# On the home stretch



## J-A-X (Aug 15, 2011)

Hi Guys & Gals,
As you know i've been working on a beast of an enclosure. and its been a loooong time that i've been working on this, It was originally due to be completed during the xmas 2010 holidays, but a knee reconstruction and then complications put a stop to that plan, and then i've had another one since (a clean out and thankfully not as major) so my motivation was running a little low with the stop/ start of this one.

I still have a few finishing touches to do, the doors are waiting for glass, I will be sealing it tomorrow night, and putting a vine in there, but heres the readers digest version of the mammoth amount of pics i took as i went, 

take one fugly garage sale home made extra large TV Cabinet - the door opening is 108cm (42" for the old school folk) with a reaaaly bad eggshell coloured whitewash
strip it out, 
sand it down and make it a little deeper.
and give it a coat of stain.

these attachments aren't going to flow the way i want them too, so i'll just add the pics in sequence, i'm sure you dont need the commentary


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## Kelly86 (Aug 15, 2011)

wow


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## cypptrkk90 (Aug 15, 2011)

that looks really good, what are you planning on keeping in it?


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## alrightknight (Aug 15, 2011)

:O perty. I wish I could make paper mache let alone cut and style foam and render/paint it.


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## Treg92 (Aug 15, 2011)

Hey jax

as i said, IT LOOKS TOTALLY SICK!!!!!! anyway, amazing work, love what you are doing, cant wait for the next one (jumping the gun i know, but hey, you have to have something to look forward to)


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## mad_at_arms (Aug 15, 2011)

*collects remains of brain matter off the shed floor*


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## J-A-X (Aug 15, 2011)

Thanks guys, its one very spoilt Darwin going in there, and if you think this one looks 'purdy' you should see the original paint job it had, Treg can testify that it was colourful, he actually had a sneak peak  

I'll post a couple of other pics during the week as well as the final shot with occupant, including a pic of the 1st paint job too.
And here's a top tip. Put your lights in before you paint, and paint with the light on ! The difference to the naked eye between being lit with halogen work lights and fluoro is amazing

And yes the next one is all planned out. But I have one really quick small one to do first !



mad_at_arms said:


> *collects remains of brain matter off the shed floor*


 
I'll take that as a compliment shall I !! ROFL


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## Treg92 (Aug 15, 2011)

Jaxrtfm said:


> Thanks guys, its one very spoilt Darwin going in there, and if you think this one looks 'purdy' you should see the original paint job it had, Treg can testify that it was colourful, he actually had a sneak peak



i felt very privileged


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## shea_and_ruby (Aug 15, 2011)

wow thats fantastic jax!


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## J-A-X (Aug 15, 2011)

And yes, the tube of liquid nails in the 2nd to last pic was deliberate, so there was a size reference



alrightknight said:


> :O perty. I wish I could make paper mache let alone cut and style foam and render/paint it.


 
Give it a go, it's only because I'm a perfectionist with borderline OCD that it took me so long


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## Trouble (Aug 15, 2011)

:shock: wow!! ... just ... wow!! Bloody awesome, Jax. well done! That'll be a very spoilt Darwin! 
Great work  I hope everything is well with you now, too


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## J-A-X (Aug 15, 2011)

Thanks and yes the knee is 95% there too ...


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## Sofoula88 (Aug 16, 2011)

Jeez no wonder it took so long.. Lol.. Well it's def paid off all the hard work,you can see it in the detail..looks great!


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## J-A-X (Aug 16, 2011)

It would have only been a couple of months if it werent for the knee issues, I was on strong blood thinners (tablets and injections) due to a Deep vein thrombosis so I was banned from the shed by the medicos (and my long suffering other half LOL) and it dragged it out to over 8 months 

fingers crossed all the medical issues are ending and it will be full steam ahead in the shed - C'mon daylight saving


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## Jeannine (Aug 16, 2011)

*THAT is stunning, well done and grats on it

arent DVT's great fun, nothing like those daily injections, did u have the clots just in the legs or did they move to your lungs? what thinners are you on now? im on Warfarin 
*


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## J-A-X (Aug 16, 2011)

dvt behind the knee and a clot in my calf. and thankfully they stayed put. the pain from them was far worse than the reconstruction pain.(grafted ACL, cartlidge damage and bone chipping !)they had me on 8mg warfarin and 1 x 100ml jab a day after they discovered the DVT & after the clean out op it was 2 x 20ml jabs a day, lets just say it wasnt fun self injecting..... insulin needles look so much more pleasant to use (my other half is diabetic) i was on the tablets for just over 3 mths, and combined with the needles it gave a whole new meaning to the phrase 'bled like a stuck pig' the slightest cut took ages to stop, even papercuts bled, and dont even think about the bruising LOL. then there was the 'dont stand, sit, lie down' in the same place for longer than 10minutes ~

all of this was why i was banned from the shed, although i did sneak out there occasionally and do an extra layer of render, or a bit of drybrushing every now and then. but i'm glad my patience has paid off, with both the enclosure and my recovery, now i just need to be careful for the next few months that i dont twist or trip and pop my ACL again and i'll be good as gold.
Thanks for all the positive comments guys, I really appreciate it. now the guessing games start as to what my 'OMG' tank is going to be. but i've got a little one to do first


