Art Anderson Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 (edited) Did a little bit of woodgraining on mine this week! Art Edited March 16, 2014 by Art Anderson
mrknowetall Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Looks great! Now we need you to tell us about your technique.
Art Anderson Posted March 14, 2014 Author Posted March 14, 2014 Looks great! Now we need you to tell us about your technique. Pretty simple, actually: the base paint (for the wood) is Testors #1141 Wood, lightened with approximatelhy 25% #1145 Gloss White. For the wood graining effect, I used artist's oil paint straight from the tube (Raw Sienna darkened with a bit of Burnt Sienna), which was applied using "eye shadow" foam pad applicators. The small, fine grain foam applicators made it possible to get the tight "streaks" to give that woodgrain effect without a lot of buildup, and artist's oils, having a very thick, creamy consistency, are very controllable. Credit for the idea of the artist's oil paints goes to Ken Hart, who suggested them to me. One drawback though: Artist's Oil paints take a lot longer to dry than say, enamel paints, given that their carrier (the liquid part) is linseed oil, which dries by oxidization rather than evaporation--but this will be dry enough by Monday, I think, for the application of decals and the final finish--which will be a hand-brushed coat ot Tamiya Acrylic "Clear Yellow". Clear Yellow will give me the "golden" shade I want, to replicate the marine varnish used on these station wagons from the factory. Art
Art Anderson Posted March 14, 2014 Author Posted March 14, 2014 Nice job! You doing it stock? Only way I build 'em! Engine and chassis: Art
Agent G Posted March 14, 2014 Posted March 14, 2014 Looks great Art. Can't wait for more. A tip if I may? When working with oils use a piece of cardboard as a pallet. A piece of the kits box lid is superb for this. Put the oil paint on the unprinted side and the cardboard absorbs the linseed oil. The finished, or printed side keeps the linseed oil from soaking all the way through and making a mess beneath. Armor modellers do this all the time to speed up drying. How's this kit look? G
Art Anderson Posted March 14, 2014 Author Posted March 14, 2014 (edited) Looks great Art. Can't wait for more. A tip if I may? When working with oils use a piece of cardboard as a pallet. A piece of the kits box lid is superb for this. Put the oil paint on the unprinted side and the cardboard absorbs the linseed oil. The finished, or printed side keeps the linseed oil from soaking all the way through and making a mess beneath. Armor modellers do this all the time to speed up drying. How's this kit look? G Great minds think alike! I used 3X5 file cards as my palette. As for the kit, other than some noticeable mold misalignment (Revell really needs to work on this issue!) the kit is so very nice. Art Edited March 14, 2014 by Art Anderson
Jim Gibbons Posted March 14, 2014 Posted March 14, 2014 Wonderful! I like the color choice; ideal for this era woodie, in my opinion.
mrknowetall Posted March 15, 2014 Posted March 15, 2014 Great minds think alike! I used 3X5 file cards as my palette. As for the kit, other than some noticeable mold misalignment (Revell really needs to work on this issue!) the kit is so very nice. Art It IS a fun kit! Mine will be less than stock, but that's what I do. Yours is looking really good! Thanks for all of your tips and techniques!
SlotDaddy1963 Posted March 15, 2014 Posted March 15, 2014 Nice work, Art Is this the latest Revell kit? If so where did your flathead come from?
Art Anderson Posted March 15, 2014 Author Posted March 15, 2014 Nice work, Art Is this the latest Revell kit? If so where did your flathead come from? Chuck, the flathead engine came from Revell's '50 Ford pickup. Of the available last-series flatheads on 1/25 scale, to my eyes it's the best, most accurate rendition, but it took some modifications to make it work in the Mercury. The biggest determining factor with this engine is the accurate-looking cylinder heads--AMT's 49 Mercury engine has rather wonky-looking sparkplug leads engraved on the heads, and the heads in the Lindberg '53 Ford are way too flat, too thin to my eyes. The pickup engine took some modification though: Where the truck engine's exhaust manifolds feed into a split exhaust head pipe system (the left side pipe goes under the engine, curves to the rear and joins the right-side pipe at a fairly sharp vee angle) while the passenger car version (Mercury and Ford) still used the old "crossover" pipe from the left manifold to the right manifold, with the final exhaust outlet at the rear of the right-side unit. In addition, the pickup transmission is quite different from the passenger car unit, being a top-loading floor shift model, and having a very short tailshaft housing. I simply modified the '50 Ford exhaust manifolds by removing the original outlet from the left manifold and adding a short stub of Evergreen round stock to make the correct outlet, then bent some 3/32" Evergreen styrene rod stock to make the crossover pipe, which attaches to the left pipe by the new outlet, then made the exhaust inlet for the right manifold in the same manner as the left outlet. 3/32" brass rod was used to make the locating pins which tie it all together. A new rear end exhaust outlet was added to the right manifold at the angle required for the single head pipe. The pickup oil pan is way too deep forward to clear both the crossover pipe and the tie rod system, so the offending area was cut, filled, then filed and sanded to shape. Its transmission was cut away aft of the bell housing, and the tranny from the AMT Mercury engine added. Revell's '50 Ford flathead V8 has very correct front engine mounts which made it necessary to box in the top side of the Mercury frame's front crossmember--which is the accurate way to do it, as the real one is boxed in from the top as well. The rear engine mounting point is the underside of the rear of the tailshaft housing, only a bit of filing on the top of the crossmember there was needed to get the engine to sit where it should. All this meant that a stock exhaust system had to be made--it's done from Evergreen 3/32" rod stock, with a lot of bending and splicing (brass pins into drilled holes there), and a scratchbuilt muffler. And, the whole thing test-fitted together: Art
Art Anderson Posted March 16, 2014 Author Posted March 16, 2014 Finalized the wood graining at last! From the very first picture above, I laid on the kit decals (had to use a Micron "sienna" artist's drawing pen to fill in a few places where the mahogany decals were just a shade sort of reaching all the way to the framing detail), then hand-brushed a coat of Tamiya Clear Yellow Acrylic over all the "wood" surfaces. Just as I hoped, the Tamiya gave me exactly the color I was looking for. Art
peekay Posted March 16, 2014 Posted March 16, 2014 Coming along VERY nicely! So far this is my favourite kit of the century.
Ramfins59 Posted March 16, 2014 Posted March 16, 2014 Art, that is looking really great so far. Are you planning to have this finished in time to bring it to NNL East next month?
Art Anderson Posted March 17, 2014 Author Posted March 17, 2014 Art, that is looking really great so far. Are you planning to have this finished in time to bring it to NNL East next month? That's the plan!
Ron Hamilton Posted March 17, 2014 Posted March 17, 2014 I cannot make the 'East this year, but I am quite sure that this one will be well received. Georgeous!!!!
charlie8575 Posted March 17, 2014 Posted March 17, 2014 Nice, Art. To clarify, the clear yellow was applied over the decals as well? Charlie Larkin
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