The Americana Series

Customers have been asking; how do you do the barns and train stations?

Up to this point all the videos have been self contained. The Maple Leaf video for example goes from the basic material to the finished maple leaf spray and smaller maple leaf pieces all in one video.

The Americana Series on the other hand leads from one video into the next.

The Americana pieces are not necessarily more difficult than other sculptures, just more involved.

A conservative estimate is that one can make over 70 individual sculptures using these seven videos.

Beyond the Family Farm, Train Station and Bank Barn there are individual pieces. Such as a tree with the farm wagon, or a tree with the mail box and sled.

The water trough and the pump would make a good table piece or combined with just the windmill making a smaller wall sculpture.

In these videos the oxygen acetylene torch is used to braze and gas weld and a mig welder to tack weld. With two exceptions all mig welds are tack welds. (more on mig welding below)

Materials are minimal. Brazing rod, RG 45, 1/4" square steel, copper and steel sheet metal.

The first Americana building is the Family Farm. This video focuses on building the barn structure, adding the fences, trees and a cupola. (Trees are found in the Tree video)

The next two videos are the Small Farm Implement videos. Adding the implements or equipment one would find around a farm in the early 20th century. These two videos build upon the "Small Sculpture that Sell" video.

The techniques for the Small Implements carry over to the detail pieces for the Train Station and the Bank Barn.

Just as the techniques for the building the Family Farm carry over to the Train Station and the Bank Barn they will carry over to future videos in the Americana Series..

The Americana Series is a cumulative learning progression. In other words it would be difficult to do the Bank Barn without going through the Family Farm video and Train Station video..

The Americana series is specifically for the individual that wants to move ahead.

Obviously one must be able to braze and do some gas welding.

Mig Welding: is the easiest of the welding processes and tack welding is even easier.

Note: THIS IS NOT AN INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO ON MIG WELDING.

I've been using the same mig welder I purchased in 1973. I am not familiar with current mig welders although I hear that they are very easy to use.