ALL THE NITTY GRITTY II

Posted by Karl A. Rinker on Nov 25, 2020

The BARRE ART SPLASH project was conceived when I was traveling through Catskill, NY in the summer of 2017 where they had dozens of fiberglass cats on display on their Main Street which were decorated by many different artists and then auctioned off right after labor day.

I decided to present the project to our Rotary club as a major fund raiser hoping to replace the funding that the club Home Show provided for over 50 years. It was a tough sell! There didn't seem to be much interest in the project at the time.

One of the Catskill cats with my Grandson, Owen on the trip.

CLICK HERE TO SEE RACE CAR VIDEO

So even though the club wasn't interested at the time I could not get the project out of my mind. I started telling friends and associates about having decorated cats on Main Street. One friend told me that he didn't like cats so I called the Cowpainters Company, the women-owned company in Chicago to see if they had dogs. They did. So, that was it! Cats and dogs! At least so I thought!

Linda Kiniry above with Bernice, our very first cat. Linda decorated her for us to use as a demo to show folks what the cats would look like.

Then, the Past President of the Barre Paletteers, Linda Kiniry suggested race cars since Barre is home to Thunder Road, the steepest banked, quarter asphalt mile, race track in the country. Wow, I thought, late model race cars all decorated and displayed along with the cats and dogs on Main Street, how cool would that be? So, back to the Cowpainters Company to inquire about race cars. They were sorry but they did not have them, BUT, they could make them if we were willing to pay for the mold to use to build the cars. Next question, how much? After a few months of providing additional information on the race cars they quoted $4800.00.

I looked around the country but could not find any fiberglass race cars that we could use. So I put the idea on the back burner for a while.

Flash forward to the club breakfast on the Aldrich Public Library lawn on July 28, 2018. I was cooking pancakes when Governor Phil Scott stopped by and helped to cook pancakes. I told him about the project and he suggested that we build old coupe models that raced at Thunder Road, the steepest banked, quarter mile, asphalt race track in the country which opened here in Barre June 30,1960. The first cars to race were open wheeled coupes from the 30s.

Finally the club decided to go forward with the project in early 2020. Shortly after I met with Lloyd Hutchins, owner of LD Hutchins Roofing in Barre and a long time race car owner and a race car hobbyist. He provided me with pictures and other information on a 1932, Ford, 3 window, coupe he built for Thunder Road for the 1962 season. He sold the car back then and bought part of it back many years later and restored it and said it would be available to us to use to get all the measurements from with pictures to build the mold.

Side note, there were not very many 1932 Ford, 3 window coups built. Consequently, there were only 3, 1932 Ford, 3 window coups raced at Thunder road. Of these three there were 5 drivers, the # 76 car driven by Henry Montandon, the # 13 car driven by Ronnie Marvin, Ron Hunt drove the same car as # 60 and Russ Ingerson drove the same car as # 64. The last one was the # 51 car driven by Russ Ingerson.

Click on car to see video.

The # 76 car a 1932, Ford, 2 window, coupe owned by Lloyd Hutchins being measured for the mold by Mike Turner of Arcana Workshop and an employee.

One day Past President Eddie Rousse and I were at Wilson Woodwerkes while painting cabinets that owner Calvin Wilson had made for our "community closet", a place the club remodeled for local organizations to store emergency items for children that are placed in foster care in an emergency. Ed said that he wanted to show me The Arcana Workshop in the back of the building that was a "builder of strange things". We went out back and they had a full size, fiberglass Liberty Bell there. I immediately asked if they could build our fiberglass race cars. They said "yes". I said "fantastic, how much for the mold and the cars"? They quoted $4000.00 for the mold and we were off to find some underwriters.

Pat Malone of Malone Properties and The Community National Bank stepped up to the plate to underwrite the cost of the 1932, 3 window, Ford, coupe mold which would be used to build the cars. We were on our way! Think about it, they were going to be manufactured right here in Barre which would help to keep jobs in Barre! How great is that?

