Art Anderson Posted March 17, 2014 Author Posted March 17, 2014 Nice, Art. To clarify, the clear yellow was applied over the decals as well? Charlie Larkin Yes, I put the decals on then added the clear yellow--which really "warms" up the rather dull brown of the decals. My rationale was quite simple: "Back in the day", the only durable finish for exterior wood was oil-based, in the case of wooden boats and station wagon bodies, that meant "marine" or spar varnish, which is a fairly strong amber color, not truly water-clear. This would give a lighter wood, such as hard maple, a yellowish tone, and on darker woods such as mahogany, it gave a much richer, "warmer" brown cast. In retrospect, although I used Testors bottled enamels (gloss tan, lightened with gloss white) as the base color, with artists' oil paint (raw sienna with a bit of burnt umber mixed in) straight from the tube and applied with one of those really small foam applicators used for eye shadow (availabe in most any cosmetics department or a Sally Hanson store), I wish I'd remembered my large bottle of 1936-37 Cord "Cordova Tan" and "Clay Rust" reddish brown lacquer that Dave Dodge at MCW mixed for me about 20 years ago, for painting the base colors. I could have avoided using the kit decals for the mahogany, which nether fit very well and don't stick worth a darn. In addition, the lacquer would have been absolutely proof against the linseed oil carrier of the artists' oil paints, which tended to soften the Testors paints just enough to make it a bit difficult to keep the oil colors from "caking" slightly on the inset panels. That just a bit of "caking" in a few spots made for some roughness near the edges of the kit decals, but it's still OK. To "correct" the small areas where the decals failed to match up to the edges of the wood framing, I used a Sakura Micron artist's drawing pen, Sienna in color, having a .25mm chisel pointed tip (available in art supply stores and at Hobby Lobby). These are the materials and tools I used for the wood-grained effect: Art
mrknowetall Posted March 17, 2014 Posted March 17, 2014 My plan is to use Tamiya Light Sand (TS 46) for the wood framing, followed by some wood graining using Testors basic wood color (in the small bottles), and a light overlay of Tamiya clear yellow (their polycarbonate spray). I've tested the combo on styrene strip, and everything works well together. I'm surprised to hear that the kit decals don't stick well. I had planned on using them, and may resort to using the excellent Uschi decals for the mahogany inserts instead.
Art Anderson Posted March 17, 2014 Author Posted March 17, 2014 My plan is to use Tamiya Light Sand (TS 46) for the wood framing, followed by some wood graining using Testors basic wood color (in the small bottles), and a light overlay of Tamiya clear yellow (their polycarbonate spray). I've tested the combo on styrene strip, and everything works well together. I'm surprised to hear that the kit decals don't stick well. I had planned on using them, and may resort to using the excellent Uschi decals for the mahogany inserts instead. Don, I used the Tamiya Clear Yellow acrylic, with a 1/4" wide flat synthetic brush, mostly to avoid having to mask the thing off all over again, and also to give a bit of "irregularity" to the depth of the clear yellow color--as wood doesn't always finish out exactly the same shade all over, due to variations in the color of the wood itself (beyond, of course, the grain). Looking forward to seeing how your's comes out! Art
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 17, 2014 Posted March 17, 2014 Your wood treatment is just beautiful, and to my eye the colors are absolutely perfect. Thanks for all the fine how-to info.
mrknowetall Posted March 17, 2014 Posted March 17, 2014 (edited) Don, I used the Tamiya Clear Yellow acrylic, with a 1/4" wide flat synthetic brush, mostly to avoid having to mask the thing off all over again, and also to give a bit of "irregularity" to the depth of the clear yellow color--as wood doesn't always finish out exactly the same shade all over, due to variations in the color of the wood itself (beyond, of course, the grain). Looking forward to seeing how your's comes out! Art Your posts are always informative, and I look forward to reading them. What's your plan for the interior wood graining (dash) and door panels? Woodgraining that dashboard will be a nightmare (to me, at least). BTW, I might ending up brushing Tamiya's clear yellow acrylic over my woodgraining. I suppose it depends on how lazy I am when I get to that point. Here's a bit of insanity on my part. I also found some dressmakers straight pins at Walgreens. They have a very small head, and look (to my eye) to be about the right size for those chrome carriage bolt heads seen on the wood framing for 1:1 scale '49-'51 FoMoCo woody wagons. I may or may not use them. Again, depends on my level of laziness. Edited March 17, 2014 by mrknowetall
Art Anderson Posted March 17, 2014 Author Posted March 17, 2014 Your posts are always informative, and I look forward to reading them. What's your plan for the interior wood graining (dash) and door panels? Woodgraining that dashboard will be a nightmare (to me, at least). BTW, I might ending up brushing Tamiya's clear yellow acrylic over my woodgraining. I suppose it depends on how lazy I am when I get to that point. Here's a bit of insanity on my part. I also found some dressmakers straight pins at Walgreens. They have a very small head, and look (to my eye) to be about the right size for those chrome carriage bolt heads seen on the wood framing for 1:1 scale '49-'51 FoMoCo woody wagons. I may or may not use them. Again, depends on my level of laziness. Don, The interior side panels were plywood, faced with Honduran mahogany, from what pictures I've been able to scare up. For that, I probably will lighten up some Testors gloss brown, and then wood-grain that with the same technique as I used on the body sides, but be more sparing with the oil paints. They will get the Tamiya Clear Yellow treatment just as did the outer panels. As for the dash, the upper portion should be tan, with light woodgraining, and while none of my pictures show the lower portion very well, it does get painted dark brown, but I cannot determine if that was woodgrained or not (the dash was painted on the real cars, with woodgraining added by decal--very common back in the day. The moldings along the top of the side panels will be #1141 tan, and I suspect they may well have had the faux woodtrain decal applied to them. Art
Field_Artillery63 Posted March 17, 2014 Posted March 17, 2014 Brilliant! You sir are a great artist! Love the wood grain!
