Google and looking for the coolest gothic mansion with the most detail that I could find….so I wanted to share this with you all.

This house is in Eureka, California, and is probably the most famous gothic mansion in the USA. It's called the Carson Mansion. Oddly enough, as I was preparing for this drawing, I found out that one of my niece's, who lives in CA, did stained glass restoration on it. She put me in touch with her professor who sent me scads of pics from all different angles. My goal was to draw a front-on, architectural elevation view which was an incredible challenge since I had no blueprints to work from. I spent over 6 weeks working intensely on this drawing. I drew it in Adobe Illustrator, and what you are seeing is a very small .jpg file of my original. This drawing is over 60" tall and it's incredibly detailed. One day I am going to have it printed and framed.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Wow! That house is is very cool. That is one stunning drawing. :thumbsup:

I just had a bit of a Google to find photos of the real thing. Very impressive.
I don't really think that it looks that creepy however. Beautiful paint jobs tend to take away the creepy factor. But that's just me!

Eureka seems to be a quite a small town to have a building of that stature. 

But I must say, I do agree with you that the Munster Mansion doesn't look all that creepy to me either. (Unless its properly lit up ready for filming. )
I just really like the look of it. Always have! I reckon it is because of all its different roof lines, balconies and the tower.

Six weeks to do the CAD drawings.. 
If you are ever going to attempt to build it, you had better start collecting styrene now. And maybe buy a lathe to turn up all the round detail pieces.

Having built a few model houses from scratch I would run away from that build.

Thanks for sharing your work.

Alien


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## BobbysMonsterModels (Mar 8, 2014)

Alien said:


> Beautiful paint jobs tend to take away the creepy factor. But that's just me!


You're right, and that's probably part of what ruins the Munster house for me…seeing it in color. We only saw it as black and white on TV, so I'm thinking maybe a B/W version of this house is what might "up the creepy factor" quotient. The Carson Mansion isn't "totally" spooky, but it's sheer size, and it's towering structure are "foreboding". P.S. - My drawing wasn't a CAD drawing in 3D….this was drawn in 2D in Adobe Illustrator. OMG, I cannot imagine drawing this in 3D, in full detail. It would have taken months. And no, I'm a horrible sculptor, so this would never transpire into a model for me either.


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## BobbysMonsterModels (Mar 8, 2014)

This is another creepy house I drew back in 1985. This one was drawn in pencil, and this house was not too far from where I lived in Maryland. It was once lived in by Jefferson Davis (a general in the Civil War). Unfortunately, it burned down back in the late 1980's. It's name was Ravenhurst. Now there's a creepy name…..


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