Great day.

It was a perfect day Sunday for a car show at the Fraze Pavillion in Lincoln Park. Down this year from the past by quite a bit, some 200 cars, due to the Memorial day weekend probably. Still, the quality of the 100 or so cars was great. Two Panteras with totally chromed engines. Lexus and Audi made big showings this year along with some vintage BMW's. The American muscle car was left short. Only about 15 to 20 of which two were PT's and one a Prowler. Two Mustangs, a '69 and an '06 and they were both great. Of course the Brits were out in force but naturally the Germans took center stage, after all the show is put on by a Porsche museum owner and garage owner. This is looking west up Lincoln Park and the east looks the same.

Right up my alley.

Now you know what I can afford. The truty comes out. There was more chrome on the red Jag's engine next to this than there was paint on the VW.

Not bad

Now, I can see myself driving this.

For Sale

Well, I found my car at a local car show. Beautiful '88 Carrera. Low mileage, clean paint.

Garage mural update

I have started the second car in the garage. Today I did some gray and black. The wheels take sooooooo long if you want them to turn out right. Fortunately, this is a drawing so it doesn't have to be perfect. I do like it to look good within 5 feet or so thou. There has been a command decision made. The Vettes on the left wall are now going on the wall to the left of the first Porsches. Currently there is a LeMans banner there that my good pal, best friend Gene brought back from Canada last year for me. It will go on the wall where the Vettes were going. I am going to seperate the name Corvette from the bottom car, reverse the image so that the nose is facing the center of the garage and not putting up the upper car. It should balance this wall perfectly. After all this, I will paint the floor and possibly strip it. I like the idea of a double yellow down the middle and maybe a strip all the way around the garage in Porsche colors, red and black and gold. The other idea is a dashed white line with tire tracks parallel to it going from the lower corner in by the big door to the upper corner in the back where the cars are. Open to ideas. Not everybody at once.

Airbrush update

The airbrushing is starting to come along. I say the heck with big box stores. All along I figured that the problem I was having with the airbrush was ME. Never used one before and lack of talent. Wasn't hard to figure out even though the instructions leave a lot to be desired. Did some reading on the web and watched some Youtube demos. Still had trouble so I figured I would take it back to Smitty's Hobby Store where I bought it. At first Smitty, yes there is a Smitty, was a little reluctant and didn't quite understand what my problem was. I had taken a picture on a 4 x 6 card and he thought I was trying to get real detailed and doing something that the gun wasn't designed to do. Once I got him to realize this was on a wall he began to come around and willing to help. He offered my money back but I wanted to know why I couldn't control the gun. He uses a gun all the time. He paints rail road layouts and the trains and cars. I found out that he is 75 yrs. old and that he has three brothers that work there too, one of which is 78. Don't know anything else about the others. Smitty is also a ART graduate of the University of Dayton and took airbrushing way back when. I convinced him to keep the gun over night and give it a try at his convenience. We exchanged numbers and he told me to call him after lunch the next day. I called the next day and he said come and get it. He apologized and told me what he found. He wondered how I got it to do what I did because it wasn't getting air correctly. He replaced an "o" ring in the trigger part and then took the time to go through the gun on set up and cleaning. It took me 4 hrs. to do most of the upper car in the pictures and only about 1.5 to do the bottom car. They aren't done but they are close. These don't have much color in them, turn signals and tail lights. I need to finish the wording, which will be real easy now that the gun is working and the Porsche logo needs cleaned up and color added. There is a car penciled on the wall to the right that will have some color and then there are the two Vettes to the left. Bottom line is that I would not have gotten all the info at a big box store, just a return. Thank you Smitty.

Garden Update

Just a short update on the square foot garden. Doing well considering the weather. Too much wind and the temps could be a tad higher for some of the crops. Cukes have taken a beating with the winds and the peppers could use some warmer weather. We have had lettuce, radishes and of course onions already. Planted four types of lettuce and the one I tried won't make it much longer. It will be replace with radishes. Currently it is above the onions while radishes are to the right and more above them. The whites aren't ready at all and the reds are still a tad small. Chives are ready for the baked potatoe or the sprinkling on the steak on the barbie. Peppers and tomatoes have flowers and some have set fruit.

Trial car

I did as the wife suggested and traced part of a car on wrapping paper we had left over from moving, hence all the little blue pieces of tape. I started with the middle needle size that came with the gun and the color was red. You can see that I had a blow-out near the "G" in GT-3. I changed color and tips and things got much better. Still learing how to get the size of spray I want and since these are not to look real, except for the Vettes, I think I am ready to start on the the cars. It will take time and comfort is going to be a bit of a hassle on the one over the sink. Hopefully I will get the aid of the graphic designer / industrial designer in the family for blending and high lighting. I can buy chrome paint as well as metallic but I don't see the need unless I have to do it myself.

Airbrushing

I have great expectations of myself. You see here, pictures of cars that I have traced on my garage walls so that I can airbrush them. Unlike my daughter and son-in-law, I have zippo talent when it comes to free hand stuff. I have purchased a Paasche airbrush and today I found a place that sells the paints as well. Wish I had found them first. I bought the brush at Smitty's Hobby store and paid more than I would have at this really neat art store. This evening I practiced using a green that probably won't hit the walls. I also found that a little paint goes a long long way. I had maybe a quarter of an ounce of paint in the cup and poured 1/2 of it out because I was done playing around. Tomorrow I am going to set the overhead with flimsy and trace on some plain paper and do some more practicing.