So in my never-ending quest to have something to build and work on at all times, I'm now "building" a letters to Santa mailbox. I first got this idea a long time ago when building a Christmas village, and I purchased this mailbox:


I had thought that it would be fun to build a life sized version for a Christmas display, although that idea was quickly crushed by the fact that A. The post office refuses to sell their old blue street boxes and anyone caught with one gets to meet the friendly postal police, and B. The consumer version of the same mailbox runs around $900.

However about a month ago I found a used consumer version on Craigslist for a couple hundred bucks:





Making progress stripping the paint. Unfortunately this thing had two layers of primer, automotive grade paint, and vinyl decals:



After fighting with it for longer than I should have I dropped it off at a sandblaster who blasted it and then primed it for me.


And here it is as of today, with the first coat of while paint along the edge rails. Once the white is done the rest of the body will be a deep red color.



The front and rear will have decals that say "Letters to Santa" and the sides will have these decals to mimic the actual USPS decals:

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ryan81986,

Nice, what’s the eventual destination? I could see it as part of a store or small town display.

Eventually it'll be at the end of my driveway which is on a main road. Although I'm going to see if I can lend it out to the town for their holiday festivities. I may actually do a return letter program with it as well, where if the parents provide a return address they can get a letter back.

One thing I need to figure out is how to avoid the paint getting beat up from transporting it around. Maybe some sort of high strength clear coat.

I suggest mounting it to some old wood ski's, for appearance, and then using some sort of removable 4 legged wood cage to mount to the ski's.

quote:

Originally posted by ryan81986:
One thing I need to figure out is how to avoid the paint getting beat up from transporting it around. Maybe some sort of high strength clear coat.

Keep an eye on Harbor Freight sales and pick up a couple of "moving quilts", then sew them together to make a form fitting "cozy". Slip it over the top, have someone tilt the top back, push it over and grab the legs.

You might be able to add velcro and a couple of wide bands of the quilt to make straps at the bottom from one side to the other so it does not slip/slide off/out during transport.

Should keep it in good shape for years.

^^ I like the way you think

Local independent toy store near me has an old Us mail box that has Beene painted really nice in red and gold letters somebody did a nice job on it. Kids can drop in letters all month of December

i was hoping to have more done by now but the humidity has been around 100% the last couple days. And from what I've read high humidity and spray paint don't mix.

That is soooo cool!
What a great idea!
Would love to help make a wish come true.
When your mail to santa starts coming in please post some or email so I can try to help.

^^ I think that's what I'm going to do, what SM suggested and sew a couple together. Thank god it doesn't have to look pretty since my sewing skills leave something to be desired.

I put the second coat of white on, of course now I'm away til Thursday so I have to wait to put the coat of red on and bring some life to this thing. The stickers will be delivered by then as well.

Decals have arrived:

I've got a Christmas decoration in process now.

After having no luck in getting a salvage deer crossing sign from the scrap dealer that gets the old county road signs here I found one on Amazon.
30"x 30" regulation size Federal approved reflective material.

Got a 1/4" red LED light also from Amazon. Need to get a small rechargeable 12v. battery from the local battery shop and a compatible turn signal flasher. "Rudolph" is going to have a flashing nose. Mounted on a 4"x 4" mounted in a bucket with cement.

The grandkids are a little young but maybe the oldest one will kind of get the idea......

^ I like it.

I remember there was a period of time where people were putting red dot stickers on the deer crossing signs around here.

First coat of red:

Red is done. Some touching up needs to be done but other than that it should be ready for decals soon.

And.... it's complete. Got the decals on today, and it's pretty much ready to go for the season.

Right on!