1980 Austin Princess - 18/09 - Welding progress

You've made yourself old by remembering that logo.
It always made me say "Blue and green should never be seen without a colour in-between".

Maybe that's why AR went down the BL plughole.

--Phil


Edit for afterthought:



Don't do it.

Photoshop is a brilliant tool, and for once I've managed to get an idea down on it that's close to how it is in my head. This is a pretty harsh example of what I plan to do so you'll have to imagine it with more detail to the edges and infills, but it gives a rough idea of the layout I'm planning for the car. I haven't bothered putting in colours and detail, this is more a basic plan with the detailed infill coming in later, you'll see as it happens on the car.

The flank is probably the most complicated layout and I'm unsure about the front wing which looks unfinished here.


From the off I wanted to incorporate the later Austin/BL/Rover logo into the boot lid and I will be using some colours here to really emphasise that. The badges and brightwork will all be reinstated too. The double stripe on the boot lid is reminiscent of the original striping and it may well turn out that I just put the original striping back on in paint along with the boot badges.


Compared to the above, the outlines for the bonnet are almost exactly what I had in my head. It's really difficult to explain this sort of stuff to anyone, or to find examples of it online, so I was pleased to be able to realise what I had in mind digitally like this.


So, that's the basic work, each of those panels will have a more detailed infill design and the various lines will be much more refined and will line up better. I've tried not to let the lines of the car restrict the design too much while at the same time I've tried not to contradict it too much either. With the right selection of colours I think this will be a good way of making the car look interesting and tidy with some fairly basic materials. Colours are not yet decided, I'm very much going to play this by ear and see what happens.  At the moment, the car is just too boring for me, I want to jazz it up a bit.

I think the beige paint will serve as a good canvas underneath everything. I'm thinking that blocking out the side panels on the bonnet in black first, then marking out a pattern or putting a lace overlay on the black before applying a rainbow fade with red at the leading edge and violet at the windscreen would work pretty well. I'd also considered fades in browns and metallics and even some leaf work.

Any particular reason for Montana paints? Ideally, a fast drying high pigment acrylic would, I think, give the best results since I'll be working outside. Would love to go full on metalflake and really spend a long time on a top notch job, but I'm aware of my limitations so I'll be doing something tidy, but basic, instead.

I guess I still like designs with enough restraint to work with the original paint rather than trying to obliterate it, and exaggerating distinctive original lines & features. Pseudo '70's factory stripes etc.

Wow, wow and WOW...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chocolate brown, pillarbox red, burned orange, amber and beige.

--Phil

I love the flanks they look awesome, weirdly manga and incan to my eyes. But the bonnet looks a little masonic imo..

Illuminati Princess perhaps?

I'll be going for a similar colour palette to the above, I think.  Got talking to Dad since he has some experience of applying this sort of work and the method behind some of the patterning I want to incorporate and we both agree that we should stick to the beige/brown shades for the majority of the design.  I want to throw in some really brilliantly coloured sections here and there to liven it up, like the rainbow fades on the bonnet.  I'll refine the design when we tape the car and decide where I will and won't use any curves, I want the majority of the design to be made with straight lines only, not just for the ease of it but because there aren't many curves on the Princess and sharp, straight lines should sit better on the car.

my vote is wwII dazzle camo, in BL badge colours