Workshop/Marquee Finished. Updated Dec. 19th, 2017

[bob letterman]

A Dual Project Updated October 4th, 2016

Thanks Helios!!

Man, you do good work!
Nice to see the early store picture, gives a since of history to the "personnel display area in your private carriage house" :tomato [sub]never mind[/sub]

Thanks Prop Duster

Hmmmmm, Private Carriage House. That has a nice sound to it! But it's only a garage!

Bob

 

[bob letterman]

A Dual Project Updated October 4th, 2016

Starting the Movie Marquee.

AS I have never done anything like this previously, I'll build it and figure it out as I go along. I am using two sheets of Luan, 1/4 inch, (6.3 mm), thick. Then some one X four inch. (25 X 100mm), pieces of wood to give it the correct height and will later be a part of the bracing. The area it is to cover is 62 inches (1575 mm), by 15 inches, (380 mm). It will have a typical American Movie theater marquee appearance such as they were in my earliest memories from back in the 1940s. The entire marquee with have a bronze/brass patina as it would have aged since it was built in the 1920s. A verde green patina.

It will have the translucent white, backlit marquee, with the familiar horizontal and vertical lines typically seen on all marquees. I will use the name "Mozark" as when I was a kid, there was a theater of that name downtown where I grew up. They tore it down in 1952. I was sad because the Mozark played all my favorite Roy Rogers movies.

It will be placed above the new media room door and will have two massive piers that will extend from the upper sides of the door frame to support the marquee, with lots of scroll work. Immediately below the piers will be two elongated picture frames that will contain movie posters such as Star Wars, The Godfather, My Pal Trigger, etc.

The front backlit panel will be surrounded with scroll work and have the name Mozark in glittery gold letters. On the sides, I hope to have "Now Showing" letters and a different movie on each side. Marquees come in many shapes and designs, but this photo illustrates one as close to the one I am making as I could find.

Here are some various marquees from the old days.

So, here is where I started. The basic shape and structure of the marquee.

Fitting the white translucent panels.

]

A hundred mini-lights. There will be 200 in all.

Some of the scroll work to give it a really old appearance. When I was a kid, all movie theaters were like palaces, at least to my little brain. So elegant and fancy!

Looking at the rear of the marquee. Those two uprights will be where the marquee is attached to the wall. The top will be attached to the ceiling.

The front, test fitting and measuring the exterior framework with it's scrollwork.

To be continued

 

[Heavens Eagle]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016

Cool Bob! I like it!!

Maybe I should make some photos and posts on something I am doing for work. I need to make an enclosure for the watch cleaning machines (that can get a little smelly and sling solution around) After looking at what you are building it could give someone an idea on how to build a custom display case.

Also if anyone is interested, a friend told me about a place to get aluminum extrusions that are designed for all kinds of applications. (like making said cases and enclosures).

Didn't intend to hijack your thread Bob, just what you posted got me brain storming.

 

[moon puppy]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016

 

[lupanzer]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016

Very interesting...

Luiz

 

[White_Wolf]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016

This is so cool


There were no such things in my world when I was young, but I do remember seeing them on TV, always loved the look of those artistic creations.

Watching this with interest


Laurence

 

[Prop Duster]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016

Great Idea Bob.
With your skill set this will be a hum-dinger

 

[jknaus]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016


James

 

[helios]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016



Love it!

 

[bob letterman]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016

Cool Bob! I like it!!

Maybe I should make some photos and posts on something I am doing for work. I need to make an enclosure for the watch cleaning machines (that can get a little smelly and sling solution around) After looking at what you are building it could give someone an idea on how to build a custom display case.

Also if anyone is interested, a friend told me about a place to get aluminum extrusions that are designed for all kinds of applications. (like making said cases and enclosures).

Didn't intend to hijack your thread Bob, just what you posted got me brain storming.

Thanks, Go for it, all you can do is learn something!

Bob

Thanks Son, trust me, it'll start looking good somewhere down the line!

Dad

Very interesting...

Luiz

Thank you Sir!

Bob

 

[bob letterman]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016

This is so cool


There were no such things in my world when I was young, but I do remember seeing them on TV, always loved the look of those artistic creations.

Watching this with interest


Laurence

Laurence,

I only wish I had the time and space to build a real one. I loved those things when I was a kid!

Bob

Great Idea Bob.
With your skill set this will be a hum-dinger

Thanks Steve,

The problem is, I don';t have a skill set for this project. Never done one before.

I hope you're right!

Bob

James

Thanks James!

Love it!

Thanks Helios!

Bob

 

[bob letterman]

A Dual Project Updated October 11th, 2016

OK, I got some more done today. Mostly this requires a lot of measuring and remeasuring. The numbers have to be perfect or it won't fit in the space available for it.

I mostly worked on the face of the marquee. I have made a panel the right size and shape to exactly fit the opening. Once finished and painted, the white Lexan translucent panel will screw into the back of this.

Here it is full length. Lots more curly Qs to add before it is ready to paint and weather.

