Westlake Publishing Forums

Your execution is perfect, as usual. What I love the most is that slight crack in the door. It's fantastic - super creepy! I don't think I would go in there.

Christian

Thanks very much! Volker, I had to sand the surfaces of the parts to get rid of the layering. I try different orientations of the same part in an order, and sometimes one will be smoother than the other. But there is always some final cleanup.

Excellent.
The weathering of the handrail is spot on, especially the illusion of heavier rusting of exposed threads at the EL.
Great tip regarding McMaster.

When I see what you're doing, it comes to me to ... throw away whatever I'm doing. On second thought, I have to try, and try till the end.
Absolutely speechless for such awesome work!

Thanks Geoff and Alex!

I wanted to have threads on the ends of my pipe railing (those of you with lathes may wish to look away at this point).
I knew a standard 2mm thread die would be too coarse, so I came up with a way to tap my threads. I super-glued a 00-90 tap into the vee groove of a vice I have. Then I glued a piece of styrene angle stock in the opposite groove as a non-marking cushion.



Then I put the aluminum tubing in a small chuck and slowly clamped the end of the tubing in the vice while turning it with my hand. I used a bit of grease to help the process. The pressure against the tap cut perfect threads. I would have needed a tap with about 200 threads per inch to be the most accurate, but the 90 thread per inch tap is all I had. Worked out pretty OK I think.






Gave me just a hint of threads.

That close up is just... sublime. Great stuff!

Chuck-

I love it. I know its been said before but if you didn't know better it could be mistaken for a full scale photo.

Would you be willing to map out what you did for the finish on the railing? Ive been wondering how to get a nice galvanized look for something I'm cooking up as well.

Thanks

-Michael

Thanks Ray and Michael!

The galvy finish on the pipes is mostly done by dipping the aluminum into the etchant. You just have to be careful not to leave it in too long or else it will start texturing. The 3D parts were sprayed with Model Master Aggressor Grey, and then touched up with a thinned mix of white and black (to grey) gouache to match the aluminum color. The final step is to use a cosmetic sponge to duft on a mix of grey, white and black pigment powders, and then spritz the object from a distance with short bursts of Dullcote. This gives a subtle mottling effect that looks pretty good to me. Sometime I have to repeat a couple of time to get something I like, but it doesn't seem to build up. Of course you can't do a final seal coat so it isn't suitable for handled surfaces. This mottling also works for rusty surfaces albeit with different colors.

Outrageously convincing Chuck.

Thanks Chester!

Since my gas pump will be in Sinclair livery, I thought it would be nice to have some kind of matching sign. Sinclair gas was sold by many roadside stores and garages, and it was common to see a Sinclair credit card sign hanging nearby. I did some internet searching and found pictures and size info for a late 30's through 1940's example.  The largest picture I found was an off angle shot, so I had to skew and transform the image in Photoshop Elements so it was flat and rectangular.

I found several weathered examples of this sign on auction sites, E-bay and Oldgas.com.  Although it can be easy to find this kind of thing on the net, it is not always clear as to why a sign got into the condition it is in. Is it an example of a sign that hung in one place for 40 plus years? Or did it come from the rafters of a barn under a leaky roof, or was it laying face down in dirt for many years? Or was it cleaned by someone or poorly restored? Or worse, is it one of the many fake weathered signs being made in India and Pakistan and sold online as "original" (many examples are just awful).

I based my weathering on a variety of examples, thus creating an interpretive version (What kind of painter are you? I got Neo-realist!).  I cleaned up the colors and added some chips in PSE. I would prefer to have some better depth to the chips, but the decal film I use is too rubbery to cut the chips out. Then I pasted several scaled copies on Word, and printed them on Testors white (rubber)decal paper. I cut the sign out of .010 styrene sheet making it about .01 larger than the decal. This is so I wouldn't have a vulnerable edge to catch on when handling it. I applied the decals to each side and Dullcoted them and used gouache and pigment powders to add rust haze and streaks. Tools used were cosmetic sponges, a fine brush and a sharp toothpick, with lots of back and forth, adding and taking back.

Many official Sinclair stations hung this sign using a cast iron bracket with a cartoonish dinosaur as the upper support. But most rural dealers used a more modest hanger. I made one using .015 x .06 brass strip. I formed the curls using tapered round nose pliers. I made a mark on the plier tips so I would use the same diameter each time for a consistent size. I drilled holes for the hardware and then soldered (!) the pieces together and treated the assembly with Blacken-it. Grandt line lift rings and NBW castings finished it off (attached with epoxy).
Then a coat of Floquil Roof Brown was brushed on and then hairspray, Dullcote and Polly Scale Engine black. Chipped with a brush and then rusted with gouache, pigment powders and a Dullcote spritz.

The sign was attached with a couple of large chain links I had. I used thinned white glue on the joints to keep it from dangling loosely. Many words for a tiny detail!

 

   

 

 

 



 
  Wreckage of failed attempts (brass is a great heat conductor don'tcha know!)

Hmm ... think I like the failed attempts the best ... somehow identify with those! 

In addition to looking great (for a messed up old sign), that new detail adds a nice little punch of color ... and just plain looks good right war 'tis. 

Cheers,
Dallas

Looks great, Chuck! I like the wrought iron bracket.

Thanks for info, only trouble is that even if most of us followed it to the letter we would not get close to what you achieve.



Now, about that bracket ..............

How the heck is anybody supposed to know those outdoor photos are of a MODEL?

Satisfactory.

Russ

excellent!
Nice to see some of you playing with brass and solder - even if you are getting "boo-boos"
All part of the fun!
Great tutorial! THANKS!

-Mj