Service station facade in garage

[fiveoh108]

I am in the process of building a fake service station on an empty wall in my garage with some reclaimed wood, old windows and a fake roll up garage door. I wanted to get a large picture to put behind a window mounted in the wall to look like you are looking in an old drag race shop. Anyone done anything like this? I have done several searches but can't find any reference pictures. Here is a current picture of my cabinets

 

[kabinenroller]

Cool idea! Maybe a place like "Fat Heads" can duplicate a picture for you. They do all kinds of wall size pictures.
Is that '65 Falcon I see in the photo you posted? What kind of drive train does it have?
I have a '64 Cyclone that bought 47 years ago, it is in pieces right now but I will be starting to reassemble it real soon. I have a'70 Boss 302/ T-10 /9" for it.

 

[fiveoh108]

Cool idea! Maybe a place like "Fat Heads" can duplicate a picture for you. They do all kinds of wall size pictures.
Is that '65 Falcon I see in the photo you posted? What kind of drive train does it have?
I have a '64 Cyclone that bought 47 years ago, it is in pieces right now but I will be starting to reassemble it real soon. I have a'70 Boss 302/ T-10 /9" for it.

Yes the falcon is mine, it's a 1964. 69 Boss 302 short block, original Hilborn mechanical injection, toploader 4 speed, 4.63 in a ford 9".

 

[kabinenroller]

Nice! Drag car only? Driven on the street?
What headers did you use for the Boss in the Falcon chassis? I used a set of JR big tubes, they fit but installing them is tricky.
Mine is strictly for street use.

 

[homebuilt burner]

If you find a picture you like Staples can blow then up (enlarge not dynamite) fairly cheaply.

 

[Falcon67]

If you find a picture you like Staples can blow then up (enlarge not dynamite) fairly cheaply.

This. Fun idea. Look for some old speed shop pictures using Google Images. Try to find one you like with the most pixels. An 800x600 is not going to enlarge well. 3000x5000 would be better. You could also have someone with good software grow a picture from the usual 72 DPI that displays on the web to something like 300 DPI to try and increase the quality.

Taking a quick look, good luck. There isn't much. You want something like this I think:

 

[shortykorte]

I've look for the same thing and found some by searching for murals. What they had was like a wallpaper murals. Just didn't have the right picture for what I was looking for.

Just saw the cabinets. Since I have several needing to be repainted may steal your idea.

 

[fiveoh108]

If you find a picture you like Staples can blow then up (enlarge not dynamite) fairly cheaply.

That is good to know, thank you! This is kinda what I imagine on my wall

 

[fiveoh108]

I've look for the same thing and found some by searching for murals. What they had was like a wallpaper murals. Just didn't have the right picture for what I was looking for.

Just saw the cabinets. Since I have several needing to be repainted may steal your idea.

Of course that's what we are on here for, there is a standard size deminsionally that I got of a US flag website so it looks proportionate, I just enlarged the size to fit my needs, the stars are vinyl , not painted, just seemed easier.

 

[fiveoh108]

This. Fun idea. Look for some old speed shop pictures using Google Images. Try to find one you like with the most pixels. An 800x600 is not going to enlarge well. 3000x5000 would be better. You could also have someone with good software grow a picture from the usual 72 DPI that displays on the web to something like 300 DPI to try and increase the quality.

Taking a quick look, good luck. There isn't much. You want something like this I think:

This is my favorite image from Holman a nd Moody's shop building AFX mustangs I am going to try and use

 

[Dragfluid]

Yes the falcon is mine, it's a 1964. 69 Boss 302 short block, original Hilborn mechanical injection, toploader 4 speed, 4.63 in a ford 9".

Cool!
It's great to see old iron like that with the front wheels up.

 

[kabinenroller]

That speed shop picture is from the Peterson Museum in L.A. They just finished a complete remodeling of the museum so I do not know if that display has been included in the remodel. It was cool because you could walk into the shop and see displays, there was also a back room that was a work shop with hot rod stuff going on. There was a flathead powered midget in the showroom also.

 

[Kevin54]

If you find a picture you like Staples can blow then up (enlarge not dynamite) fairly cheaply.

How cheap is it for Staples to do something like that, and how big can they go? Can they do something like a mural 8' tall?

 

[greenlizard]

If you don't (or can't) cover a whole wall you could build a frame around the print and make it appear to be a window with a view of the shop across the street.

 

[Falcon67]

How cheap is it for Staples to do something like that, and how big can they go? Can they do something like a mural 8' tall?

Can't really answer but a guy here took one of our dragstrip pics of his car (about a 5 meg file) and had a local printing company run it poster size, I think 24x36. Cost him right at $30.

We have a printer in the library here that could print an 8' sheet easy, as wide as you'd want in about 48" strips. Based on the cost of the ink cartridges and paper, probably $2~300 or so to do something that large. Our Canon can print 13x19 and uses 8 cartridges at a retail cost of around $16/cartridge. I figure a 13x19 print costs me about $3.50~$4 to print.

 

[kabinenroller]

Hey!
I just realized that you are also a member of the '64-'65 Comet thread on the
HAMB board.
Small world!

 

[fiveoh108]

If you don't (or can't) cover a whole wall you could build a frame around the print and make it appear to be a window with a view of the shop across the street.

I just got a window frame from and old 50s house and plan on doing just that and making the service station front with the reclaimed wood

 

[burleyfarm]

I had planned on using an interior wall of my garage to mock up a gas station exterior from my home town. Haven't gotten to it yet but I did create this wall in my pole barn. The wall divides the garage area from my paint booth and a guest room/office.

The garage door is screwed to the wall. The man door is actually a double door leading to my paint booth. The left side door is hidden behind the window. I was going to put pictures behind the glass also but opted instead to paint them black from the back.


Dave Burley
Sent from my tractor seat.

 

[fiveoh108]

Dave that looks awesome and it's functional!

 

[shortykorte]

How cheap is it for Staples to do something like that, and how big can they go? Can they do something like a mural 8' tall?[/QUOTE

A blueprint company, dedicated printshop or sign shops have large format plotters. Some up to 72" wide and could print 100' long with the right software.

 

[fiveoh108]

Some of fhe companies online want a where from 600-1000 for a large wall mural 10'x8'. I think I can build this much cooler for about half that.

 

[fiveoh108]

Got a free window from my sister and a $40 door from Craigslist.... Now I need some old barn type wood

 

[Sanddancer]

One option that's good if you're careful with picture choice, particularly if you'd like to try a few things out before shelling out for a massive job from a proper printers (particularly if you have access to a printer at work ) is to rasterbate an image. The advantage is even relatively low resolution pictures can be blown up massively and look great and you only need access to a regular printer.

I had some pasted on the back of a temporary garage door and thought it was pretty good. Most people tend to have gaps and tile the image, but I have no idea why since you can line them up to get a seamless picture. That could work out well though if you're putting the image behind a window frame that has panes. Works better the further away you are, but then that'd be try for any attempt to create a 'fake' room behind a window.

It't at least allow you to check the image. The one posted earlier with the Mustangs for example may look weird and not work since it's taken from a top down angle. On the other hand it may work and just look as though your shop is on a higher level, who knows until it's on the wall. But even Kinkos style 'cheap' blow ups aren't going to be cheap cheap for experimentation.