Working name - Frary's Fish Head Fertilizer

[MASIGMON]

Roger,
Very nice build.  I might say it looks better then when Dave Frary/ Bob Hayden built it many years ago!

Mike Sigmon
Jacksonville, FL

[Random]

If I could get my job situation settled I would be able to make the layout/no layout decision.  I'm just not certain how the tracks will approach so I don't want to fix any scenery, even to a diorama. 

Karl - I've been toying with different ideas for signs.  I originally wanted to use a 3 dimensional fish that I found in a craft store.  I'm not sure it will work out thought.  Turns out its rather big.  We will see.

Mike,  Thank you.  That's high praise.  Dave is a modeling giant in my eyes whom I'm not certain I could ever touch.  But I've learned and continue to learn a lot from him via his books and videos.  He makes me wish I had taken more art and less math in school  . 

Thanks to you all.

[Random]

I came up with an idea for a sign.  I decided to try out transferring the image to wood using gloss gel.  This method was in one of the magazines recently and its been mentioned here.  So here is the first test run.  This is on basswood, painted white so that the lettering would be white, and using plain printer paper.  It worked really well although it was VERY easy to damage the image as you remove the paper. 

The sign is 4 cm wide.




I've modified the image with larger lettering that is outlined in black in hopes that it stands out better.  I'm going to do two more tests this evening, one with plain paper and one on photo paper.

[Random]

These signs are really frustrating.   I made two more.  The top is plain paper and the bottom is photo paper.  Both are printed on an inkjet.

The plain paper sign was looking good until I gave it one more rub and the bottom of the sign came off.  The photo paper won't clear up any more. I'm pretty sure all of the backing paper is gone so the surface emulsion must have a white coloration to it.




I'm not sure of my next steps.  I wonder if some kind of fixative applied to the plain paper would make a difference.  I might also try pushing up the color saturation for the photo paper.  Or maybe I'll just use the first sign.

This technique seems to be better suited for making really old, well worn signs.

[deemery]

The top sign looks very well weathered.  What if you put some rus color ib the middle of the sanded-through patch?


dave

[Powersteamguy1790]

Very nicely done on that build Roger.

Stay cool and run steam.........

[Random]

Thanks Bob.

Dave, that sign would be great if I wanted it really weathered.  However, I want the sign to look more appropriate for an open and working business with some pride of ownership.  After all, the owner paid someone to paint a fish, unless he was just an artist on his own (hint hint).      Also, no sanding is involved in this method.  You roll the paper off with your damp fingers which is what got me.  I rolled a little too hard with everything a little too wet and pulled the entire surface off.  I'm going to hold on to the very weathered signs because who knows, the whole model could end up being an abandoned relic on a more modern layout.

But, the only way to more forward is to keep trying.  So I set up two more signs yesterday and let them dry over night.  They got close to 20 hours drying time and the A/C was on so this may have helped adhere the image into the gloss gel.  I also raised the color saturation all the way up before I printed the image because everything was coming out duller and with much less contract.  I also made the font bold so that the letters had more bulk.

So this morning I got out one of the signs and gave it another shot.  This time I used less water, just enough to make the image appear but not fully wet and saturated.  I worked more slowly and rolled large areas of paper off in one motion.  Once it looked good I stopped and let it dry for almost an hour.  At the end it was white again so repeated the process.  This time it looks really good.

Here is a picture of all 4 signs in order.  The one at the bottom is the new one.    I haven't worked on the second one yet. I might try filming a video with that one.

For scale, the grid on the cutting mat is 1".



I'm much much happier with this result.

Cheers

[Random]

I left the new sign to dry for a while, brushed the dried bits off the surface, and then sealed it with some super special PVA sealant (Elmer's glue) per the instructional video I found on youtube.  I'm very happy with the sign.





Now it needs a frame and supports.  I think I'll mount it over the loading dock on the left. 


Cheers

[Random]

Stick of wood, stick of wood, bit of glue and hey look, a sign is born.




There's even a narrow footboard where the painter probably stood to paint it.




It adds quite a pop of color to the scene.  That will probably need to be toned down a bit with some weathering chalks.   That or just soot from the little narrow gauge steamers.




Either that or I'll need to lean a ladder up to it and add a painter finishing up his work.




Cheers

[fsmcollector67]

Roger,
I did not realize that you had two builds going, the sign came out great using the transfer method. It takes a couple of tries to get what you want, but the end result, just cannot match gluing paper onto something.
Loren...

[Random]

Its high time I made a door for the freight car entrance to the fish carcass handling building of the fertilizer factory.  I'm going to use some strip wood to build up the doors similarly to how I made the doors on the front of the building but I'm planning to devise a way to make them open and close.  I'm planning to have them slide in two parts left and right.

Here is a view of the opening to be covered.



Now if only I could remember how I colored the other doors...

Cheers.

[Lynnb]

I read all your post and learned a few things, very nice build.

[Random]

To build the doors I painted some strip wood and then used the chopper to make planks.




I then set the planks into a square and used some masking tape to hold them together.  The mark indicates the split between the left and right door.  (The left door is smaller because there is less space on the wall for it to open across.)




I then glued on horizontal planks to hold the doors together.   I left some room at the bottom so that I can roughen up the bottoms of the doors to show age.




I also added diagonal bracing but neglected to photograph.  Here are the doors under a heavy weight so that they dry flat.




And here are the finished doors.  The unpainted strip at the top is hopefully going to allow them to slide in a track.




Cheers

[deemery]

A relevant musical interlude:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn73Wtem0No


dave   

[Lynnb]

Nicely done Roger, are we going to see the doors slide?