The Extra Mile
When I was first introduced to the Roger Reiman Mural project, I was very intrigued. As we did more and more research, I knew that we had to create an extra special mural. It has been my goal all along, to create a rich expression of the legacy that Roger left behind.
In part, we did this by including the bold images that have been selected for the main panel. But there was additional space available to add a few extra elements. The building that was selected for this mural has a bit of an "L" shape to it, which needed to be filled up.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the wall isn't in solid enough shape to paint directly onto it's surface. So, if we wanted to add something above the main mural section, it would also have to be made on a panel. The simple approach would be to just put another rectangular panel above the main panel. Not sure I understand the simple approach?
This is where the crazy sets in.
In the early part of most any project, there is that time when you just brainstorm ideas. Things pop into your mind and you jot them down. Usually you end up with a laundry list of cool ideas, but not all of them make it through the entire design process.
In the early stages of this project, I created my list of ideas for the Roger Reiman mural. Let's take a look at how that worked out.
Contour Cut Name Panels
From the very start, I had an idea that I wanted to contour cut the Roger Reiman name panels and install them above the main panel. Sounds easy enough. But what if they were tilted towards the viewer at a 5 degree angle? That would be cool, but how would that be done?
The panels for the entire Kewanee Walldog project are being built by a very generous donor. Perhaps if I contacted them, they would be willing to build these panels. As it turns out, they said to send over some drawings and they would see what they could do.
To make a very long story short, here are a few drawings...
Contour Cut Flags
I cut Aluminum Composite Panels to the desired shape, then masked off the checkered areas. Followed that up with the lettering and AMA logos. Off course, the shadows and highlights had to be airbrushed to make them look more realistic. The final step was to apply automotive clear coat.
The flags also needed a mounting structure. Since each flag was a unique shape, They each needed their own unique mounting structure. Once again, dimensioned drawings were sent to the donor who was doing the fabrication. Each flag will be securely mounted to a 1 1/2" X 1 1/2 welded aluminum frame.
Side Panel
Somewhere along the trail, we decided to add a Side Panel with a list of Roger's accomplishments. You guessed it, couldn't do this the easy way either. I decided to include another frame supported ACP section just to the right of the main panel.
Here is an image of the "sketch" I produced.
This panel was base coat painted with light sepia tone pearl paint, which has a slight blue tint. I then painted the border black and added an 1/8" fire red pinstripe. Once again, this panel was clear coated with automotive paint before being sent off for lettering.
For the lettering task, I sought the best hand lettering artist I know...Bob Behounek from Chicago, IL. The smaller image panel at the top is off being airbrushed by Dustin Hobert, one of the best airbrush artists in the business! That small panel will also be clear coated, then attached to the larger section.
The side panel will be mounted to it's own custom built aluminum frame structure, using a combination of 3M VHB tape, and rivets.
Gold Leaf
Since Evel Knievel's jump bikes and helmets were often done using engine turned gold leaf, I thought it would be cool to add that element to the mural. The decision was made to to do a 2 1/4 inch border of satin black Dibond (ACP) with an inset 1/2" of engine turned gold leaf. Of course, the gold would need to have a fire red outline applied in order to match the other panels and colors used on the main mural.
The material is cut and prepped and plans are being put together to add this element to the border of the main panel section. That is a total of 105' of 1/2" gold stripe!
Frame the Art
Most generally, there is no edge trim applied to the panels at a Walldog event. But "what if we wrapped the edge with black satin anodized aluminum angle stock"? The plan is to add the gold leaf border sections and then apply the black angle aluminum sections over the gold leaf trim pieces. This will put a nice finishing edge or frame around the main section of the mural.
Alright, that is enough crazy ideas for one evening. Next up we need to start planning on how to get all the required equipment to the mural site. But first, there is other prep work that needs to be done. More on that in the next post.....take care for now.
