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EDIT 04-06: It is done and on the layout.  It came together quickly at the end . . . 

 

EDIT 04/04: see my second set of photos posted this morning, further down the thread..  

 

 

-------------Original posting--------------------------------------------

 

As observed in several other threads on these forums, the signs on Menard's Moe's Garage are placed on specially shaped flat areas, and not ribbed.  If you remove the sign (they're paper and come off easily) you have this weird shaped area to deal with. 

 

 First, I do not know if resin dust is bad for you.  I don't plan to find out.  

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I had this small area of the Studebaker sign on one building I had cut that remained, and decided to start/experiment with it.  It had a big area (shown with blade below) and some bits of the tops of the script Studebaker lettering (to the right) to cut out. 

 

This is a hacksaw blade with around 16-20 teeth per inch.  I held it by hand (convenient, did not hurt, forces me to not apply too much pressure) and cut grooves straight with the ribs in the flat area. NOT IN THE PHOTO: I used my fingers of the other hand as a guide to keep in precisely positioned, but in this phot those fingers are holding the camera!

NOTE A COMPLICATION: the building is rendered with five ribs high, five low, five high, five low, etc., to mirror the over/under style of construction.  Eventually you have to cut the "low rib" areas down in height.  But back to the grooves.  I used this hacksaw blad eto cut 1/16 inch deep groves at each rib valley.

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Here I have done about half . . . 

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I had removed half of the sign but did the other half through the paper to see.  That works perfectly and saves time: no removing the sign first!

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Those hacksaw cuts were much too narrow.  This wood cutting blade from a reciprocating saw worked perfectly to widen them.  By rotating it slight at an angle around the cut, I rounded the rib ridges a bit, too, digging down deeper . . . NOTE: this saw DOES NOT WORK WELL as the saw to make that initial straight cut aligned with each rib, at least it did not for me.  I recommend using a fine-bladed hacksaw to get a straight groove going, then go to this puppy.

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sorry this is a lousy photo, my camera would not focus on the grain of this file.  It is a fine grade wood file, maybe 25 teeth per inch, rounded on one side so the edge if very "V"  It removes the resin fine and with a little work I got pretty fast and rounding out a rib.  I then used 220 grit sandpaper: folded to an edge and run through each at different angles, it made short work of smoothing them out. 

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I applied some silver paint to see.  Not perfect, but certain good . . . I'm going to do the other signs this way.  

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Last edited by Lee Willis
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Originally Posted by Dennis LaGrua:

If its a paper sign wouldn't it be easier to just wet it with soapy water, wait a bit, wet again and in 15 minutes it should come off in one piece. Where am I going wrong here?

That would work, certainly assuming the glue would dissolve (I don't know).

 

But I guess deep down I'm incredibly lazy and in a hurry. I'd have to do that soaking, wait for it to soften, then work it so it comes off, then let it dry (wet, the blade4 would be more prone to slip, although it would keep the dust down.  

 

But the paper signs just disintegrate as you cut the groves and file: I kill two birds with one stone while doing.  

 

Originally Posted by Forty Rod:

I just ordered Moe's garage and will make it into Steier's Woodcraft (my son-in-law's business), but I'm thinking ... a dangerous thing in and of itself... that I can make a new sign to put right over the Hudson sign.

 

Am I right or do I need to do what you've done and risk bollixing it up?

Yeah, you can make a new sign, it just has to be exactly the shape of the old, or as I said on another thread, you would need to use filler to fill the ribs in around the existing flat area to make it into the shape of your sign, or make the sign onf heavy enough paper . . . 

Ron045: I agree, lazy probably doesn't fit, but I am always in a hurry: get it done, right, as quickly as possible.  
 
---------------------------------- Here is an update -------------------------------
 
Again, the building in  the first photo is the prototype I want to stick pretty close to it, except the side doors will be a bit larger . . . 

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I removed all the signs, cut out for the window, and the door areas. I discovered that I need to paint the area where the signs are removed to see if I have grooved/removed enough: when it is bare white resin it is too hard to see if it is done well.  You can see above the side doorway below that I have a bit more work to do on the top of the Hudson sign: the profile of the top of that sign is still visible even though I have mostly matched the groove.  Elsewhere I got it right, including removing the entire Studebaker from the extreme far side. 

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There will be two doors but only with a thin "steel" column between them.  

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I'll work on a couple of even places here just a bit before I do the final paint, but the Studebaker sign flat area on the far right side is gone.  Took almost an hour to do this . . . 

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Here is recent progress, including a a lighting trick, or "thing" I was not sure would work.

 

I determined that Loctite repair putty holds, fair well, to the resin - not great, but about like it does to diecast metal, meaning if you spread it out and particularly give it a rough surface to attached to, it does alright.  I used it to attach the side door framework I made 

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I removed the stock wiring and switches.  I then used contact cement to attached aluminum foil, shiny side out, to the underside of both quonset hut roofs.

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Making this pallet for it, so it would fit just right, to go on the layout (at the end of my large lake - inside of a RR track curve) took a surprisingly long time.  Its about 17 by 18 inches and has "feet" under it because it has to fit on uneven "ground."

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Here is the one side positioned on the pallet.  I printed out a picture if found by googling "small boat factory" and cut and glued it as you can see here . . . 

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It is on a small wall for the back.  Behind it, pointing up, I mounted one of those three-LED, 12V light units.  I am doing it this way: relfector on the roof, light on the floor, because I expected a single light of even two or three, on the roof, would be too intense and not distributed enough evenly throughout.  I was not certain at this point this would work . . . 