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## Jeannine (Aug 18, 2011)

*wow but naughty for sneaking out *:lol:

*now see everyone i speak to who has had clots talks about the pain but i never had any, even the dr's keep asking me if my leg hurt or my chest but nope nothing. i thought i had asthma for weeks before the leg swelled up but seems it was the clots in the lungs causing my breathing problems and if it wasnt for the leg swelling we would never have known about them, im on warfarin for life now

did the injections myself for 2 weeks as i am using insulin so they said if i can do them i can do these injections too *:lol: *regular INR levels for almost a year and a pressure stocking which was blah in summer trying to get that on i can tell you and walking around with one white stocking on resulted in a lot of nasty comments from teenagers especially girls *:evil: *needless to say in sick of bloody needles

but im so glad to hear everythings ok with you now, clots are scary bloody things to go thru, keep safe and look after yourself

wish we could do something like what i see posted in these forums but neither of us is 'healthy' enough nor do we have the equipment, have had a 'mans shed' open up at one of the nursing homes here for the male patients to have a place to go potter around in etc very tempted to ask if they would like a little 'project' to keep themselves busy for a while if i provide the stuff they need, fingers crossed *


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## mad_at_arms (Aug 18, 2011)

My Mum is on warfarin after a operation to remove varicose veins left her with clots on the lung. 
It keeps her alive but at the same time a little bump or bruise could kill her because of it.
Warfarin its a hell of a drug.

As for the OMG enclosure heres my guess:-
A scale replica of a spanish galleon shipwrecked on a tropical beach.


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## J-A-X (Aug 18, 2011)

Glad I'm off the stuff, I can get back to normal now. 
No, no Spanish galleons but I'll store the suggestion.

It will be for Darwin #2 (of 5) and I've already hinted it contains "stone" and no, no more ruins


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## melluvssnakes (Aug 18, 2011)

I hate you. Yep, pretty sure I do. Where are your vents?


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## J-A-X (Aug 18, 2011)

And I love you too mel. The venting is there, just very cleverly hidden


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## melluvssnakes (Aug 19, 2011)

In the fireplace?


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## J-A-X (Aug 19, 2011)

Fireplace ??!! I didnt know ruins had fireplaces  I'll take some more 'up close' pics over the weekend, it looks like we should have some good weather for a change.


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## feathergrass (Aug 19, 2011)

awesome job!! there are some talented people out there *sigh* god luck with the health and my guess for the OMG tank would be a stonhenge tank ( although i always think of stonehenge when i look at any tank lol


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## J-A-X (Aug 19, 2011)

Nope, no Stonehenge  you'll have to give it a go one day, it's fun ..... In a frustrating way. And the health is almost back to 'normal' whatever that is LOL


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## AirCooled (Aug 19, 2011)

Absolutely top class DIY,might need action figure like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft.


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## J-A-X (Aug 19, 2011)

Thanks, Don't laugh but I did actually think about a 'tomb raider' theme, I was seriously hooked on the game at one point  and no, it's not the next theme!


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## maddog-1979 (Sep 6, 2011)

top job mate, if i had an enclosure like that i would be inventing diapers for snakes,lol....too purdy to crap on haha


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## J-A-X (Sep 6, 2011)

ROFL, It won't be as bad to clean as it looks, the ferns are plastic and all horizontal surfaces (shelves) are flat and have a lot of layers of pond sealer to make cleaning as easy as a wipe over. The vertical surfaces have a pool tile sealer to stop urine soakage (and it's matte finish as a bonus.) All the little nooks and crannies in the tree trunk have also been well filled with pondtite. 

It not a small enclosure and I can easily sit in it width ways and stretch my legs out straight without the hides in there, (im 167cm tall) so the " small fiddly bits" are not as small or fiddly as they may look.


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## mudgudgeon (Sep 9, 2011)

Looks cool! you have obviously put a stack of work into that. Not my style, but I think it looks great anyway, very creative.
I like the shape of the cabinet, I am thinking of using the same shape for a new EWD enclosure, but with glass at the sides and sliding glass on the front.

what are the dimensions, roughly, height and width, and width across the doors? Do the doors give good access to all of it for cleaning etc


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## J-A-X (Sep 9, 2011)

Ta, it was actually fun to do -most of the time- The door opening is 108cm, I haven't bother measuring anything else apart from the depth, (it will fit through a standard door) I'll try and remember to grab other measurements this weekend


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## Virides (Sep 9, 2011)

This is the enclosure those handles are going on? Certainly has been a while


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## mad_at_arms (Sep 10, 2011)

Where you been Jax? 
working on that secret enclosure??




???????


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## J-A-X (Sep 10, 2011)

LOL, I have a small one to do first then I'll start secret squirreling


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