My brother and I built the Crossfire enclosure

[wandigo]

We started it about a week ago, and are now at the final stage which will be coming up with some fake rock structures. My brother is smart and did a lot of the work, he's pretty talented with this kind of stuff. Suggestions are welcome as we have all the materials and tools you could ask for. The link to the instructions we used are here: http://www.freewebs.com/crossfireenclosures/

we used some wood instead of melamine for the track pieces

i decided to use a backdrop on the top half and cover the bottom half with a full fake rock structure throughout

back just pops in very VERY snug

heat lamp and uvb lights wired into one cord that comes out the back

added some oak trim that i'm working on adding the last few coats of stain. also the track and plexi-glass are in.

backside look

just started messing around with ideas for the inside

and it helps that my dad owns a company that has a lot of foam :]

So that's where we're at right now. I'm thinking of covering the entire top with reptile carpet for a little playground area. And on the inside i would like to have the back and upper half covered the whole way with a sweet rock structure, and have a cave on each side. Suggestions are welcome! I'll update our progress as it gets finished.

 

[Claudiusx]

Cool! Good job on the whole project.

-Brandon

 

[wandigo]

Cool! Good job on the whole project.

-Brandon

thanks brandon!

my girlfriend and I started working on the fake rock today. Still a long way to go but I think it's gonna look nice!

 

[disturb3d0n3]

Looks great! are you making the entire foam bottom piece removable?

 

[wandigo]

Looks great! are you making the entire foam bottom piece removable?

Thanks! And yeah I figure I'll need to clean it every mow and then so i'm gonna have it velcrowed into the tank.

 

[disturb3d0n3]

That's a cool idea!

 

[wandigo]

That's a cool idea!

ty =]

We finished the design of the fake rock for the interior, plus added the first layer of grout. We had to cut the piece in half so it would fit in without having to remove the plexi-glass doors, but they fit in real snug to each other.

Small piece I made to go in the middle open area

Bottom left is a pile of rocks, just waiting for them to dry more before grouting:

While waiting for stuff to dry I decided to make another structure that I'm going to give as a gift to the lady who sold me my Beardie. She owns a business breeding bearded dragons and always answers any questions I have.

I make quite a mess..

 

[Claudiusx]

That is very nice and thoughtful of you.
I am sure she will appreciate it.

-Brandon

 

[wandigo]

Well I feel like I'm on the home stretch of this lengthy (and quite expensive!) project. I ordered some non-toxic waterproof sealant so while I wait for that to arrive in the mail I decided to lay down some peel-and-stick tile and throw a 5th layer of grout on the pieces.

First I put the pieces in to make sure they still fit. Which they didn't. The grout and tile on the side made it so I had to shave a little bit down off the sides, so I will touch that up later.

The new grout I got was a little whiter in color, still haven't decided what I'm going to do in terms of painting this, I would love some suggestions.

My girlfriend had some fun painting one of the smaller pieces I made

And here's Bruce Lee waiting patiently for his new home

 

[disturb3d0n3]

Looks great! I definitely love the piece your gf painted The color of it is fantastic! perhaps do the other structure the same?

Is the front glass going to always look like that or is there a protective cover over it? It'll be a shame if you can't see into his awesome new tank!

 

[wandigo]

Looks great! I definitely love the piece your gf painted The color of it is fantastic! perhaps do the other structure the same?

Is the front glass going to always look like that or is there a protective cover over it? It'll be a shame if you can't see into his awesome new tank!

Yeah i'm gonna let her go wild and paint the main piece. The glass has protective covering now, I'm waiting until it's all done and in my house before removing it and putting on handles.

 

[wandigo]

Today we used the "poor mans paint gun" and put some color to all the pieces, and we began to put some color work into one of the pieces.

My gf did some mixing of acrylic paints and with a sponge started to add some effect to the left half.

Meanwhile, I decided to take a nap...

 

[wandigo]

Well 4 weeks later and I think we're about done! 5 Layers of grout, 1 layer of textured grout and 7 layers of sealant I think it will work! All that's left is putting handles on the doors which I have stained and drying right now. The inside is all tiled with a small beach in the front left (wishful thinking that I can train him to poop over there so it's easier to clean up).

I think he's happy!

Real proud of this as it's my first custom build of just about anything. Thanks for viewing.

 

[dragonov]

The inside is all tiled with a small beach in the front left (wishful thinking that I can train him to poop over there so it's easier to clean up).

First of all, your viv looks great, good job! About training your dragon to use the sand, my two dragons never poop on the rocks but always go on the sand all by themselves without any training.. :lol: so you might be surprised!

 

[gunkleneil]

Be proud of yourself. You did a great job.