I like 30-50's Automobiles, Floquil paints, Digitrax decoders, Arduino Nano's, 3D printed details, and especially handmade Z Scale items, but I don't like money. My face is not printed on it, so I don't trade for it.
Making more progress. The roof was somewhat difficult, requiring 7 design iterations to get this far:
Progress Report, today I figured out how I was going to paint the beast. Still a lot to do, all the details, deal with the top of the roof, paint the concrete base, etc., but I figured out the red pinstripe tiles: Reference Photo:
Sad that so many of these “iconic” designed buildings have gone away. KFC, A&W, McDonald’s, Bob’s Big Boy, and those little nondescript hamburger stands too. Oh the names of most are still out there, but their building architecture all resemble each other. Modern, sterile, lifeless and soulless. There was a different vibe about eating at one of these places back in the day too. Great rock ‘n’ roll was being pumped out through “tinny” speakers outside of the building. The portions were heartier, the toppings and fries were fresher. And if your food was served in a paper sack, the grease that delicious meal was cooked in had probably already soaked through the bag before you got to your table. And lest we not forget the classic cars parked outside….. Excellent work Robert!
Lance, you have successfully described the nostalgia I feel for these old places. I want to capture them in Z before they are all forgotten.
This took a fair amount of work. I had to trace over a photo of the original sign and draw everything in Vector Art so I could scale and print it without pixelization. Next I could draw the arch and laser cut it from clear cast acrylic, and embed 5 LED's inside the signpost and backfill with clear UV resin. I sanded it again to scatter the light, wired in the protection diode and two 1K resistors onto the magnetic base. I spray painted it with a thin coat of flat white, and whn dry, tested the illumination OK. Once that tested working OK, I printed the sign, covered it with shipping tape to plasticize the front of the sign, and cut it out with an Exacto. I glued the sign on both sides, then painted the arches Tamiya Clear Yellow, and Tamiya Clear Red. I still have to add bushes and greenery to hide the base magnets and electronics, but it catches the look of the original 1950's sign just after Ray Krok started pushing franchises with the Coast to Coast logo where the 15¢ used to be. That way I can place my McDonalds anywhere in the US in the 1950's.
Fine tweeking the roof, so this is my second build of the restaurant. I wanted to adjust the light in the arches and get a better light seal between the roof and the interior.
Rob, The McDees just keep getting better! Excellent work. I like the old style sign. Do you have a bead blast cabinet and gun? At work, I use bead blast to get a really nice consistent frosting on the plastic. Scott