Castle Play Structure: building in the shop

Remember Castle Play Structure? While Barbara and crew were in Southampton last week installing the Long Island Treehouse, the guys were back at the shop in South San Francisco building this large, intricate Castle Play Structure.

The Clubhouse with Big Deck and 9′ long Bridge (left side) were almost finished last week . This week we will build, carve and stain the smaller Princess Tower (right side).

Start of day: Jose and Armando set up the Princess Tower walls that were rough constructed on Friday. This initial “set-up” is to make sure everything fits together perfectly!

Once the “fit” is confirmed, the guys take the panels apart and bring them back out to the grinding dock.
Where Armando carves heart cut-outs and scallop trim around the doors & windows, while Aubrey finishes up grinding the floors smooth.

When the 1st panel is finished, the guys bring it over to the staining bay.

Each panel weighs about 80 lbs so teamwork is required.

One panel carved and ready for staining – 3 more panels to go!
Staining bay is already stuffed with parts from the Clubhouse, deck and bridge.

Rudi starts re-arranging the finished pieces to make room for the Princess Tower panels and parts.

Jose continues to work on the gable roof, getting it ready to move to the staining bay.

Meanwhile, back in the staining bay, Rudi is almost out of color. He’ll take inventory and then start mixing a new batch of color from scratch.’

Ember finishes up the under-belly of the 9′ long bridge. Even the undersides have to look good.

Rudi mixes more color in the Color Works back room.
He starts with hand-mixing the old-fashion way,

Then moves the bucket onto Big Betty (our powerful, electric stain mixer). After mixing is completed, the bucket is weighed on the industrial scale.

Staining bay is definitely getting crowded by the end of day. More pieces are due over tomorrow.

Time to start final detailing soon.