The Beatles 1964 Fab Four set

[Reinhardt]

Yes, that's why I mentioned it.

Will have to check out this new documentary! Up to now I haven't really seen any Doors documentaries that have been good.

 

[yodasan]

One set of suits are ready. So whoever wants them can pay pal whenever. I really need a head count on who wants suits.

Too late - but please put me down on the list for all four suits please.

 

[2000man]

One set of suits are ready. So whoever wants them can pay pal whenever. I really need a head count on who wants suits.

Please put me down for a set of suits

 

[A.L.I.E.N]

Hey dont mock Oasis. dont you know they consider themselves the best band of all time!

Thats because they are the best band of all time mate, didn't ya know? Im the biggest Oasis fan on the board

 

[thecapn]

Hey Spenser, I'm definitely down for suits. Sign me up for the next (well, after pjam maybe!)

 

[pjam]

I'm doing my own for the time being, Cap'n so you're ahead of me.

PS Got fabritac in so I should have my suits done this weekend.

Mike, I'm now thinking of getting gold magic color instead of apricot for the cymbals. What do you think?

Pjam,
Hoe long did it take you to get the drumset? I ordered one and its been around 2 weeks and nothin!

Pretty fast. About 7- 10 days I think. I would email asselerate, he's a trusted Seller.

 

[siquisiri]

Pjam,
Hoe long did it take you to get the drumset? I ordered one and its been around 2 weeks and nothin!

 

[mikeap001]

I got the same drumset from asellerate. It took about 4 weeks to get to me in Maryland. The drumset looks good and it's real close to the real Ringo Ludwig set in sixth scale (his base/bass drum measures 22 inches which would be 3.67 inches compared to 3.5 inches for the asellerate set which would scale up to 21 inches). The main problems seems to be the drumsticks which look too big (but a 1/16" dowel or round toothpicks fattened with putty might fix that) and the cymbals which are brushed steel instead of brass. To fix this, you'd need to stain or paint the steel yellow-orange-gold.

I went to AC Moore and Michaels. Neither sells Color Magic but they do sell a glitter acrylic paint...

PJAM, as near as I can tell, the Color Magic paints are dilute lacquer enamels and depending on the dilution will stain the metal either translucent or opaque. My experience with these sorts of paint was never with stained glass but with auto body work and model building. The Apricot is translucent so part of the steel color will show through while the gold is opaque so most of the steel color will be concealed. The only way to find out how much shows through and what color you'll get is to run a swatch of the paint at various dilutions on the surface of a similar surface like the dull side of a sheet of aluminum foil.

It's almost impossible to tell by looking at the color by the bottle alone because of a concentration effect that makes the colors look more intense and for some especially yellow look altogether different (they'll look reddish--- if you've ever dyed Easter eggs you'll know what I'm talking about--- the yellow dye there looks orange-red until it hit the surface of a white egg).

So, the opaque gold should look like a darker gold on the aluminum. If you want to go that route, it would be easy to do a test run by purchasing metalic gold acrylic paint and thin that down and try a test run of stains on an aluminum sheet. If that looks okay then go with the opaque gold Color Magic. If not you could try the apricot and do the same thing but thinned with a different diluent (mix 5 parts water, 3 parts Windex, 2 parts 91% rubbing alcohol measure--- it makes a great glass and lens cleaner as long as you clean the lenses correctly--- put 1 ounce of that in 5 ounce of water and use that as a thinner if you're using standard brushes or use at full strength to clean out acrylic from an airbrush).

So, why not use just acrylics on the metal? Unless it's Acrylic- enamel, acrylics have a tendency to chip and rub off the metal relatively easily so you'd need to use some kind of clear coat. Lacquer based paints also can be thinned to be even more evenly translucent giving a more even coat... acrylics tend to "puddle" giving the piece "splotches" though some people can get a really great effect by multiple layering and giving texture to the piece (I think that Boot25 does some form of it on his sculpts but I can't be too certain) which can look very effective if done well or look really bad if not (unless you want a painted head sculpt of David Duchovny to look old and weary).

Mike

 

[pjam]

Thanks Mike.

I did a test w gold metallic paint already and the cymbals looked just like that, gold metallic paint... vs a metal finish which is why I'm leaning towards a transluscent stain. And thanks for the tip on the sticks. I have some matchsticks set aside. I just don't know how long they should be, I figure about the width of a drum skin.

 

[siquisiri]

4 weeks! damn. ok.

 

[smiff]

So I went to the Beatles story yesterday but its not quite what I was expecting. There were 2 original suits there but sods law the madam tussauds '64 waxworks they have were on loan to Aintree for the races

I got loads of photos though on a 10mp camera, and its great for diorama reference, I especially liked the slutty berlin prostitute mannequin

The staff there were pretty unknowledgable on the subject, they seem to just hire students. I do though have a friend who is a bit of an authority so will pass questions to him.

