Here's the road with basic white lane linesThe Four Lane Road and other backdrops
September 7, 2005
This is my four lane highway built on a nice sunny July afternoon for $47 bucks worth of plywood, 2x4s primer and paint. I started with basic lanes, then added some grass edging, then the yellow center lines.. and just kept going.
At the bottom are photos of a new photo backdrop I made that is resting on the four lane road. I will need to make a parking lot for the backdrop.
I built the road to replace my first generation photo backdrop highway which warped from humidity and dry air over the winter... remember what Dean and Robin told us on Hometime... always prime ALL sides of wood.. I failed to do so and the plywood twisted like a pretzel.
Here's the road with basic white lane lines
Here I used reflective vinyl which peeled up.
The above view shows the 2 foot by 8 foot roadway with the yellow center lane stripes painted on. I've since added grab handles to the main sides for ease in picking up and adjusting for the best angle.
Another above view, note the center lanes are white. The yellow looks much better.
A Peterbilt 378 on the road. Trucks photo nicely with the pavement.
After posting some of these photos on the Hobby Heaven Message Board and receiving interesting ideas to add to the road for photos, I decided to add some more items, not permanent items, rather things that can be moved or added for different effects in photographs.
You could say these photos are what you don't want to see on your cross-country vacation!
Road Construction!
I made a vehicle counting machine too.
Look just ahead of the Diamond Reo and you see part of a disintegrated truck
tire.
Another view of the Road Gator.
Parked for the afternoon.
Another view of the vehicle counter.
To put things back in scale, look behind the manufactured home and you'll see
Rory the dog inspecting her domain.
Ahh, the sign everyone likes to see.
Peterbilt Parts Department - Circa 1970s
My version of the Peterbilt Parts Department from the mid 1970s. The 'building' is luan plywood, the siding is vinyl tape and plastic strips. The stacks of cabs are from the parts bins (extras from kits used as donors for other things, and some built-up cabs from eBay finds, the stack of cabs and the hoods are attached to the building, the hoods act as stabilzers for the facia, as the entire building, cabs and hoods are are movable. (8/22/05)
I've since added a service door for the Parts Dep't, along with a new 4'x4' parking lot that can be used for any display.
As I get more ideas for photo's (or if you have an idea, let me know) I'll try them!
Tim
Experimenting with different primers to try to prevent "ghosting" of
sanded mold seams or body work. These pics show a junked AMT gray plastic
hood that was sanded to remove the side belt line, rivets and the mold
seams. Using BIN spray-can primer there is NO evidence of ANY
ghosting. I topcoated with Duplicolor white and clear. The second photo is
the top of a quickly built Peterbilt 127" long hood. There should be
a visable seam from body work where you can just see the tip of my finger.
No ghosting here either. The third photo shows across the hood where a
seam is.. it doesn't show on the top of the hood or on the side panel. Not
even with 2 color coats and a really thick coat of clear. Pic four shows a
problem.. I really laid the clear on to see if it would attack the paint and get
through to the primer. It didn't bother the white or the primer, but it
did make the edge of the red fuzz into the white and the decal stripes didn't
like all that clear on them in 2 thick coats. Not a problem as this
was done as an experiment in body work anyway. (9/9/2005)