Cheers Graeme; Irrigation line sounds the way to go, then. I've been getting my foamboard from the evil green hadware shed. My local one used to sell 3ft x 4ft sheets. kept it with the MDF and corflute, but stopped carrying it. Ended up finding more foamboard from the polycarb sheeting section, of all places. It's still white 3mm foambaoard, but it's noticeably harder to cut and carve. Unlike the old stuff that I used in this pub, it has a slight "grain"to it's surface, which can result in the surface layer of PVC tearing slightly, if carved against the grain with too much pressure. Worse still, the sheets are only
2ft by 4ft, and about 50% dearer by sq ft! And good luck trying to find it on their website.. It's certainly usable though, having made a bank and now mill traffic office with it, and plans for more yet.. Still have 1½ sheets left, but when I need more, I'm going to a plastics wholesaler; they're all over the place. They supply 4x8 sheets, and multiple thicknesses. Probably cheaper, too.. I know that was a bit long-winded.
29/03/21
With
"Victoria" overhauled and awaiting testing, the bench was clear for the pub to re-occupy it. The downpipes (non-funcional, they'd just clog) had been made some months ago, and could now be fitted using screw eye-hooks for picture hanging, as "good enough" mounting brackets. Holes were pilot drilled for them and Sikaflex applied to the "threads" before screwing them in. After fitting the downpipes, the brackets were etch-primed.
02/04/21
After more practice by lettering the aforementioned bank, it was time to bite the bullet and letter the fascia. I don't have the skill to hand-draw my templates, so these were made in the computer, reversed, and printed out some months ago. A hard charcoal pencil (with frequent stops for sharpening) is then carefully used to outline the letters.
The outlined templates were then carefully positioned on the fascia, taking my time to ensure they were correctly located. With that, one could see the letters' edges through the paper; these edges need to be rubbed with something, to transfer the charcoal pencil outlining to the fascia surface. I find a cheap ballpoint pen is best, as the ball rolls over the paper without tearing it, and the ink lubricates the ball and shows clearly where you've already been over, without soaking
through the paper. Carefully flipping up the paper reveals where the charcoal didn't properly transfer, so you could either run the pen over the paper again, or touch up the surface directly with the pencil.
03/04/21
With the guide lines in place, it was time for the scary bit - which as you may have gathered by now, isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
In the past, I've used with little success, regular brushes and enamel paint. But using proper signwriting brushes and lettering enamel makes all the difference. The home-made mahl stick provides support for your painting hand, and is a huge help for both accuracy, and keeping your hand from smudging the lines or fresh paint.
Because lettering enamel has so much pigment in it, it usually covers in a single coat. Which is good, because if you have to re-coat the edges; that's where mistakes creep in, because we're human and our hands are rarely able to perfectly repeat earlier brush strokes. So you end up having to wipe off and re-try these areas, over and over again until you get it right. Of course this issue reduces with experience, but using paint that covers in the first coat really cuts out most of this problem. There are still spots that need a second coat, but with letters this size at least, these are rarely the edges due to the way the paint flows, leaving a slightly thicker and thus better-covering coat around the edges of your letters.
This is just my experience anyway. If you've a knack for accurately brush-painting models, you may also have a knack for signwriting, because most of that skill transfers over.
The paint was a bit gloopy and thick on the brush here; it's hard to paint and balance and camera on your knee at once.
After the second coat, that was the red done. It's not quite perfect, but the shading/outlining is yet to come and will hide that. Will give it another week to cure, then start the black shading..