Phil cut a kit of parts for a house name sign which I am making as a festive present for friends who have recently acquired a holiday lodge overlooking the Severn Valley Railway (think of my task as therapy to counter my jealousy), and asked me to put up a shot or two of the assembly.
The waterproof MDF (
medium-density fibreboard, Mick
) precision components were collected last week , and it was a real pleasure to assemble them into something resembling a nameplate.
I had asked Phil to let me have the waste piece so I could use it as a template for glueing the letters - I needn't have bothered, as it proved much easier to align them with the letter outlines which Phil had lasered onto the main board. A clamped straight edge made it even more so.
To avoid drilling mounting holes I cut some spacing strips from the spare fret and glued to the rear, allowing the plate to be fastened to its synthetic wood wall by 12mm automotive double-sided tape (as in number plates/body trim). The main benefit of the spacers is to prevent water becoming trapped between wall and plate - not that I don't trust the claims made for waterproof MDF.....
Waterproof PVA wood glue was spread thinly over a sheet of glass and each letter dunked on to give a uniform thin coat. I had ideas of a heavy application so that excess would be squeezed out on positioning which, with the aid of a rounded tool, could be formed into a fillet as in best foundry casting practice. This gave inconsistent and messy results, so plan B was adopted (clean off any excess glue and rely on a thick background paint application for the radius). No doubt there is a suitable filler which could be applied if one wished to create a proper fillet.
Two coats of automotive spray primer are currently being followed by Halfords
Nissan Gold to simulate brass, leaving just a brush coat of Tractol
British racing green synthetic enamel background colour to go on tomorrow.
Thanks to Phil for making this an easy, pleasant task