The zips are pretty big (500meg I think in total) so I've stuck em on my server which has a 30gig bandwith limit per month so you should be fine. I've also split them up into catagories, links are below. Theyre only that big because theyre uncompressed, I can batch em down next week when I return to work.

Clothing.zip is basically two of the grey suits with black piping and four bad mannequins dressed in black trousers, white shirts and waistcoats on replica instruments.
www.smiffy.co.uk/beatles/Clothing.zip

Dios.zip is the dioramas. There is an office, tea room, Mathew street (not as wide as the real street but very cool) Berlin, a 60's airplane seat row, yellow submarine, cavern interior, record shop.
www.smiffy.co.uk/beatles/Dios.zip

Lots of props here. Some instruments, Quarry men and Beatles. REcording equipment, mics etc. Coca Cola props, posters, letters, contracts and the like.
www.smiffy.co.uk/beatles/Props.zip

The Photos.zip is basically pictures of all the photos that were on display there. Some early ones at the Albert Docks in the black suits. A later John Lennon collection and other miscellaneous pictures.
www.smiffy.co.uk/beatles/Photos.zip

If you do happen to be in liverpool and want to go I reccomend selling the tickets on after at the front entrance. Its not worth £12.50 a ticket but I got a fiver back which took the sting off Oh and they last 48hours so you can go back the next day.

Cheers & enjoy!
Matt

 

[mikeap001]

Matt, thanks for the reference picks but they're too big for me to download. Still using dial-up.

Pjam, standard drumsticks are about 16-17" or roughly 2.5"-2.75" in 1/6 long and have a diameter of .50-.54" or in 1/6th 3/32". Ringo's were about 16.5" x .54" or in metric 420x14.

I found that round wooden toothpicks at a dollar store next to some plastic swords that are real close to that size in 1/6th also close are cotton applicators (Q-tips) with wooden handles you'll just have to taper one end so its sharp (If you've got a doctor ask him/her for one on your next visit. Those applicators are about 6 inches long). BTW, the toothpicks can also be modded into 1/6th scale chopsticks if you want and go great with a Bratz Sushi Bar I got in trade.

To make drumstick for the Ringo set, you'll need to get oblong craft beads about the diameter of the toothpick or roll some plumber's putty into a small oblong ball about that size and attach it to the pointy end of a toothpick. You're trying to get something that looks like this:

https://www.thebeatleshop.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=&products_id=892

Do that again and paint those using an antique white (yellow-white) acrylic and you've got nearly perfect 1/6th scale Ringo Starr drumsticks for the Ludwig drums. The only problem would be the inscription some drummers like to put on their sticks. I for one don't have that kind of technology.

Mike

 

[pjam]

Wow, thanks again Mike. So about 2 3/4 ". I think I'll just whittle/sand mine out of the matchsticks or chopsticks I have. I need to make some sort of rings for him too.

Btw, I did my first suit mod. I did Ringo's as a test, it came out okay, but I used his because he'll sit furthest away and the first attempt flaws won't be all that noticeable. I'll post pics when all 4 suits are done. And that fabritac stuff works great, I have to thank Les Walker for the tip on that.

 

[siquisiri]

no 69 set update?

 

[pjam]

Beatles Suit Mods WIP.

Ok, this was a pain but I think it turned out okay. I used this really cool stretchy black velour material, and that was the challenge. Because it was stretchy, it was very hard to cut and glue onto the collars. I made a cardboard template but every time I tried to cut the material into strips, it would curl and recoil and had a mind of its own. And gluing it was even tougher with this stringy, messy fabritac stuff, hard to control it. Anyway, did Ringo first with the collar piece cut, then decided to cut a wider piece to fold over and inside the collar. Worked better! The collars look a tad shapeless here but with head necks and shirts giving the collars shape, they will look tons better and all sins will be hidden inside the suit collars. These again are WIP, still more finishing and futzing to do: the lapels will be gluespotted tighter and higher to the chest. I also ironed the lapels narrower and may glue them down too. So, as standbys, they'll do fine. I recommend getting Spenser's Mom's suits as they are extraordinary.

Left to Right. Paul, George, Ringo, John.

 

[paulcarson]

Don't sell yourself short Paul, you've made a great job on these. It's never easy working on something of this scale but you've managed to pull it off quite well. I look forward to seeing some heads on those bodies soon.

 

[pjam]

Don't sell yourself short Paul, you've made a great job on these. It's never easy working on something of this scale but you've managed to pull it off quite well. I look forward to seeing some heads on those bodies soon.

Many thanks, Paul. I am quite happy with the results and had I used a non stretchy material, this would have been a snap, believe me, but the look of this rich velour flocked material against the charcoal gray suits really snaps. And in hand these look really terrific.

 

[siquisiri]

Pjam,
They look good! Excellent work!

 

[stmod0568]

I am interested in this set, however I have to solve some financial problems first

 

[yodasan]

Are there other good options for a body for Ringo? or is the Dragon
Hong Kong Police Cheong figure pretty good?