mrknowetall Posted March 18, 2014 Posted March 18, 2014 Don, The interior side panels were plywood, faced with Honduran mahogany, from what pictures I've been able to scare up. For that, I probably will lighten up some Testors gloss brown, and then wood-grain that with the same technique as I used on the body sides, but be more sparing with the oil paints. They will get the Tamiya Clear Yellow treatment just as did the outer panels. As for the dash, the upper portion should be tan, with light woodgraining, and while none of my pictures show the lower portion very well, it does get painted dark brown, but I cannot determine if that was woodgrained or not (the dash was painted on the real cars, with woodgraining added by decal--very common back in the day. The moldings along the top of the side panels will be #1141 tan, and I suspect they may well have had the faux woodtrain decal applied to them. Art Same pictures I've been able to raise, and most of them aren't that good. I might try something different for the interior door panels, although I'm sure no one will be looking once the model is finished.
Skip Posted March 18, 2014 Posted March 18, 2014 Most of the factories still had "Woodgrainers" up until '52 or '53 or so, before the vinyl woodgrain started. Interesting tidbit in the thirties and forties Woodgrainers were paid 5 to 10 cents an hour more than the stripers, so only the best got to be Woodgrainers. Interesting that you apply your Woodgrain opposite of what most do, I've always been taught to start with the tans, reds, yellows before the browns and Siena. Pretty clear your method works and looks great. I've done it on a few big cars, passable but not fantastic, it's a real art to get right.
Art Anderson Posted March 18, 2014 Author Posted March 18, 2014 Most of the factories still had "Woodgrainers" up until '52 or '53 or so, before the vinyl woodgrain started. Interesting tidbit in the thirties and forties Woodgrainers were paid 5 to 10 cents an hour more than the stripers, so only the best got to be Woodgrainers. Interesting that you apply your Woodgrain opposite of what most do, I've always been taught to start with the tans, reds, yellows before the browns and Siena. Pretty clear your method works and looks great. I've done it on a few big cars, passable but not fantastic, it's a real art to get right. Skip, I started with tan, then "swiped on" the brown oil paints, then added the decals--finally, the clear yellow. As for real wood on station wagons, Ford Motor Company was the last to seriously mass-produce Woody station wagons--Ford and Mercury production of these stopped with the end of the 1951 model year (Chevrolet & Pontiac closed out their true woodie station wagons by mid-1949 in favor of their then all-new steel "faux" woodie station wagon bodies. Packard dropped their woodie "Station Sedan" at the end of 1950 production. Ford did, however, use molded wood (hard maple) "framing" trim on the 1952 Country Squire, but for 1953 and beyond, fake wood frame trim was the only thing available. Buick, however, continued offering their Roadmaster Estate Wagon with a partially woodie body through the end of the 1953 model year. Art
Art Anderson Posted April 7, 2014 Author Posted April 7, 2014 More update: Engine is now installed in the chassis, with almost all wiring and plumbing done. In addition, the column shift linkage is installed, as well as clutch linkage. Probably the biggest pain was putting in the hydraulic brake lines, as they had some seriously tight bends to get them in, and through areas of the frame. I discovered after painting the engine and transmission that the toothpick I'd used to hold the unit while airbrushing split the top of the tailshaft housing, but fortunately, it didn't split the seam on the bottom side, so this crack will not show once the floorboard is put in place. Art
mrknowetall Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 More update: Engine is now installed in the chassis, with almost all wiring and plumbing done. In addition, the column shift linkage is installed, as well as clutch linkage. Probably the biggest pain was putting in the hydraulic brake lines, as they had some seriously tight bends to get them in, and through areas of the frame. I discovered after painting the engine and transmission that the toothpick I'd used to hold the unit while airbrushing split the top of the tailshaft housing, but fortunately, it didn't split the seam on the bottom side, so this crack will not show once the floorboard is put in place. Art VERY nice!
Art Anderson Posted April 21, 2014 Author Posted April 21, 2014 Chassis is finally done! Still needs muffler and tailpipe installed, along with assembling the interior and then dropping the body down on the frame. Bottom view of chassis, showing the brake systems: I think it will be done in time to take to NNL-East! Art
am73grand Posted April 21, 2014 Posted April 21, 2014 Beautiful work Art. This is going to be gorgeous!!!
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now