Progress on more little things...

This past week, I have been spending more time focusing on small details for the set.

Last Thursday, I finished the gas pump for the Barrow Filling Station.  After the glue dried on the styrofoam, I smoothed off the edges and base coated it with the same deep red-brown that I used for the rims on the car.  In real life, the pump would have been bright red, but in keeping with my washed out and muted colors, this deep red-brown is much more sepia.  On Saturday,  Gary added rust and grime.  I topped it off with an original Texaco decal, a printed reproduction of the gage dial, and a plastic reproduction of the original glass globes that used to don the tops of gas pumps well into the 1950's.  The finishing touch was an original aluminum nozzle from an antique pump...an eBay find.






Then my attention turned to a prop that Scott specifically requested for the opening scene where Bonnie fantasizes about Clara Bow.  Scott requested a vintage Hollywood movie camera on a rolling tripod.  I certainly wasn't going to buy one, so to make it, I started by laying out the basic shape of the two reel canisters and the camera body on a piece of luan. I then built up the thickness of the body using 1x4s and a second piece of luan.  The reel canisters were layers of styrofoam glued up and formed into shape.  Meanwhile, Melanie fabricated the tripod. Finally the lenses and viewfinder were made of PVC plumbing fittings and pipe.  The whole camera and tripod painted in gray, with the legs of the tripod dry-brushed like wood.  Gary added a few silver accents to pop out key features.








Finally, to establish the bank facade,  Melanie and I developed an old-fashioned brass clock, like the kind that used to hang on the corner of banks as early as the turn of the century.  Using luan and 2x2s, we created two sides of what would normally be a four-sided clock cabinet.  We only need two sides facing the audience to show three-dimensionality.  After a base coat of gold paint, I created the clock faces and "stained glass" bank sign in Photoshop and printed them on the color printer.  With lights inside the cabinet, they will glow lightly and a little dusty looking, being paper and not painted glass.


This morning, Larry, Glenn Saltamachia and I picked up the panels that I made for the brownstone for Funny Girl at Stray Dog. We dropped at the theater, those panels along with the gas pump, movie camera and a vintage hair dryer that I picked up outside Hannibal on Sunday.

Gary, Sharon and I will repaint the panels along with the brick-work from RENT and repurpose them as pieces of building facades floating in our B&C dream locations.

I will wrap up the clock and whip together the bars for the jail cell and the fence for the car scenes. I am stalling on the gas station while the exact form mulls in my head.  By the weekend, I should be cranking on it.

Until next time...
R