Grille’s: The street sign

I wanted Grille’s to have a distinctive sign facing the street. When I started this kitbash I had no idea what that sign would look like. I was rummaging through some parts looking for something for a car model conversion that I’m working on and came across a grille for a 1940’s or 1950’s car. I flashed on what the sign would look like even though I wasn’t too sure how to build it.

I think this grille is from a 1940’s Mercury kit I worked on a few years ago, but I can’t say for sure. Regardless, it had the right look, but it was chromed, so I soaked it in SuperClean to strip it.

Once the chrome was removed I washed it in warm soap and water to remove any SuperClean residue, and then glued on two styrene tubes for the wall attachments. I also glued a third tube between the two wall attachment posts, parallel to the main axis of the grille in order to provide a mounting bar for the letters.

The letters are plastic items I had left over from a plastic municipal garage / firehouse kit I bought in the late ‘70s. I think it was made by Kibri. After all these years they came in handy! I cut pieces of steel piano wire and superglued them to each letter. Holes were then drilled into the long letter mounting tube for the piano wired letters. Superglue was also used to attach the wired letters to the support tube.

The piano wire stubs were then inserted in the wall attachment tubes because I wanted a very sturdy connection between the sign and front wall of the building. Two matching holes were drilled into the front wall so the sign’s wire stubs could be inserted for a secure fit. Again, superglue was used to glue the support stubs into the wall mounting holes.

I’ve done some initial painting on the sign, but it still needs to be cleaned up and weathered a little.