TOPIC:

lots of red primer ...





... + badly painted in a variety of colours, a "dirty" brown/black wash + an odd bit of dry brushing.

It hindsight I should have either made the insert box have a peak towards the centre, or build up the junk a bit more - the fill looks suspiciously level ... If I was to do it again I'd also put at least one big object in there - a fridge, or maybe a 2CV

A couple more ideas for the scale garage, a battery booster/starter trolley, and a pressure washer:







Starter trolley begins as a box like structure ...





... extra layers back & base ...





... then a bent front/side panel bit, wheels, handle, scored "grilles", etc etc. Note the silcone sleeving - fitting that before painting was a bad idea

Moving on to the pressure washer, again this starts as a box made from styrene sheet ...




... glued together ...




... and filled & sanded. I keep stressing the "box" aspect of these things because it's the basis for so many different things - a couple of fine strips around the equator + a few rectangle bits & it's a fancey suitcase, not so heavy on the edge sanding + a panel on top with some pipes coming out of it & it's a fuel cell, a slightly squarer shape with only two edges radiused & one end slightly recessed & it's a the start of a MIG or TIG welder, one with a wider front recessed with two different heights of strip & it's a toolbox, etc etc...





Setting up material to make the hose reel ends:





... and done:





First layer of detail ... TBH I haven't got my styrene rod bending technique down yet, part of the problem is the output of the heat gun is too wide - I believe I threw the attachments out thinking I'd never have a need for them, but from memory one would have made an ideal start towards making a very small focused outlet ...





Making the front panel details, note the very thin bit with the slots cut out broke in several places ...





Now ready for paint, with lance, very basic tap attachment, and 3-pin mains plug. I had to cheat a bi on the pins - they're 35 thou round rod, not UK rectangular pins as they're beyond me in 1:10 scale...

Just to show I haven't forgot about this, grey primer for the pressure washer, red primer & Post Office Van red (done at the same time as the Slurry Vacuum Tanker)

... TBH I haven't got my styrene rod bending technique down yet, part of the problem is the output of the heat gun is too wide - I believe I threw the attachments out thinking I'd never have a need for them, but from memory one would have made an ideal start towards making a very small focused outlet ...

I've got one of these gas soldering irons:

It is one of my most useful tools. Great for field work where you don't want to bother finding a mains cable.
It also has a hot air nozzle which would be perfect for what you want. Much smaller and easier to handle than a electric heat gun.

Thanks Martin - i tried to find a pic/video of the "hot air blower" function but couldn't so I'll have to pass on one of those, the only information I could find suggested the minimum temperature is higher than my hot air gun produces

Really not sure about the blue now it's all finished ...




I still have a lot of things on my scale to do list, but I'm not feeling particularly inspired - I'm off to make some mince pies instead

FELICITATIONS Jonny. Your are better equipped than all my service in RENAULT

Hi Jonny,

I've read through the topic and it's amazing, i also need to make a garage background for the Hot Rod Beetle and i wondered if some of your exellent prints are for sale, some of the Tamiya related posters would be usefull.

I am truly amazed by your work, there's always something new to discover when you look at it, i never seen anything like it, it's a class on it's own.

Cheers Rick

Rick wrote:

... i wondered if some of your exellent prints are for sale, some of the Tamiya related posters would be usefull....

The short answer is "no" ... the long answer is, um, longer


The long answer is also "no" - but for good reasons. The first thing I want to say is I'm very happy to share what I've learned in the way of methods & techniques - I think this thread & the various articles prove that, and my view (which I'm not sure I've stated here) is that anyone that refuses to discuss techniques, making them out to be some big secret that makes them special has some issues they really, really out to work out.


That said, I'm not happy with sharing the _results_ of those techniques, my feeling is that if I spend the time to produce the bits I wanted, and someone else wants those bits too, then they really ought to put in the time as well - I've already given them a head start by sharing techniques.


The other issue is that for most of the printed stuff, someone, somewhere regards it as their intellectual property, sometimes quite jealously and aggressively. While my personal definition of "fair use" may not be the same as some manufacturers see it, I am 100% ok with not for profit, personal use of certain images/artwork/trade marks & names.

One can make an argument about making a small profit from IP where the rights holder is not making use of it (I'm thinking of repro decals specifically), but that's a different issue.


Circling back to my first reason, I value my time, and hope others will too. There can be some discussion about what my time is worth - UK minimum wage? the "living" wage? the rates my last employer used to charge for my services (anywhere from 50 GBP ph for "monkey" work to 75 for "skilled" work - and let's not mention the fact I only ever saw a small fraction of that, or the time I actually looked in to hiring a monkey & found their hourly rate was way in excess of mine), or the 120 GBP ph the Audi main dealer near me charges (it's skilled work the customer is unwilling or unable to do themselves - so it's comparable, right?).

It seems people are very happy to ask for something - but rarely are prepared to cover the full cost of materials or postage, and almost never to make any contribution for my time.

I'm not saying you'd act like that, but having had a few distasteful experiences my default position now is I won't do squat _physically_ for anyone anymore - and am happier for it



However, as I said, there are no secrets here, anything I've done is in this thread, and to summarise everything to with the printed aspects of my scale garage:

Tools:
Cheap (Epson XP-312 scanner/printer)
Paint Shop Pro 5
Cheap A4 laminator
scissors, sharp craft knife, steel rules & cutting mat, blunt knife

Materials:
A4 160gsm thick paper/ thin card
A4 lamination pouches
inkjet Photo paper
inkjet transfer paper (clear, and white)
inkjet self adhesive vinyl (clear + white)
PVA glue
3mm styrene sheet

Reference:
physical pile of Haynes manuals & other car books
internet for material patterns/grains, 1930s/40s posters & adverts, tamiya box art etc etc


Techniques:

Machine labels (pressure washer, compressor etc) - find on internet, cleanup/resize/remake in Paint Shop Pro, print on clear transfer paper, dry, lacquer, dry, cut out & apply with water.
Exceptions: the ones on the lathe & bench grinder were entirely drawn up is red & black on clear over metal colour painted panels; Decals on "Henry" hoover are on white; Mig welder front panel is hand drawn in PSP & printed on white vinyl.

Bench peg board, drawn in PSP (including finding image of spanner & resizing), again printed on white vinyl.

Clock & radio: found images, white vinyl.

Books: scanned in, resized in PSP, printed on white vinyl & wrapped around pieces of styrene sheet.

Tamiya boxes: Images found online (fronts at Tamiya101.com, backs a "card" grain). Drawn up in PSP: if front has dimensions A wide x B wide, then image is that front AxB with long sides A x C (height) attached along long sides, short sides are B x C, and back is A x B again, attached to one of the long sides. Gluing tabs drawn on edges; print on photo paper, score fold lines with blunt knife, cut rest out & glue up. ("art" on sides reworked from front).

Card boxes: pretty much same technique but "card" pattern only on thin card, make 2 & build one inside out, fit inside orther.

Air & oil filter boxes, disposable glove boxes: Similar technique again, this time drawn up from scratch in style of real brands.

Wall "art": thumbnails of various adverts/posters found online, resized, printed on thin card, laminated.