Playing with pastels, a fun new dio 1930 Ford

[Mike Whatshisname]

My inspiration for this small dio came from Hemmings Motor News ABANDONED AUTOS Book issued in 2000. Great book for ideas BTW!

I've been wanting to use pastels in ways other than just dusting for the weathered look. I wanted to use them over paint to change the hues slightly to show the effects of sunlight over time on how it fades paint. Here is my subject from page 33 of the Hemmings book:

You can see from the firewall the original blue, or should I say a slightly faded blue I would imagine, by the picture of the 1930 Essex. The closest kit I had on the shelf was the 1930 Monogram Ford issued in 1974. So I cracked open this baby and went to work trying to replicate something similar to the picture.

The body (roof removed, balsa wood added):

I didn't have a blue close to the one of the Essex so I went green and tried to turn it as close as I could to blue using pastels. First I shot a new Krylon color called Vine green which is close to lime green. This would eventually be my lightest color green under the forest green slightly faded. I used masking tape and rubber cement to mask off the areas that would end up the lighter green and then painted forest green over the rest of the car.

I removed the masking and cement and then laid down the first part of the sophisticated finishes rust on the doors and areas. once dried, I sanded the edges of the iron to blend into the areas like the doors so that there is no distinctive line to where the rust starts or ends. I then washed the iron with the 2nd part of the sophisticated finishes to give it the "rust" over a 2 day period.

Meanwhile, I worked on the fenders by spraying with Krylon antique brass and rubbing in pastels and layers of dullcote.

When the body was rusted, I started "painting" with pastels and dullcote in layers to get the finish I was looking for. I was somewhat happy with the results but unfortunately the pictures (lights) tend to wash out the pastel effects.

[Mike Whatshisname]

After rereading the post I can see where you might get confused or I started to ramble as I am getting ready for bedtime. Please ask questions if you have any.

BTW, Link: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v482/bon...rd%20unearthed/

Edited May 1, 2008 by Mike Whatshisname

[Guest Gramps-xrds]

Mike. I think it looks GREAT. I have some pastels here somewhere that I'd like to use when I get the rest of my dio finished. I hope mine turns out half as good as yours. I just made some grass out of saw dust, but haven't put it on yet. Saw dust turned out better than I expected. I dyed it with some old poster paints I mixed for color and thinned w/ water.

You did a fantastic job.

[Tony T]

Wow! Nice work!