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Art & Inspiration Lettering the Koopmeiners & Sons 55 chevy gasser

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Von Hartmann, Oct 27, 2011.

  1. Von Hartmann
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 988

    Von Hartmann
    Member

    Hello everybody, I felt compelled to share my documentation of the lettering I did on Falfasnightmare's 55 chevy. It's a 301 powered, 4 speed crash box drag machine.

    I'm long overdue posting this, since it was finished around the 1st of July this year in time for the 2nd annual Meltdown Drags. This is the second 55 I lettered for Eric.

    This car has drag history. Maybe Eric will chime in to tell the story, and hopefully with some old photos?... Eric restored/built the car without knowing the previous history, which was discovered after finishing the car and racing it. He came to me with a desire to replace the decals with an era correct lettering job, without changing the look of the car.

    Here are the before pictures
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    The first step was to create a new skull which had more of a realistic 60s feel, much like Roth's "Death before dishonor" decal. Eric wanted the skull to look mean, so I did my best to create a more aggressive one with the same feel vintage feel. I created a simple template to use a baseline in order to make each side identical. The templates main purpose is for a reference. The final painting in all free hand.
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    On to removing the decals and cleaning the surface.
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    Once it was cleaned, I laid out each side with an ultrafine orange pen. Something to keep in mind when using pens, they will sometimes bleed through the lettering enamel or effect the curing process. Too much pen can result in a headache.
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    After laying out the image on both doors, I proceeded to lay the silver leaf for the inner stripe of the Iron Cross. I then engine turned the silver leaf (1st attemp at engine turning).
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    And the second door...
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    Last edited: Oct 27, 2011
  2. Von Hartmann
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 988

    Von Hartmann
    Member

    After finishing the silver leaf, I began gilding the letters in copper leaf. I changed the font to a more appropriate German styled font.

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    After a few days of work, the leafing was finished. To put it into perspective, to get to this point, I laid out the font, brushed the letters in gilding size, layed the leaf, dusted the excess leaf off, and brushed clear coat on all the leafed areas. By now I have done each letter 4 times per door.

    I was ready to begin painting. I started with black, and in a short time it looked like I was finally really making some progress!
    [​IMG]
     
  3. Von Hartmann
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 988

    Von Hartmann
    Member

    I mixed a dirty yellow and painted in the skulls.
    [​IMG]

    And added some detail
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    Driver side
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  4. Von Hartmann
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 988

    Von Hartmann
    Member

    FUN with Ivory.


    I added some more detail to the skulls in ivory. I wasn't done with the letters yet. They all needed to be outlined.
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  5. Von Hartmann
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 988

    Von Hartmann
    Member

    I couple more and I'll be done boring you with pictures of the same thing.

    [​IMG]



    After the doors were done, I peeled off the front fender decals and painted those on too.
    [​IMG]
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  6. kustom kolors
    Joined: Dec 5, 2010
    Posts: 30

    kustom kolors
    Member

    Nice job, what type of size, is it waterbased ?
    I have some gold leaf lettering to do on the old Brooklyn Heavy Duster.
     
  7. Von Hartmann
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 988

    Von Hartmann
    Member

    I tried 1-shot gilding size on this project. It is oil based. In the past, I used Rolco size. After using both, I think I prefer the Rolco. It seems to lay smoother at the right tack.
     
  8. Nice...... That '55 is badass also. Thanks for sharing Von Hartmann
     
  9. philly the greek
    Joined: Feb 15, 2009
    Posts: 1,863

    philly the greek
    Member
    from so . cal.

    Look'n good , what about a Reflex Blue pinstripe outline on the aluminum leaf cross ? just a thought.
     
  10. slammed
    Joined: Jun 10, 2004
    Posts: 8,150

    slammed
    Member

  11. malex:.
    Joined: Mar 9, 2009
    Posts: 58

    malex:.
    Member
    from L.A.

    wow!! super clean, nice job
     
  12. Jimbo17
    Joined: Aug 19, 2008
    Posts: 3,959

    Jimbo17
    Member

    Very nice work and the layout is perfect.

    How many total hours did it take to finish.

    Jimbo
     
  13. Nice work! I really like that car.
     
  14. BigNick1959
    Joined: Oct 23, 2006
    Posts: 638

    BigNick1959
    Member

    That car looks a 100% better with hand lettering! You the MAN Von Hartmann! Kick ass job.
     
  15. hotrod_32
    Joined: Mar 8, 2006
    Posts: 496

    hotrod_32
    Member

    Sweet work! Should be proud.
     
  16. Awesome! I dig the style of lettering on that car and the car itself is incrediable! Excellent work, thanks for sharing.
     
  17. BOP-Nut
    Joined: Oct 20, 2008
    Posts: 746

    BOP-Nut
    Member

    Improved it ten fold. Great work.
     
  18. Nice work. Thanks for posting how you did it.
     
  19. dustdevil
    Joined: Mar 2, 2009
    Posts: 815

    dustdevil
    Member
    from illinois

    cool post! I have played around with the leaf myself, definite fun to play with. End result turned out great, good job!!
     
  20. Von Hartmann
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 988

    Von Hartmann
    Member

    Thanks guys. It took me 55 hours total. I finished it in 6 days and as a result, I had one of the worst knots ever in my neck.
     
  21. Von Hartmann
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 988

    Von Hartmann
    Member

    Since I was trying to create a vintage look, I wanted to keep the colors simple. I would say most of the lettering done on race cars in the 60s (of course there are exceptions) were done with an analogous or monochromatic color scheme... or simply colors that are close to each other (red, orange, yellow) or variations of the same color.
     

    Attached Files:

  22. billys54
    Joined: Apr 16, 2006
    Posts: 1,295

    billys54
    Member

  23. Good to see some of the young guys keepin the art alive. Vinyl Sign work has it's place, ....... but NOT on cars like this.

    I've done more freehand brush work this year than I have in a decade or more; even some gilding ........ and I'm lovin it!

    VH, did you do the striping on the decklid too?
     
  24. Von Hartmann
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 988

    Von Hartmann
    Member

    The striping was something that was already on the car. Although I also stripe.
     
  25. Model A John
    Joined: Apr 24, 2008
    Posts: 1,771

    Model A John
    Member
    from wichita ks

    Excellent art work.
     
  26. 1oldracer
    Joined: Dec 3, 2010
    Posts: 195

    1oldracer
    Member

    I agree with Older'n dirt that it is nice to see a young person doing quality hand lettering. Keep it up, don't let this art form die!! Love the colors and the lettering style. Kool!!!! rj
     
  27. Beautiful Job ! I've done Striping and Lettering since 1963 and it's very rewarding to see You Young guys keeping this great art alive ! beats the Hell out of Vinyl !!
     
  28. ToddJ
    Joined: Jul 11, 2008
    Posts: 1,408

    ToddJ
    Member
    from Marion, IA

    Looks KILLER, man! Great job, the leafing really does capture the period look and feel! My hat's off to ya for all the hard work involved in the lettering!
     
  29. Whoa, kick ass job there VH !
    That original was pretty low rent.
    Such a nice car too.
    Really deserved the artist touch.
     
  30. Blacktop Graffiti
    Joined: May 2, 2002
    Posts: 964

    Blacktop Graffiti
    Member

    That just plain rocks.
     

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