Chuck Skuce (creator of The Steam Whistle Retro Opener Facebook Page) put a ton of work into this project and I don’t think we could have done a better job ourselves! Chuck graciously shared his process of building this board so others can attempt to build one of their own. Read his guest blog below to learn how to make one of your very own.
1. Once I’ve taken all the measurements I started to cut out the main boarder.
2. Lay it across the older display I had made for reference to make sure its going to work.
3. Paint the whole thing light green (sparkling apple). I used painters tape to mask the stripes.
4. Paint the stripes the darker green, "green acres" is what I use to get that Steam Whistle green
5. Prime the main board
6. Add the Polyeurthane resin to the boarder, this gives it that killer shine!
This step requires a lot of patience – you have to wait about 6-8 hours for it to dry before you can add the next coat. You must also sand it before the next coat goes on.
I would often put a coat on before I went to work so when I got back from work it would be cured enough for me to add the next coat.
There were a couple times I’d come home from work and the thing would be perfect only to find either a cat hair or a bubble in it and have to sand it and re-do it again. This can take up to 5 tries, so we’re talking a week just to add the resin to the boarder and same goes with the main board, another 5 days.
7. I then laid the finished boarder onto the main board, add the openers to make sure its going to work
8. I repeated Step 6 on the main board, paint it green then add the polyeurthane resin.
9. I laid out how I want the decals to look. I used the old board for reference just because it worked out so well.
10. I used the 2009 opener to reference my height as it's the tallest opener. I did the same with the bottom row in case you make another one that size
11. The dates are now in place
12. I placed the main logo and slogan
13. Added the nails
Voila the finished product.
So there you have it. That’s just quick idea of how its made. It’s just a little too complex and time consuming for me to make a bunch and sell them so I’ve provided the instructions should anyone want to re-create this project for them self.
Thanks to Chuck this beauty display now proudly sits in our Marketing office. Keep an eye out for it the next time you’re on a brewery tour.
Posted on June 29 2016,
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