Hotel and Grill

[Random]

I had a little time to move this build forward today.   First I wanted to share a discovery.  I found LED light bulbs at my local grocery store that have a 5000K color temperature for only about $5 (US) for a pair.  I replaced every light in my work room with these bulbs and the difference is remarkable.  I previously had a variety or florescent twist bulbs and color would shift from one part of the room to another.




Getting back to the build itself, I painted the walls the lighter green. 



Once the green is dry I'll mask the back wall and paint the lower section to represent concrete.

Not much, but progress is progress.

Cheers

[Mkrailway]

Roger, doesn't having consistent cheap lighting make such a big difference. It really helps to have paint at the bench be the same color at the layout.

[Random]

Yes, the lighting is very nice.  And the 5000K color is just brighter.  With my starting to age eyes it makes a huge difference in the work room.


In other news, the stencil for the Leroy's Grill and Pool signs have arrived.   I should get a lesson in how to paint with stencils later today.  I also need find some bench time to detail the walls with popped boards and get started painting all the windows and the storefront.   Soon....

Cheers

[Random]

I had my stenciling class and I decided to start with the Pool sign.  I forgot to take a picture but I masked off for the surrounding box with light grab masking tape. I worked the tape down into the texture of the wall with my fingernail.  Then I used the stenciling brush to paint that in by stippling two coats of paint.  I started at the top and worked around the stripe.  By the time I got back to the start the paint had dried enough for a second coat.  I then pealed up the tape and there we have it.  A white box on a green wall.   The stencil for POOL is shown to the left.  I'll probably do that tomorrow.  I'll try to remember to take more pictures too.




Cheers

[Twopoint2]

Roger the build is looking great. What did you use to cut out the letters for the stencil?

[EricQuebec]

Nice work Roger.
Usually I make my stencil with masking tape... What are you using for

Eric Quebec city

[fsmcollector67]

Roger,
That worked out real well so far.....and it looks like you did not get too much bleeding under the stencil either. I will have to think about this one for my project. Nice job...
Loren...

[Random]

I stenciled the POOL sign today after letting the surrounding white box dry overnight.

For the white box I used 3/4" wide masking tape cut to the height needed for the middle.  The width happened to work out well for the sign.  I then used more masking tape spaced around that central box by eye to mark out the sign.  Then I used the stenciling brush to paint that bit.  The tape was burnished down into the clapboard with my finger nail.  A cut stencil was not used for the box.  I got a little bit of bleeding because I thinned the paint a little too much but its not enough to worry about.  There is still weathering to do.


Now on to the word POOL. 

I had a stencil cut in mylar film.  I provided the sign as a graphic to a family member who has one of those crafting cutter machines.  I think her's is a scan and cut.  She had to modify my artwork to put connectors to the middle of letters so that the stencil did not fall apart.  I practiced using the stencil and brush on some card stock.  I got some bleed under on the card stock from the card being a bit glossy, the paint being a bit thin, and me being too aggressive with the paint and brush.




For the real sign, I was more careful.  I positioned the stencil in place with masking tape and burnished it down into the siding.  I measured repeatedly to get the wording centered in the box.  If its off its by less than half a millimeter.  Good enough for me.




I used standard craft paint and extender.  The extender thins the pain a little and also keeps it from drying out as fast.  This works better than plain water.  I've tried both.




To ready the paint for stenciling I put 3 drops of paint into a small plastic cup and added one drop of extender.  I had used more extender yesterday with the boarder box which contributed to the small bleeds.  The 3 to 1 ratio gave me the working time I needed without making the paint too thin.




I loaded the brush with pain and then took most of it back out on a pad of paper towel.  This became the source for additional paint.  You want a very dry brush for the stenciling. 




I used the daubing method where you gently tap the brush vertically over the openings in the stencil.  You have to work gently and put down a little paint at a time. I started at the top and moved down the stencil and then made repeated passes until I had the coverage I wanted.  I peeked under the stencil a few times to check progress but you can tell pretty well without doing so.  Even with the stencil taped down you need to hold it firmly in place so you don't get any shifting.  It took about 4 passes to build up the paint.






Here is a better view of the stenciling brush.  It is purpose made for stenciling with firm bristles and a flat bottom.  This is a fairly good quality brush.  My initial practice was done with very cheep brushes and they were much harder to work with.  Better to spend a little more on the brush and take good care of it.




I pealed back the stencil but didn't pull it fully loose so that I could ensure the opacity of white paint matched the surrounding box.  Looks pretty close.




And here is the finished stencil sign. 




Once this dries I will have to go back with a fine brush and connect the letters by hand. 


Cheers

[Random]

The paint was dry enough to move forward before packing it in tonight.  So using the smallest brush I have, a 000 pointer, I finished off the white portion of the pool sign.

Here's the brush.






Using the same paint thinned 3 - 1 with the extender as I'd done for the stencil I filled in the cut outs of the letters.  Then I practiced the swirl on the P on the practice card.  I felt brave enough to try it on the real wall, probably because I'm too tired to think better of it.  To make the swirl I put a drop of paint for the ending circle and then carefully attached it with the curved line from the top of the P.

Things came out pretty well.

[fsmcollector67]

Roger,
The Pool sign came out real nice.....
Loren...

[jimmillho]

That's a "COOL POOL" sign.

Jim

[Random]

Thanks Loren, Jim.

The ONLY cool thing about being laid off is the extra modeling time.   I stole an hour from the job hunt this afternoon to work on the drop shadow.


I searched my paint inventory and found some Country Red.  I thinned it 3-1 with the extender.  (3 drops paint to 1 drop extender.).  This makes far far too much paint but I don't know how to get 1/3 of a drop of extender.   




I also dug out a size 0 brush.  This is a bit less pointed than the 000 I used to close in the white lettering.




Then it was just a matter of going for it.  I did practice a few times on the practice stencil on card stock.  I pulled up a picture of George's original on my iPad to use as a reference.

I used the tip of the brush to cut in the slopes and ends and then the flat to fill in the shadow. I worked pretty much one board at a time going slowly to line things up.




Then I moved on to the boarder.  I cut in a 45 degree edge at the top left and lower right corners and again worked a board at a time to fill in the shadow.



There were a couple of spots at the top where the red got onto the white paint. I let things dry for a while and then went back with a sharp X-acto knife and gently scraped the red paint off the surface.  The real sign is only 2.5 inches tall so the picture actually looks worse than the original. The enlarged size shows flaws that you can't see on the real thing.   




I'm debating now if I want to use decals for the black and white signs or just get more stencils cut.  I like how the paint on wood looks.

Cheers

[Janbouli]

It will be hard to get decals looking as good as the painted sign, great job.

[Zephyrus52246]

The POOL sign looks great!


Jeff

[cuse]

I like it! Good job.


John