Bilbo's Mailbox - LOTR/The Hobbit

[Qumair84]

After inspiration from N2darkness's thread of the writing desk, I was looking for more small props from Bag End to replicate and settled on the mailbox seen in both trilogies. I thought id start a brand new thread as this was a bit of a departure, but here's my replica of Bilbos Mailbox so far. I dont have the skills nor materials to attempt the fancy wrought iron brackets but I plan on adding those eventually. The form itself was cut from Spanish Cedar I had left over, adjusted some measurements to fit the amount I had, and used an online calculator to figure out the sizes of the staves. The brackets are cut from sheet metal, blued and stained to look weathered, and used upholstery tacks to give the look of old nails. No screws were used in this build, just nails and glue to make it feel a little more authentic.

These pictures were taken before the final coat of stain was applied hence the splotchiness.

Reference image

 

[Jedisushi]

Wow!

 

[N2darkness]

Excellent job! Something I've thought about making as well. Just don't know where to display it.

There is also a bit of extra detail on the bottom of the door as you can see here.

And here is the front gate with the sign. Which is also a fun thing to make.

 

[Qumair84]

Excellent job! Something I've thought about making as well. Just don't know where to display it.

There is also a bit of extra detail on the bottom of the door as you can see here.
View attachment 1773231

And here is the front gate with the sign. Which is also a fun thing to make.

View attachment 1773232
View attachment 1773233

Oh thats actually perfect I hadn't seen a good reference image of that plate on the front, I know it looks like brass though so I was thinking about getting a small sheet to work on. Thank you for that picture! I also have been planning on doing that sign so this is perfect.

 

[kevin926]

Outstanding

I have to make this for my wife

 

[Qumair84]

Haven't gotten around to buying the brass plate yet but it was bugging me that there wasn't those iron brackets to tie everything together, did some problem solving and decided to just carve them out of wood and paint it like metal, old fashioned prop making style.

 

[Qumair84]

Alright this should be my last update as I tried replicating that front brass plate, need to weather it a ton more in order for it to fit in but I'm happy enough with the shape.

 

[awol007]

That's awesome. I might give that a try someday. You nailed it.

 

[Qumair84]

I started working on another Hobbiton mailbox, I don't actually really know specifically where this shows up in the films if at all, but I liked the color scheme so its a sort of mash up between 3 Bagshot Row and this one. I'm making it as a gift so in the future I think I might try and do a more accurate version of Sam's mailbox. This one was also unsurprisingly a lot easier without all the intricate details, so from ripping down the stock to the finished mailbox (minus post) really only took about 2 days. I was also only using paints I had on hand so the yellow isn't exactly what I would have chosen but it got the job done.