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Here it is with the other side positioned, with the light operating at 10.5 volts.  This is exactly the type of soft glow evenly distributed throughout the inside that I wanted . . . Frankly i was not sure the "reflector-roof/single light source idea would work,  although I thought if it ever would, these roofs were perfectly shaped to make it work.

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If you look closely above, you can see a small copper "pipe" exiting the foundation of the building just under the cut out window.  I decided not to glue the building to the pallet (I would have used Liquid Nail proiject cement or silicon chalking) I strapped it: drilled small holes through the building near the ground, and also drilled two at of those places into the pallet, and ran a thin copper wire through, then twisted it tight underneath.  Holds it well and is removable if need be . . . I made these each in a position where something (a trash can in this case) will hide them from view. 

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Last edited by Lee Willis

I missed all the fun?

 

Some guy in a mask scared the heck out of me, & I split. It was horrible.

 

Oh..um, It looks good on you though

 

Hey, You scratched my anchor!

 

Lee, Don't forget a boat owner normally names the boat. And displays it on the transom. (I'd hate to think you'd missed the opportunity)

Doubling the fun, the dinghy will often carry a punch line.

Like a dinghy named High & a ship named Mighty, Rockin' and Rollin' ect.

Registration numbers on the bow could be dates?

And please add a couple more cleat's & poles if you can. I had trouble finding somewhere to tie off my transom. Tires/bumpers/carpet wrap to protect from slams against poles. When I see a dock, my eyes search for those first. Even at scale They are normally everywhere about 4-10 ft apart (around here at least)

Rope too, more rope, coiled ropes everywhere,

And throw me a "life saver"...Ow! No the "big powdered doughnut"...No really throw me the "Canadian Frisbee", .......Glub glub  

 

 

Originally Posted by Adriatic:

I missed all the fun?

 

Some guy in a mask scared the heck out of me, & I split. It was horrible.

 

Oh..um, It looks good on you though

 

Hey, You scratched my anchor!

 

Lee, Don't forget a boat owner normally names the boat. And displays it on the transom. (I'd hate to think you'd missed the opportunity)

Doubling the fun, the dinghy will often carry a punch line.

Like a dinghy named High & a ship named Mighty, Rockin' and Rollin' ect.

Registration numbers on the bow could be dates?

And please add a couple more cleat's & poles if you can. I had trouble finding somewhere to tie off my transom. Tires/bumpers/carpet wrap to protect from slams against poles. When I see a dock, my eyes search for those first. Even at scale They are normally everywhere about 4-10 ft apart (around here at least)

Rope too, more rope, coiled ropes everywhere,

And throw me a "life saver"...Ow! No the "big powdered doughnut"...No really throw me the "Canadian Frisbee", .......Glub glub  

 

 

Adriatic, see the thread i posted yesterday about the new boat, MY PI, now on the layout rather than the one in these photos.  The cleats, tires, etc are coming in a add-on pier that cannot be installed until I get some work done around the brewery, but they are actually already in a "kit" of parts I've assembled on my workbench.  

Lee, great work on the boat shed. I would say you DO have patience. btw, in that photo of the LED strip that you put on the building floor, I assume you just cut that strip off the larger multi-strips that it was attached to? I see two wires sticking out from the strip that don't seem to be stripped or attached to anything yet the LEDs are lit. is that how it works and you just leave those wires as is? thanks.

jerrman
Originally Posted by Jerrman:
Lee, great work on the boat shed. I would say you DO have patience. btw, in that photo of the LED strip that you put on the building floor, I assume you just cut that strip off the larger multi-strips that it was attached to? I see two wires sticking out from the strip that don't seem to be stripped or attached to anything yet the LEDs are lit. is that how it works and you just leave those wires as is? thanks.

jerrman

Yes, they come in strips of twenty or more and have two-sided tape on the back already.  I have two of three strips, and have never used more than two in any building. 

I made some improvements.  This was always planned, but I thought it best to make the boat first and then make the pier it would be alongside.

 

Here it is on the work bench.  Simple but the dimensions and all have to be just right . . . In my posting on making the boat, MY PI, I said I used the interiors of two diecast model cars for the seats and such of the boat.  Here are the tires from the car . . . 

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Its made from a wood yardstick - I buy them at Lowe's by the dozen when on sale: nothing like them for small projects and you don't even have to measure!  Already marked.

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The biggest reason I felt I needed to make this is not, frankly, that I needed a pier there a "boat level" , but rather I needed to "insert" posts holding up the end of the wooden pier at building level.  Here is the boatyard with the boat and all pulled away.  You can see why . . . 

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This pier was made so its longer, thicker posts in back slip right under the lip of the upper, and if sits at the right height, with the right length, below.

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The boat looks good right alongside . . . 

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Now that's a dock.

 

First mate to the bow, we're docking for fuel. Guests have 15 minutes for going ashore.

 

 A lamp pointed down at the pump? Easy to be seen from the water. It is great for navigating to in the dark. And gives the bugs something to do while they wait for you.

How much is the price of fuel? I'm not paying more than 25¢ a gallon

 Never too low in a big boat!

 Short versions of some pretty old, gas station signs, were once along the Detroit river. It was the last place I saw a lit Pegasus I think! And Standard! 

 Remember the metal frame-swinging baked enamel signs? Actually, most of the old signs I know were there on the river "forever".  

 

Thanks Adriatic.  Speaking of details that no one will ever see, that gas pump is one I got from diecastdirect and it actually has readable (a jeweler's loop helps) price and gallon's dispensed numbers, etc., on it.  Price is nineteen cents per gallon! 

 

I would love to get a couple of those old hanging signs.  I know exactly what you are talking about. 

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