Here it is placed on top of the face of the marquee. Once all the carpenter's glue is set, I can make certain of the fit. Each of the tiny squares you see in the surround, will be drilled out and a miniature bulb placed in each. They will light independently of each other so the flashing will be random as were the real things way back when!

The scrollwork isn't custom. It consists of commercially available pieces that can be purchased at any Lowe's or Home depot. They have to be cut to fit, sometimes adding custom scrollwork I will make from Milliput.

I will be adding a scrolled border on the inside of what you see here. I will have to mate that with the scroll work already affixed so it will all appear to be matched.

Note these two pieces of scrollwork overlap. I will shape them to fit on a belt sander as i did the other end.

Here it is with the lexan in the back that will be eventually installed permanently.

To be continued!

 

[NyteScrybe]

A Dual Project Updated October 17th, 2016

Gee, Poppy. It would've been groovy if you'd passed that talent down to your poor daughter.... :gogo

 

[bob letterman]

A Dual Project Updated October 17th, 2016

Gee, Poppy. It would've been groovy if you'd passed that talent down to your poor daughter.... :gogo

There wasn't much talent to pass along. What I had, I did! Mostly it was all hard work. You are a very hard worker, so, you have everything you need. You just happen to like writing books instead! That probably has more of a future, so get going! By the way, Guys, my daughter Gail is now a published author. You can see her first book on Amazon. Check it out!!!

How Not to be a High School Girl in the 70s.

Pop/Bob

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xhow+not+to+be+a+high+school+girl+in+the+70s.TRS0&_nkw=how+not+to+be+a+high+school+girl+in+the+70s&_sacat=267

 

[Prop Duster]

A Dual Project Updated October 17th, 2016

Bob now you'll have to make an "authors showcase" for all of Gail's book(s)- good thing your retired so you have all that extra time

Oh, and Congratulations Gail on your first publishing

.
With your dad making pictures without words and you making pictures from words, seems to strike a good family balance.

 

[White_Wolf]

A Dual Project Updated October 17th, 2016

Gee, Poppy. It would've been groovy if you'd passed that talent down to your poor daughter.... :gogo

There wasn't much talent to pass along. What I had, I did! Mostly it was all hard work. You are a very hard worker, so, you have everything you need. You just happen to like writing books instead! That probably has more of a future, so get going! By the way, Guys, my daughter Gail is now a published author. You can see her first book on Amazon. Check it out!!!

How Not to be a High School Girl in the 70s.

Pop/Bob

Congrats Gail, great achievement

If I had any talent as a writer, I would really love to do that myself one day.

Errmmm ... not much talent to pass along ???


Laurence

 

[bob letterman]

A Dual Project Updated October 17th, 2016

Gee, Poppy. It would've been groovy if you'd passed that talent down to your poor daughter.... :gogo

There wasn't much talent to pass along. What I had, I did! Mostly it was all hard work. You are a very hard worker, so, you have everything you need. You just happen to like writing books instead! That probably has more of a future, so get going! By the way, Guys, my daughter Gail is now a published author. You can see her first book on Amazon. Check it out!!!

How Not to be a High School Girl in the 70s.

Pop/Bob

Congrats Gail, great achievement

If I had any talent as a writer, I would really love to do that myself one day.

Errmmm ... not much talent to pass along ???


Laurence

Hey Laurence,

I wish i had had a lot more. Let's just say I made the best of what little I did have. Back when I used to compete, I always assumed that I would have the least amount of natural talent at any competition. That always made me work harder. I learned that hard work can sometimes overcome greater talent, not always, but sometimes!

Bob

 

[Duke Maddog]

A Dual Project Updated October 17th, 2016

That's where I stand now. I haven't the talent but I do work hard at making things look as best I can. Still, I build for fun and if my meager efforts garner me an award, then that is just cream.

 

[bob letterman]

A Dual Project Updated October 17th, 2016

That's where I stand now. I haven't the talent but I do work hard at making things look as best I can. Still, I build for fun and if my meager efforts garner me an award, then that is just cream.

Couldn't agree more!!!!!

Now, another update. Here I am making one of the end panels. When this dries, I will add the remainder of the frame as in the one already finished.

Here is the marquee so far. Note the three holes in the bottom. After installation, they will be covered with light fixture openings, also round with chrome rings, so the light will shine through these as well, lighting the door to the media room.

Here is a close up of some of the scroll work The white translucent Lucite panels will be attached to this, which in turn will be glued to the unit itself.

A shot from another angle.

Ditto.

Ditto

Here I have began to drill holes the exact size of the miniature lights. There will be 300 altogether. (I had to buy another hundred as I found 200 wasn't sufficient to do the job!

You can see the holes a little better in this shot! Once it has all been painted and weathered, (Yes! Weathered), before I begin assembly, the lights will be mounted and secured in place. The main lighting for the backlit panels consist of three 24 inch LED strip lights. I had to use LED exclusively on this project as the unit will be completely sealed and the heat from normal lighting would have been a problem!

Till next time!

Bob

 

[moon puppy]

A Dual Project Updated October 17th, 2016

Fancy!!! :dude