A "halfway there update on the "Johnny Mac" sign

We started this sign about 2 months ago, and although things have progressed slowly because it's been so busy, things have started rolling really quickly.

The sign is an HDU (high density urethane) wall sign; We use HDU because it is lighter than mahogany, flatter than mohogany, easier to shape and doesn't wick in water, so down the road it looks better, longer because it won't check, warp or crack.  In David's conversation with the client, he stated he wanted a carved 1959 corvette on there, as well as the flags- the rest was up to us. David got to work on a quick thumbnail sketch, and we hit the ground running!

I love the way this man sketches.

After a few layout and color tweaks, here is the rendering.

And a close-up view of the sign.

David got to programming the CNC router, And soon we had a roughed out shape.

Bob, our master carver with more that 20 years of experience, put his tools to work, refining and rolling over the banner and flag edges, and carving a corvette out of that big block of foam in the middle. You can see the reference photo at the top of this pic.

Bob's ability to turn foam into detail is amazing.

Once the car was where we all wanted it, the sign went off to paint for 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of Lava Grey. David hand stippled the background himself, and then the detail painting could begin.

I was out of the shop for 3 days with a bad back, so I was amazed at the progress when I came in this morning. The Vette was completely painted!

The level of detail is incredible; I ws amazed to see that we captured all of the iconic elements of this car.

Those fins- so beautiful! See the steering wheel through the windshield glare?

Down to the nubs on the tires. 

We were even able to get his vanity plate on there, just to make it even more personal!

The depth of this carving is incredible! Even that shadow looks true to life!

A few coats of finish paint and some gold leaf are all that's needed to get this sign ready for installation- I'm getting really excited, and I can't wait to show you the final results!