What's on your work bench?-April

Another dog portrait. I really need to get a bird on the list but have to finish up a couple more dogs before garden season gets going too strong here.

This is Macy, she was a petite little Jack Russell Terrier. 10x10 acrylics on canvas.
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Here is some of my future garden enjoying the sun today. I might be a little ahead of schedule on my peppers since they won't be planted for at least 6 more weeks.
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patrick mccarthy said:
Vince. Love the goose the neck really makes it
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Patrick thank you very much. There is a cedar arrow shaft from the back of the head down into the body for added strength. Even though it's not a gunning decoy I still make em that way, old habit.

Yer drake Redhead and Broadbill are yer pure Style, and will toll birds just fine. Two thumbs UP.


Best regards
Vince
 
TimJ said:
Another dog portrait. I really need to get a bird on the list but have to finish up a couple more dogs before garden season gets going too strong here.

This is Macy, she was a petite little Jack Russell Terrier. 10x10 acrylics on canvas.
View attachment 55111

Here is some of my future garden enjoying the sun today. I might be a little ahead of schedule on my peppers since they won't be planted for at least 6 more weeks.
View attachment 55112
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Tim, Yer dog portrait is exceptional in so many ways. Portraits are tough to get right, the essence of the subject important as all the skills used to create the work. Lots of us do birds, few of use can do dogs as well as you, or even try to. You know and love yer subjects very well. Two thumbs Way UP!
 
MLBob Furia said:
Love the paint, Patrick!
Vince, that ringer is aces.
Hey Dave, To paraphrase the words of Jerry Jeff Walker: You ought to be in the circus; you're havin' too much fun !

Started in on a pintail drake. Have a wigeon cut out too.
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Bob, fine wine doesn't always get better with age yet you do. Joe's gouge in the cork sez it all. That is one helluva photo, 2 thumbs up.

" Art is making something out of nothing and selling it." - Frank Zappa


Best regards
Vince
 
Someone in their retirement is developing high end woodworking skills. Very nice boxes Brad. Destined to be family heirlooms.
 
patrick mccarthy said:
A few more for the rig.
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Good morning, Patrick et al~

Lots of fine work this month! I've been jumping all around - multi-tasking on boats, decoys, history, house, farm , camp, solar eclipse, et cetera.....

George Williams has been busy on his bench - with this herd of Grey Ducks:

George Williams GADWALL - 8 birds.jpg

I am mid-restoration on yet another South Bay. I secure the floorboards with 4 wooden turnbuttons that fit through slots. Location and size of the slots are critical. I begin with a hole saw.

sm Turnbuttons 1.jpg

Then finish with a saber saw. The edges get rounded over with a router - then 2 coats of epoxy top and bottom. Some of the paint will get anti-skid.

sm Turnbutton 2.jpg

I also cut a bailing port aft in the cockpit. Because the hole is shared by both port and starboard boards, I use this jig to saw once through both boards.

sm Bailing Port jig.jpg

Another project that will consume me over the next year - for the 2025 LIDCA Annual Show - is a bunch of older Herter's decoys - from the 40s, 50s and 60s.

sm Herters Crest - 1952 Catalog Cover.jpg

Some of you will recall that I've been building (actually re-building my Dad's rig that was stolen in the mid-1960s) a rig of Model Canada Mallards and Blacks.

sm 1955 - page 11 Model Canada.jpg

Joe Daly has been an enormous help since 2019 when I began the quest.

sm WB - Model Canadas.JPG

I just got this exquisite original paint bird from Joe. He will spend his days on a shelf - out of reach of my varnish and paints and brushes.

sm Herters Model Canada Drake Mallard - FULL oblique portside.jpg

I got one last Model Canada Black Duck in yesterday's mail and plan to bring the completed 10-bird rig to Tuckerton in September. Joe also gave me this Model Winnipeg. It is now a Hen Butterball but probably began life as a Drake Bluebill or Redhead. I will not restore it for gunning - but try to get it looking its age - and also its original species. The bottom board was added - and I have not yet decided whether to remove it.

sm Herters Model Winnepeg - early balsa Bluebill Drake - painted as Hen Bufflehead.jpg

I have a few Model Canada Bluebills in a variety of conditions. So, I'm still in the hunt for a nice Drake Bluebill - in either original paint or honest "in-use re-paint". Please let me know if you have one you might part with.

