Luke's Garage & Gas Station

[Barney]

Excellent Workmanship and different   - This large scale certainly has appeal
Barney   

[Stuart]

Aside from my lubester, my main focus has been the completion of my two Tokheim clock face gas pumps.  All that remains is to finish the clock faces with their accompanying pointers, glass faces, bezels and the hoses and nozzles.  The glass globes at the top of each pump light up and there is a small light in the cowling above each clock face.  In a future post I will show the lighted version.



Actually the clock face decals I show here will be removed as I have hit upon a better idea for creating the finished face.  Originally I was simply going to stack the components on the face of the model, i.e. clock face decal, clock hands and then add the bezel and glass face.  The glass face was to be a thin clear plastic disk cut to fit and glued just inside the bezel.  But as I tried to glue the plastic disk in place I was unable to create a clean glue line that stayed anywhere close to being in scale.  So, taking a clue from Volker's excellent rendition of a clock and watch shop where he used UV cured resin to make his watch and clock faces, I am trying a new approach.





Using my original bezels I have soldered a .005" piece of brass sheet to the backside of each ring thus creating a very shallow dish.  Inside each "dish" I will place the clock face decal and the hands (or pointers) in their appropriate locations and then pour a very thin layer of clear epoxy resin over everything.  To ensure a bubble free result I'll place the pieces in a pressure chamber while the resin cures.



Primed and ready for the next step.

[Lawrence@NZFinescale]

To ensure a bubble free result I'll place the pieces in a pressure chamber while the resin cures.

Lovely.

It's pretty common to remove resin bubbles by passing a gas flame (or heat gun) over the part (not really enough to actually heat anything much).  Fast and very effective.

[Hydrostat]

My lubester is about finished.  Perhaps just a little more grime and oil spill, but it's about where I want it.

Looks very good - maybe some additional blackish grime at the edges of tank surface and bolt-on parts.

[Sami]

I like your work !

[Ray Dunakin]

Those gas pumps look amazing already!

[Mobilgas]

waiting to see how you do the glass face on the gas pump

[Stuart]

Hello Craig,

Sorry for the long gap between my posts. 

It took some experimenting with the resin method of creating the "glass" faces on the gas pump dials.  Originally I had a local graphics shop print the black and white clock face on something called crack-and-peel.  It is a glossy paper product with an adhesive backing.  The paper face receives the printed image, and then the back of the image is peeled off to expose an adhesive surface. I trimmed the image to match the circular metal disk, adhered the trimmed image to the metal disk and then placed the bezel piece over the disk. A bit of CA glue was used to attach the disk and bezel together thus making a shallow dish into which the clear resin was poured.

The clock hands, or pointers, were created using the photo etch process.  I prepared the art work using Adobe Photoshop and then used the photo etch kit, available from Mico-mark, to produce the small parts.  The hands were assembled as a single unit and then placed in the center of the dial.  Once all the pieces were in place I mixed and poured clear resin epoxy into the cavity and gently nudged the material into place with a small brush, being careful to work out any bubbles that cropped up.

This whole process worked well until I discovered that the now hardened resin had seeped under the printed paper surface and made an ugly discoloration around the edge of the dial.  NOT APPROPRIATE!  I needed to find another material or method of printing the dial that would not be effected by the resin.  My next choice was to reprint the dial on white decal paper hoping that the thin plastic decal material would not be adversely effected by the chemistry of the resin. 

I once again went through the process of preparing new bezels (3D printed), cutting and shaping new metal disks and preparing and assembling the photo etched pointers.  I poured the resin and was relieved to find my second attempt went smoothly.

Once I was satisfied with the completed product, they were epoxied to their respective gas pump surfaces.



This photo shows completed clock faces, a 3D printed bezel, a metal backing disk, assembled pointers and decal sheets.



The completed gas pumps in place.

[Bill Gill]

Do you think the resin partially dissolved the adhesive on the back of the crack-&-peel paper, or perhaps it seeped under an area that wasn't fully adhered to the metal backing?

Either way the second version using decal paper turned out very well, and the "glass" faces look smooth and flat.

[finescalerr]

I'm glad I'm not the only modeler whose first attempts sometimes can be disappointing. Your results are exceptional. Most satisfactory. -- Russ

[Stuart]

Bill -

Actually I had the feeling that the paper edge of the crack-n-peel might tend to wick up the liquid resin so I took the precaution of sealing the edge by painting the interior of the assembled ring with a liberal coat of Vallejo satin finish.  Unfortunately either that was not the correct product to use or I needed to apply a heavier coat.  At any rate, even though the mistake caused me frustration and a fair amount of additional work, I now know what to expect in the future should I be faced with a similar situation. 

Stuart

[Stuart]

As night time falls and Luke closes up shop for the day, he leaves the pump lights glowing as a warm and friendly wave to late night travelers.

[Stuart]

The next morning.

[Bill Gill]

Looks terrific anytime, Stuart.

[finescalerr]

That's a pretty fancy gas station with its hardwood driveway. Your work on those gas pumps is acceptable. -- Russ