A few more tiny projects

from Exhaust, by Lewis Collard

I found a Network SouthEast map from about 1991 on eBay. It's neither rare nor expensive, so I foam mounted it. I also clear-coated it with a rattle can of picture varnish to make it UV-proof and wipeable.

A Network SouthEast map, about A2 size, mounted on a foam board and with a shiny finish.

That looked nice enough that I did the same for a tube map from 1992.

A London Underground map, about A4 size, mounted on a foam board and with a shiny finish.

And also for a freight wagon label which I found at the disused Middleton Towers station when I was helping to clear that out.

A small paper label, indicating a sand train destination of York Foss Islands, mounted on a foam board on a wood slat wall.

I modified some outdoor bulkhead lights. They look cool indoors. I needed the cable to exit from the bottom, rather than out the back, because that made it work better with a wood slat wall I installed; the black cable disappears into the black between the slats.

A bulkhead light mounted to a wood slat wall; the cable exits out the bottom and disappears into the gaps between the slats.

I found this thing at the local recycling centre and paid £5 for it.

A two-drawer chest of draws, with one drawer missing. It is made of solid, light-coloured wood.

I got it home and, as most things with either four or five sides are, it was immediately annexed by Gertrude and declared a Cat Box.

Gertrude, a tabby-and-white cat, squeezed into the space left by the missing drawer.

When she got bored with that (this took about twenty minutes) I gave it a clean, a few tiny bits of filler, then a dark stain and an oiling. It looks good enough.

The same small set of drawers, but now with a dark wood stain.

I needed a coat hook rail. I couldn't find any I liked, because they all seem to be Ikea-minimalist these days and I don't like that. So I grabbed a random bit of galvanised steel from a massive collection that my brother rescued from the skip...

A piece of galvanised C-section steel about 2 inches wide and six feet long.

...and if you've read about my expansion tank mount for my rear mount radiator you can probably figure out how the rest goes.

That random piece of steel, but now with curves cut into the sides, returns added to the curves, and with 8 small holes drilled for attaching coat hooks.

As the previous picture, but with four large holes added and dimpled to add strength and to look cool.

I like the colour of Jenolite red primer enough that I primed it and then clear coated straight over it. It looks pretty cool.

The finished rail; as the previous picture, but now painted red, with four heavy-duty black coat hooks added.

All of that and more was in service to a much bigger project consuming nearly two months of every bit of my free time...

The end of my bedroom project; a large double pine bed, random-coloured carpet tiles, a wood slat feature wall, bulkhead lights, and very colourful coverings.

...but that's another story. Now, back to that Rover P5...

Gertrude asleep on her new bed.

Published on 2026-03-18 and filed under Tiny projects