(Note the copy has a typo on some of the prices. For example, 5375 for a sample decoy is $3.75.)

sm Herters Model Canada Bluebill - 1955 catalog p. 11.jpg

All the best,

SJS
 
William Reinicke said:
Working on making my feather groups better on my hens. I’m really creeping on some of these as I’m trying to really figure out a routine that I can follow and also make a pattern that is my own. I need to mix up some more colors and really play with shading until I find something that will work. I have some ideas, just don’t have the time to really get after it until next week. I also have met someone who can 3d print molds for 2 part foam. Kind of in the development stages and I’m kind of one of his guinea pigs. I’m ok with that, just received one of his molds last night. It will be a pintail mold, stay tuned, hope to have pics of what comes out of that mold sometime next week as well.

Certainly not a fan of what I have now, and certainly not a fan of the transition on this picture. I’ll clean that up in a hurry, but this is kind of a practice decoy that I’m messing with. I’ll probably have to do a couple more of these to finally have a routine down in my brain that I like. At that point it’ll become assembly line type airbrushing because I’ll just have my routine down.
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Good morning, Bill~

I am enjoying your progress. It looks like you are committed to a very detailed approach of your Hens' paint. I adopted a simpler approach to my hen puddlers - trying to put a minimal number of strokes on each bird but still getting the effect of streaking and mottling. You may want to look at this post.

https://stevenjaysanford.com/pintail-rehabbing-herters-smaller-decoys/

Here are the colors I use - sample jars from Home Depot.

sm Pintail Hen BEHR COLORS with TEXT.JPG

And for Mister Pintail....

sm Pintail Drake BEHR COLORS with TEXT.JPG

Hope this helps!

All the best,

SJS
 
Steve Sanford said:
Good morning, Bill~

I am enjoying your progress. It looks like you are committed to a very detailed approach of your Hens' paint. I adopted a simpler approach to my hen puddlers - trying to put a minimal number of strokes on each bird but still getting the effect of streaking and mottling. You may want to look at this post.

https://stevenjaysanford.com/pintail-rehabbing-herters-smaller-decoys/

Here are the colors I use - sample jars from Home Depot.

View attachment 55227

And for Mister Pintail....

View attachment 55228

Hope this helps!

All the best,

SJS
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I will finally get to spend a few hours finishing up this little batch of hens. I will likely repaint and put another coat of flocking on a few of the "Practice birds" that I have used to develop where I am at this second. Since the last post, I have made a couple hours of progress. Not overly happy with my colors, but I feel that I have achieved enough of a realism look for a hunting decoy. I know I can create a 10 yarder for sure, but I just am not happy wiht that. I know htere is more there that I can achieve.

I wasn’t going to post anything until after tomorrow’s effort. I spent about an hour the other night after work laying these feather groups down. The side feather group is too light. I need to darken up the feather border but keep it lighter than the top so I can achieve that lighter feather group on the side. Once I get my colors finalized and figured out, I can probably pump out a decoy in about 20-30 min. It’s really not as exhausting of a process as it seems. It’s just these ones are taking forever because I am creating my own routine and own pattern and own colors. I wouldn’t have it any other way, but I’m just in the initial stages that take FOREVER to be happy with. Ignore the stenciling on the front chest. Too cartoony for my taste. I had to try it, but its just not me. I will develop a different pattern of my own. This is truly my first batch of hens that I have tried to do any kind of detail with. While spraying tomorrow, I will probably mold out my next dozen decoys and start fitting heads and keels before getting ready for the flocking process.
 

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Steve

I have held and hunted over a bunch of Herter's over the years, in fact my son picked up eighteen two weeks ago to add to the rig. Other than a couple tenite every Herter I've owned/held was foam. I read several hundred thousand balsa were made. Do you have any idea how many balsa remain? Given balsa's tendency to rot I would imagine a lot were lost to the elements.
 
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