Had a break since July and only managed to do a few colours of the central instrument - the ' navigation computer'. This was a bit tricky as it was very detailed in parts and registering the colours was difficult especially when small areas of the blue coat peeled off when removing layers of masking tape! Not too worried about it though, as the end result is supposed to be slightly off-register in keeping with the original printing method. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

Started on the artwork this week. Below shows the initial stages of trying out different images of gauges, locating their positions and working out colour schemes. Looked at a couple of books on vintage toys to get a rough idea of the kind of colour combinations that are used. The toy industry isn't afraid of using mad colours - lime green tanks with chrome tracked wheels?! Fantastic. Used Illustrator on the Mac to compose the drawings but I like to use felt pens to experiment with colour. Whenever I use felt pens I always think about this character I used to see wandering around Burnley, in the 70's, who wore a couple of mexican bandelero bullet belts across his chest. Instead of ammo, the belts were full of felt-tipped pens! I've no idea what the hell he was up to but, hey...great idea.

Gave the primed aluminium panel 2 coats of Rover Java Green the other day. I'm sticking with Halfords paints for this one to test them out. So far so good. Not much left out of a 300ml can though.



I like spraying outdoors as the fumes dissipate quickly. However, you have to deal with airborne dust and stuff. When it was dry I put the panel against the shed in the sunlight and instantly it was covered with hundreds of little black flies! When I put the panel in the shade they disappeared. What's that all about?

Managed to get some time at the weekend to prep the aluminium sheet. To make sure the primer really sticks to the aluminium I sanded down the surface with an abrasive pad. Gives it a bit of a 'tooth'.


I then degreased it with a warm water/detergent mix and rinsed it off with cold water using a watering can. Areas like this (below) where the water was quickly repelled, indicated grease spots and required repeat degreasing.


When dry, I sprayed 2 coats of Halfords grey primer following the instructions on the can and allowed it to dry/harden for 24hrs.


Using 800 grit wet & dry paper I sanded the primer layer smooth. A good tip is to soak the wet & dry in a bowl of warm soapy water for 10 minutes before sanding. The detergent acts like a lubricant and stops the primer clogging too much. A good wash down with water and the aluminium panel is now primed and ready for action!

I have a tin toy jeep (Japanese, 'Modern Toys' make, late 60's I think) that has the usual 'bump-and-go' feature (until I broke the 'mystery action' - hidden spinny wheel thing). It also has a curved screen on the back onto which is projected a 'battle scene' - some trippy sequence of poorly drawn cartoon tanks. Great fun, but the best bit, for me, is the printed artwork. I love the bold colours, odd use of text and, of course, the miniature instrument panel details. Thought it would be interesting to take certain elements of the design and scale them up to life-size and paint them on a panel.


The main part of the toy was made from tin plate, litho printed in four colours. So to replicate that style (not having access to a large litho press) I aim to paint onto sheet metal (aluminium) using stencil techniques. I'll also be using spray paint to give a gloss, flat colour in keeping with the original colour process - sort of. It's more like an opportunity to play with some wacky spray paint colours. Aaah...I can smell that xylene now!