1/2" Scale project still in progress (somehow)

[Ken Hamilton]

Our company pulls underground storage tanks every day and, for what it's worth,
I can vouch for the fact that Chuck's fill pipe is so real it's frightening.

Chuck:......"Most old ones I found had a rusty head but not the fill pipe...don't know why..."

(The pipe is galvanized - the cap isn't)

[Gordon Ferguson]

Presume its different in the states, but here the pipes were galvanised and the "cap" was threaded on and was brass...... something to do with reducing the chance of sparks 

[lab-dad]

needs a padlock 
Perfect color! thanks for the recipe!
-Mj

[Ken Hamilton]

needs a padlock

(.....vandals.....)

[marc_reusser]

Ken,

I thought ...."the vandals took the handle"   and not the padlock.  (that's why "the pump don't work"). 

MR

[Ken Hamilton]

....wants eleven dollar bills - you only got TEN....

[Chuck Doan]

Thanks all! Ken, thanks for the informed info. Gordon, that makes sense since the hose nozzles were non-ferrous, but most of the pics show really rusty covers. Guess they closed 'em reaaly carefuly!

I might do a padlock Marty, but I have to do one or two for the garage doors and I might make an extra if I don't get tired of making them.

Dan, one advantage of my locale is pretty abundant lighting! I notice the Euro military guys almost never shoot outdoors-guess I take the sunshine for granted!

Heres a tall fill pipe:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/windsurfgirl/221961130/

[marc_reusser]

Neat pic. Interesting detail of the marks of the old circular gas pump and bolts under the "new" pump.

Marc

[Chuck Doan]

At the risk of overdoing a technique, I re-did some of the flashing/patches using the hairspray crackle method over .005 styrene material:
Testors Flat Black base coat-dry 20 min.
Fairly heavy aerosol Treseme hairspray-dry 10 min.
Light seal coat of Flat Black spray-dry 10 min.
Water-thinned, brushed on coats of Polly Scale colors that match the wall. Wait till just dry. (airbrushing should work too, perhaps even better)
Hit with hair dryer on hot, crackles appear.
Start removing paint at bottom edge with small water wet stiff paintbrush.
Fade with white gwosh applied with a sponge, seal with Dullcoat.
Add rust gwosh, Bragdon powders to chipped areas using sharp brush, sponge and stump- seal with Dullcoat.
Apply thinned gwosh along crackles with brush, then blend with a sharp wet toothpick. 

[Ray Dunakin]

Very nice! You keep finding ways to improve upon perfection!

[james_coldicott]

Hi Chuck,

fantastic work as ever- really love the crackled finish you got on that flashing. Attached a picture of the hoppers on my house which currently display exactly the same weathering pattern- great to see this kind of finish on a model but the reality not so much fun- can feel some serious shot blasting coming on!

Thanks also for the info on how you accomplished your crackle and the galv filler pipe.

James

[Ken Hamilton]

Chuck, I've been experimenting with all sort of things trying to get a scale crackle effect,
but nothing has worked so far.  This is FANTASTIC!  Thanks for not keeping it to yourself.......

PS:  You did say at one point that you just use rattle-cans, right?  (IE: No airbrushing)

[Damn Cranky]

Wow!!!  I'm really blown away by the small scale crackling!

[Chuck Doan]

Thanks! James, that is a great downspout! Ken, yes, I only used spray cans for the under and seal coats. I think airbrushing would work for the acyrlic coat too instead of brushing, I don't think it would effect the result.

I'm going to practice on some styrene tubing to simulate the gas pump body to see if it will work for that.

[finescalerr]

Adequate. -- Russ