TUTORIAL - Painting Broadbill Gunners

[Steve Sanford]

All~

I just assembled, coated and painted a half-dozen Broadbill for friend and guide Red Oster. They are Homer decoys - and sport the head for which I had carved the master last summer. I have posted a complete, step-by-step Tutorial on my website at: http://stevenjaysanford.com/tutorial-painting-homer-broadbill/

Here, I will give a quick overview of the process and "sea trials".

First, note the roll of wax paper held beneath my "assembly bench". An old broom handle now serves as the axle and lynch pins keep it in place. This roll - I don't know how long but very heavy - was scrounged from our transfer station. I have a similar holder for 48-inch brown mailing paper on the other end of the bench. This way, I can paint with reckless abandon and keep my bench top relatively clean. (Come to think of it, I had rescued the 1960s vintage 3/4-inch doug-fir plywood for the bench top from an old farmhouse nearby.....)

The birds are coated with epoxy+Cabosil+fine sawdust then painted with oil-based grey primer.

Paints are Behr sample jars from Home Depot.

Colors - all dead flat acrylic latex - needed are:

Black
White
Espresso Beans
Aging Barrel
Suede Gray
Ashwood

I used Dark Storm Clouds for the bills and Saffron Strands for the eyes.

My usual assortment of brushes - with the old beaters for stippling.

Here they are at work on the Hoosick River.

Hope this is useful!

SJS

 

[Scott Swain]

As always.... amazing how easy you make it look!

 

[Robert Van Sant]

Beautiful work Steve...as usual.

 

[Arthur Webster]

Great job Steve always enjoy reading your post.
You do make it look so easy.Ella our new lab is taking all of our time right.
AW

 

[bob Petritsch]

Thanks Steve. I repainted all my broadbill last year and was very unhappy with the hen brown I used. Your dark brown area on my decoys looks more like the light side.
Would you be kind enough to tell us which paint goes where. Thanks....Bob

 

[Steve Sanford]

Hi, Bob~

All the details are on my site. View Slide Show # 2 - the Hens at: http://stevenjaysanford.com/tutorial-painting-homer-broadbill/

Basically, the darker brown - Espresso Beans - goes on the head, chest, back and tail section. The lighter, redder brown - Aging Barrel - goes on the sides.

All the best,

SJS

 

[Kevin Puls]

Fantastic Steve. That is just in time for my next part of my rig!

 

[Paul Dobrosky]

Steve, Very Nice Simple Paint Jobs , I thought you made some beautiful birds that were in the LI show also a few weeks ago. . Keep the Chips Flying, PAUL

 

[Brad Bortner]

Steve, nicely done. Simple, easy and looks great.

 

[RD Nelle]

Steve,
much appreciated. I am headed down this exact path.

 

[Dave Church]

Excellent! So many great tips in there, I love the paper roll idea.


Dave

 

[R T Brinn]

Steve, perfect timing! Have an entire rig to rehab and repaint after retiring down to NC this summer...this will help a lot. At age 62, I am going to get to revisit the original Herter's birds I bought in 1971 that have mostly been in storage since the Reagan years...best, Rufus

 

[SJ Fairbank]

Steve,

One thing I am not clear on is the head attachment. I know it's normally similar to the old Herters, but you coated the birds with epoxy before painting...did this secure the heads? Sorry if it was discussed and I missed it.

 

[Steve Sanford]

Good morning, Rufus~

Why, you are a walking history lesson! Congratulations on your impending retirement.

All the best,

SJS

 

[Steve Sanford]

Good morning, SJ~

I fasten the heads differently than the method used by Homer Decoys. They install inserts into the head, then use an eye with machine screw threads. I use stainless steel screw eyes from Bob's Decoy Rigs in Indiana ([font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Decoy Rigs a call at (219)659-8371)[/font] - they are a wood screw thread. I also use a 3/16" x 1" s/s fender washer on the bottom.

In any event, I set the head in a generous amount of paintable silicon caulk. No need for 3M 5200 here, but a good quality door-window should be used. The principal reasons are to 1) keep the head from turning, 2) distribute the load when you are lifting the decoy by the head, and 3) closing any gap between head and body so anchor line cannot get jammed in there. I do do this out of habit - from living with Herters Model 72s (and 81s a and 92s) most of my life - where the head could looosen as the foam compressed beneath the screw eye. I have no idea if this would ever happen with these new decoys.

On these Broadbill - unlike the Goldeneyes I posted previously - birds I filled the joint between the head and body to fair the transition - as I would if I were carving. This is mostly aesthetic. BTW: I had coated the heads and bodies with epoxy+cabosil+sawdust before I assembled them. I believe Homers offers a body with some form of Restle Coating - but I started with the bare foam.

Hope this helps,

SJS

 

[Bill Ferrar]

Hi Steve
Why do you not use the trestle coating which uses the paint to hold the corncob or sawdust. Do you find the paint does not hold up as well?

 

[Steve Sanford]

Bill~

I have never had any Restle-coated birds. I use my epoxy approach simply because I always have epoxy on hand in the shop. At some point I may experiment with ground corn cobs or walnut shells. We have plenty of corn and walnut trees here in Washington County, but I don't believe Susan would let me use her KitchenAid to process them....

All the best,

SJS

 

[SJ Fairbank]

Thank you for the details Steve, I figured you put something in the joint. I like Decoy Rigs gear as well, having bought quite a bit from them over the years. I like using the phone instead of the computer.