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Clark Gas Station Project


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Did you scratchbuild that sign? If so, it's awesome work! Also if you did built it, why didn't you paint it before assembly and save all the masking work?

Either way, this looks to be one cool project.

David G.

That's a fair question. I tend to build things to withstand a nuclear blast, so I tend to me more concerned with the glue bond and part alignment than painting. This has gotten me into trouble more than once, but it's just my way. I'm confident I can paint this thing if I'm patient and careful enough.

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Your attention to detail is amazing......... I just noticed that you even got the bricks at the corner of the building oriented correctly!

And that sign is looking great!

Tony

Thank you. I try to make sure my corners are right, and windows and doors end up with whole bricks on either side, not 1/8 of a brick on one side and 7/32 on the other. If you do this, I think the plastruct brick looks great. I like the hand carved bricks seen on other posts, but they look like much older style brick than I'm trying to portray. I am going to try their method when I do a building old enough.

I fill the gaps on the corners with a super glue/baby powder mixture, sand to the level of the outer brick surface, then add the mortar lines with a file.

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I spose yer gonna wow us with tiny tracer lights in the outter perimeter , Humph, some folks got all the dang talent . Ed Shaver

You know, I WAS trying to figure that out, but I couldn't produce a mechanism small enough and reliable enough to seal inside. I have two colors of small round pin heads that are going to stand in for the bulbs. They actually look real good when set in place.

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I worked at a Clark Station exactly like the one in the black and white photo back in the 70s. I do not have any photos but do remember it pretty well. I once was locked in the back room all night by a drug addict robbing us. The owner was locked in the trunk of his super bee so I guess I did not have it to bad.

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I worked at a Clark Station exactly like the one in the black and white photo back in the 70s. I do not have any photos but do remember it pretty well. I once was locked in the back room all night by a drug addict robbing us. The owner was locked in the trunk of his super bee so I guess I did not have it to bad.

Almost the same with me....the rear window of the station had burgler bars.....so all I could do was holler for a customer to get the local PD...To my surprise..no one grabbed any cigs when I was locked in....Ours also had white painted shelves against the brick in the showroom for the oil..no metal racks on the floor.

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P1010342.jpg

Here's one of the reference pics I have. There has been some obvious updating, but the basic station and '70s appearance is intact. This is what I'm going to build, minus the updates.

THIS is the Clark Stations I remember. There are still two of them around here in that configuration. There's also a newer one just down the street, only about 20 years old. The other two are at least 40 years old. Those pump globes were REALLY unique Ed, our Clarks had the squre stout lookin gas pumps. Now that I think of it, theres an old abandoned station up on Fort Street in Detroy.

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Did you scratchbuild that sign? If so, it's awesome work! Also if you did built it, why didn't you paint it before assembly and save all the masking work?

Ditto.

Why make things hard on yourself? Paint the pieces first, then assemble. Waaaaay easier than assembling first, then trying to mask and paint.

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Ditto.

Why make things hard on yourself? Paint the pieces first, then assemble. Waaaaay easier than assembling first, then trying to mask and paint.

might I suggest liquid mask and a bit of tape.....this one is easy to paint tri color

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Tom, you asked me to re-post these pictures and now you have them. Bring back memories of your days at Clark Mike? My station never got robbed but it was hard keeping a night shift employee.

Thank you for posting these. I now see some of my guesses were wrong, but I see plenty of things I can still get right because of these. Thanks again!

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Tom, you asked me to re-post these pictures and now you have them. Bring back memories of your days at Clark Mike? My station never got robbed but it was hard keeping a night shift employee.

It was those oil cans.......... :wub: :wub: :rolleyes:

Our stations had a barred window straight thru the door, over the built in desk. We had an up right compressor next to the door and our "bell" was over the door....it would wake you up at times...... :P :P

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The damage to the station has been repaired, time to move on. I appreciate all the help I've gotten from this board, and would like to thank two people in particular. My66S55 for the pictures I requested, and Mike the Maniac for answering endless questions through E-mail. Mike is a very patient man, apparently.

More pics when there's something to show.

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cans.jpg

Clark was big into oil sales, so I spent some time with the razor saw and sanding stick. I'll need to build these and the shelves that hold them at the same time, so I decided to get the drudgery over with and cut some rod into what you see before you. Next I will make some decals for various grades of oils, and decorate the cans. More pics when progress warrants it.

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I'm glad Tom has shared pictures of the oil cans as I too have spent hours just doing the same thing . The fun starts when you're sitting there with a couple of Paint markers trying to duplicate a decal in scale ................... Ed Shaver

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