Westlake Publishing Forums

Well mottled! 

Excellent little detail!

Thanks guys! Nice one Dallas!



Started another detail item. I originally planned on using dry transfer lettering, but after some tests I realized it wasn't going to give me the look I wanted. After doing some research, I found the signs I liked the best were in a bold font, and often hand painted. I found a nice example on an online auction site.  It was from a Route 66 motel, and included size info along with a nice straight on view.

When Marc Reusser did his old Ford pick-up, he used a mask from Miracle Paint Masks for the door lettering. I found contact info on Facebook, then I cleaned up the front view of the sign I had found and sent it to Mal for a quote.  Within ten days I had a set of masks in hand, and Mal had perfectly captured the somewhat uneven handpainted lettering.

After 4 tries (Mal sent extra masks thankfully) I finally managed to airbrush a successful sign front. Nothing to do with the masks, just my rusty painting skills.

I have no idea what to use for neon tubing; I may just model it in a broken-off condition.

I can't wait to see how this detail turns out. -- Russ

Chuck,

good to see some progress! The hose rack is same as ever. Simply outstanding.

Quote from: Chuck Doan on September 08, 2014, 10:10:31 PM
I have no idea what to use for neon tubing; I may just model it in a broken-off condition.

Maybe you could use clear acrylic tubing and sand blast it after shaping?

Volker

Chuck one thought for the neon tubing is to make it out of clear plastic (how you get there could be an adventure in itself...3 D printed? heat formed out of clear rod? a cast in clear resin from a wire master-mould?) then painted in a translucent white/grey, and then with a heavy clear coat over that. Just a thought.
Narayan

I'm thinking annealed brass rod painted white

Oh, this will be interesting!

All my experience with modeling neon lights is in 1/87 which allows from a lot of shortcuts. I have built everything out of styrene rod, but your larger scale would not allow that. I would think that some solder would have the right strength while having enough strength.

I have rarely seen neon lights that would require a clear rod. White with a high gloss glaze should do the job.

I am super stoked for the next episode of the Chuck Doan Show!

You might see the clear tubing in older neon signage, though. Plain neon in a clear tube glows bright red, and glows blue with mercury vapor added. Other colors require special coatings inside the tube, which give it the whitish look. Nowadays, the coated tubes don't cost much more than uncoated, but years ago, sticking with red and blue kept costs down. Which is why red and blue are the most commonly seen colors in neon signs.

Where else but here would I have learned anything as interesting as that? -- Russ

To me brass rod would be by far the easiest material to use for this Chuck.  Time to break your soldering iron out!

Jim

At least an abandoned building would have non-working neon signs, so have you had a look here?

http://www.microstru.com/Billboards.html

Thanks for all the info and good ideas! I am still figuring out what to do with the neon tubing, but I do know it won't be working (whew).

I have made some tiny progress:

I weathered the face of my office sign and finished the "can" (sign cabinet or housing) and the brackets that hold the neon tube mounts. The can was usually galvanized, and took a long while to rust. The 2 round ceramic insulators were 3D printed. The tube brackets were made from .03 diameter brass tubing and .003 thick Mylar sheet for the mounting tabs.

Can fabricated with Evergreen black styrene.
Primed with Mr. Surfacer.
Airbrushed with Polly-S paint over hairspray (using the mask seen previously).
Chipped and then weathered with oil paints, gouache, and pigment powders applied with toothpicks, cosmetic sponges, fine brushes, cats nose (once by accident) and artists stumps.

The rear flange has some paint slop added from the painted siding it will be mounted to. I did some house painting while in school and I knew how to cut in edges. So while its prototypical, sloppy painting is a painful detail for me to add. Sign is shown attached to cardboard with double stick tape for easy handling.



I have been enjoying learning something about neon sign construction. Huge props to the tube benders-that is a real art!

Beautiful!

I'll have to try using a cat's nose on my next model.   

Very nice Chuck. Thanks for the update.

Gordon Birrell