Schleich 42028 Red Barn Restoration Project

[Saarlooswolfhound]

I originally posted this project on STS years ago, but I just completed a small step of it so I thought I would post it all here too.

And just a quick recap of what this silly toy barn means to me: As a child who grew up with Schleich toys, I most often played with the farm themed figures and lived out my dream of a homesteading lifestyle. As I grew up, I got more interested in wildlife models, but even to this day, my farm collection is still a big part of my hobby. I have slowly picked up items so that someday I can have dioramas and scenery photos similar to some other member's here. And with my family background in agriculture and dairy farming there is something nostalgic for me about a life zi have never lived, but what my grandparent's did in Southeastern Idaho and Northwestern Utah.

Anyhow, as a young(er) adult, I got the opportunity to buy a barn set. This originally sold at retail somewhere between 150$ and 200$ USD if I remember right, so this particular item was always out of the question when it was being sold on retail markets. When I was about 19 or 20 I found it in a garage sale being sold by a young girl who was getting older and wanting to make some cash for newer hobbies. I don't remember exactly what I paid, but it was only something 20$ and still had the majority of its parts.

The condition was not exactly... ideal. The main frame of the barn was untouched but the roof (intended to be left as bare pine wood) had been caked in a mixture of bright teal acrylic paint and some nail polish of the same color. It was a beast to get off! It took HOURS of sanding! Eventually, I got most of it off and restained it in an effort to preserve the wood and make the small bits of teal less visible in the support section areas.

Here are my photos from when the roof/hay loft was done.






The loft


And my mini play session The grass is a bit long but you get the idea (nearly all of these were the toys I played this game with so long ago... it actually felt good to relive those days).












A popsicle stick "stall/shed" I made many years ago :lol:




My pony's name was Banana.












Suprise!






97% of all the other pieces were there; the stall dividers, the doors and latches, the window inserts- but the hay hook and one of the corner braces were missing. I have yet to devise a replacement hay hook, but the corner piece was a small project that I finally got complete!





Anyhow, without further delay, I did get to play with my old friends for a little while again. I had a small photo session with the barn while it was out of storage. The pictures aren't great- they were done inside in this insane heat wave we are having, and in the evening after work, but I think I did alright considering the conditions.












Now, I to see if I can engineer the hay hook piece and decide if I want to embellish the building in any way to make it look more realistic or leave it as a 90% original Schleich set...

[EpicRaptorMan]

Looks like you need some goats to eat down some of that excessively tall grass!! Them geese can barely see in front of them

[Saarlooswolfhound]

Ha, yes I did (the grass photos are from a few years ago). The goats in the photos weren't doing their job!

[bmathison1972]

I have thought about getting a Schleich barn-type set up for my dioramas when livestock come up. I have that flat/board barn I use in backgrounds, but I have thought about getting something more '3D'. I might stick with what I have, though, so as not to distract from the animal itself.

[Saarlooswolfhound]

If you ever did, I would go with the style of play set that cuts the building in half. The main issue I had with photographs on this one is that it is a roof accessible style, so taking "indoor" images was a bit tricky (especially since in some angles I couldn't see my phone screen to frame the pic). If you got a side access/bisected style it would be much easier to use both the outside and inside for whatever photos you like. But that's just my thoughts on it...