Wooden Pallet....first time with real wood

[Mr scratchmod]

Well after browsing the pages here I was most impressed the way you all work and paint wooden structures...so I figured I would try something myself. This pallet is for a project I'm working on and might be a bit out of scale, but the intent was to try doing something with real wood apposed to styrene that I use all the time.

It's not the greatest piece but I did have fun doing it and have learned a thing or two. Any and all comments, tips or suggestions are very much appreciated, and it's the only way I can learn.






Rob

[Mr scratchmod]

I've added a couple of washes using AK Interactive products and took some better close up pics.













Let me know what you think. Should I add more effects or leave it as is.??

[marc_reusser]

Looking at it on my phone, it looks perfect. Really nicely done detailing, broken boards, nails, rust, algae, etc. At first glance my reaction was to say the boards could be "gray-er" overall......but then I noticed the cut.out detail on the underside of the pallet skids...which is a "newer", more modern,  detail/aspect.....so knowing where this is going, this pallet could have been placed there more recently...say within the last year ...and thus not yet have grey-ed so much.  

.......so, I am wishy washy on the more grey....maybe just a slight bit more, as that is what people/viewers "expect" )  see from old abandoned wood pieces.  

M

[Mr scratchmod]

ah, that's what I need to hear. I was thinking more grey too. but it will be dumped in the bed of the you know what...so it's not too old. I went out back behind the shed , after the snow melted, and stared at the pallets I have back there. The color is about spot on and they have been there for a couple of years. Now the picket fence I was checking out has a lot more grey like you suggest. Wasn't sure what to go by, but I'll give it another grey wash with the AK Panzer gray wash mixed to the right color.

Thanks for the input Marc, helps a great deal bro.

Rob

[marc_reusser]

Rob,

We must have cross posted. I didn't see the second set of pics with more wash when I wrote my reply. I think what you've got now looks perfect. Very sweet. Can't wait to read the SBS.....and I guess this pretty much shoots down my thoughts of using a palette to hide some of the plywood in the bed. ...guess I'll have to resort to white plastic buckets and other clutter.


M

[granitechops]

Brilliant, love the slight greening effect, only observation I would make, is there enough clearance for forks to enter for lifting?
I am not saying no pallets were made that shallow, just that I cant visualise forks thin enough to enter, being strong enough to lift
just my personal observation
my pallets dont look half as good as that

[danpickard]

Hi Rob,
I'm not going to complain about that effort.  The splits and graining of this scale timber certainly reminds me of some of the cheaper rough cuts of timber that get used for real pallets.  The bent nails and subtle staining are nicely done.  Like Marc pointed out, this is a more "modern" piece of timber, so too aged and grey would probably look wrong.  As a stand alone piece, its always going to be easier to be more critical of the finish, but start to bury it into a scene to get a better feel for the finish.

Welcome to the forum, and welcome to real wood.  I look forward to more of your postings.

Cheers,
Dan

[Junior]

Welcome to the forum Rob! Excellent work on the pallet. Is this also 1/35 scale? If so I´ll be interested in how you did the nails. Also could you please post a link to your Fotki album.

Anders 

[finescalerr]

Satisfactory. Weathering pallets is subjective. Many use new wood. I'm glad you chose real wood instead of styrene. -- Russ

[mad gerald]

It's not the greatest piece but I did have fun doing it and have learned a thing or two. Any and all comments, tips or suggestions are very much appreciated, and it's the only way I can learn.

Rob,

great job for a first attempt with real wood ...  

... but I in my opinion the ends of the wood strips appear to worn or frayed out, compared to prototypes i. e. this one ... the planks of the prototypes have a thickness of approx. 22mm, so the ends do not wear out that far, but they often crack.

In case you are interested in further information regarding measurements of europool-pallets, I can recommend a link leading to some drawings and showing all dimensions *click* ...

I tried to build a wooden pallet myself not long ago ...

... but mine seems to be brandnew  , a weathered one is in progress/on hold ...

[nk]

I think it looks pretty good. As it is a newer style palet, I would think about adding some residue of an owners stencil to the side supports, just for some extra interest. I think you have just found out how good wood is for modelling wood.

[Mr scratchmod]

I thank you all for the comments, and the welcome.
The pallet is not 1/35. I made it for a 1/25 scale project but the dimensions are not accurate and only guess work. The nails were done using stretched sprue, thanks Marc. The accuracy will come later for the Karl project. I really enjoyed working with real wood apposed to scribed styrene, and the painting was the real fun part of it.
Thanks Mad Gerald for the links and that euro pallet of yours looks great. My pallet  is a US type pallet and not the standard size Euro pallet. I have fond memories of repairing hundreds of Euro Pallets when I worked in Germany. We would use larger non Euro pallets to repair the euro ones that were damaged, back in the 90's a Euro pallet cost around 50DM. Our boss had a thing with Euro pallets. If he saw one on the side of the road, or on a ob site, he'd have us throw it in our trucks and cover it up. He's even stopped on the side of a road to put a damaged Euro pallet in his nice new BMW.
The last place I worked at here in the US, we would receive our shipments on a US style standard pallet all the way up to 7'x11' wooden pallets. I have a couple of different types of pallets behind my shed, don't ask why  and they are different sizes.
Thanks again for the feedback, this is a great place to learn and I've already learned a few things reading these pages.

Cheers
Rob

[Franck Tavernier]

Rob, Nice work on the pallet! Weathering seems to me good enough...Sometimes, you must have to know when to stop shipped, damaged, etc...

Franck

[lab-dad]

Well after studying pallets last year for a long time (I was stuck in a warehouse and had nothing better to do....)
Yours is very well done, I really like the nails. but if I were to nit pick.......
Here is my take on the pallet;
1) unless the damage was done when brand new, the break should be lighter in color/weathering.
2) the area under the missing piece should be lighter.
3)needs cut outs for the forks and three pieces underneath (already mentioned)
4) pallet wood is often pretty poor so i would expect some color/texture variation on the "slats"

-Marty

[Mr scratchmod]

Franck, thank you

Marty, wow thanks for the tips, made a mental note and may go back and touch up some things. The ones I do next will be better now that I have all this input from you guys. I spent over ten years starring at anything rusty, but never really looked at wood the same way. Now I'm looking at everything in a much different perspective than before.
I'll start taking my camera with me when I'm out and about to take pics of basically everything, wood, bricks metal etc.

Thanks again everyone for all the comments, tips and suggestions. Wow this forum is great.

Rob