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The process for building the 1932, Ford, Coupe race cars is complicated. First, the folks from Arcana Workshop had to go to the # 76 car to measure it and take pictures. The information and the pictures was sent to a man that would use the information to build a 3D model in his computer and send the file back to the Arcana Workshop. Then they cranked up their 3D printer which took around 200 hours of printing to make a plastic car which will be used to make a mold of the car. That mold will be used to manufacturer the fiberglass cars.

3D Images of the coupe

Plastic car parts being printed by the 3D printer.

The results of the plastic car.

Club President John Steinman checks out the plastic car.

The plastic front end waiting for assembly on the rest of the car.

The folks at Arcana Workshop work on the plastic car getting it ready to use for the mold.

Ted Goulet looks over the car while discussing the mounting hardware with Arcana.

At the same time the cars are being built we needed bases and stands to support our art items while on display on Main Street. Bob Pope of Swenson Granite stepped up to the plate early on and said they would manufacturer all the granite basses. We certainly could not use concrete bases in the Granite Center of The World!

Pictured above is a beautiful granite base.

Dessureau Machine Inc. made the first demo stand pictured above.

DMS Machining & Fabrication has stepped up to manufacturer all the rest of the stands including galvanizing them to make sure they last for a long time.

Bob Pope sent me a message saying that the Barre Opera House was renovating and that they would like to give us all the old 2" stage pipes for our stands. What a wonderful way to re-purpose that steel! Three cheers to Bob & the Opera House!

CLICK HERE FOR PIPE GIFT VIDEO AT OPERA HOUSE

Our first shipment of cats & dogs from Cowpainters waiting to be picked up by artists at the Vermont Granite Museum.

This is the beginning of the mold being poured.

The completed wheels with their molds in the background.

32 Ford, 3 Window, Coupe mold.

ARCANA WORKSHOP Progress Report. November 23, 2020

Parts productions underway, first car body casting assembled with threaded rod axles as a test for our procedure. All wheels and bumpers are cast and will get some sanding to clean up. There are 4 car parts, 1 assembled as noted. Last items to be molded are the steel frame pieces that run along either side of the car. With the fiberglass bodies, they are being made one each day, that is due to the cure time of the epoxy resin we are using to laminate the fiberglass cloth with. Unlike regular resin (polyester based), it is pretty slow to cure, but offers stronger, more durable parts.

Mike Turner displaying the bottom of the coupe in the mold.

Fiberglas 32, Ford Coupes Waiting Final Assembly!

Great engine detail for the old flat head V8! I think there is some dirt in one of those air cleaners!

All the wheels pictured. It is hard to tell but the back wheels are larger then the front ones and the passenger side front one protrudes out farther then the Drivers side one. This is because the Thunder Road track is so steep on the corners!

Production on the coupes is really ramping up!

Mike Turner of Arcana Workshop displaying on of the coupes. Incredible detail isn't it?

Final product before decorations.

Final product before decorations.

Watch Video of Coupes At The Race Track!

Meanwhile back at the shop, Arcana is starting to print the 3D parts for the late model race car.

The plastic car is almost complete 12-11-2020

Fiberglass Late Model Race Car with wheels painted black before the vinyl graphics are applied.

Artists check out the real # 76 race car engine to learn everything they can to help them decorate their Coups.

All the DMS steel stands have been delivered to the Vermont Granite Museum of Barre.

All the Swenson Granite bases waiting for the stands to be mounted.

All the stands & bases ready for art items to be mounted.

Rusty Valsangiacomo sanding LM cars.

Past president, Tom Babic sanding LM cars.

Each art item will have a plaque laser printed by Granite City Graphics hanging from the stand on Main Street.

Landon Maxham of Cody Chevrolet after clear coating some of our art items.

We have created a street map to indicate where all the 2021 art items will be placed on Main Street.

Click here or on the picture above to see L Brown folding our maps. This map can be downloaded by going the beginning of the "BARRE ART SPLASH" section of this web site.

PRIVATE SHOWING - ARTISTS - SPONSORS -

ROTARIANS MAY 8 2021 AT THE GRANITE MUSEUM.