For those of you who know me , know the story of Ol' Smoothie Rootbeer and for those who don't you can read more about it at this link from another discussion..
http://soda-machines.com/discussions/index.php/topic,15509.0.htmlBut I've been talking about creating a Fantasy Ol' Smoothie Rootbeer cooler to put in my collection of Ol' Smoothie Rootbeer Stuff and it's finally done (almost.)
I recently found some advertising that gave me the idea of colors, and layout for the side panels of an SS 700 style Cooler that I wanted to use. I've had the cooler for some time now and now that I found the artwork it was time to start.
HUGE THANKS to my buddy Eric (from SMC) who basically redrew the graphics for me based on the original sign graphics I found..
I was struggling with colors as I did't really want a brown and yellow cooler and have it looks like a UPS Truck in my basement... another peice of advertising I found had a really nice tourquoise blue they've used and it looks good with the yellow, white and brown.. so I figured I'd go with that..
the colors on the orignal sign where more orange , than yellow, but knowing that was not original and figured it was due to printing , fading, and who knows what its' been through over the past 50 years I went with the correct yellow logo color and matched it off of other advertising I had.
I had new panels made from sheet metal and had the cooler stripped and painted.
I had the thought about some ways to lay out the graphics, screen printing was one option but proved pricey.. so we looked at vinyl layering , however there where too many layers overlapping , so my local sign guy can print full color HD color on vinyl and so we went with that... he then Cut out the whole image and applied it to my painted panels which match the cooler..
I had a new tank liner made out of shiney new galvanized and installed that with all new insulation panels and put it back together last night...
I had the original hinges and handles replated in brass and also used brass hardware to hold it all together as it looks more vintage I think...
the only thing I have to do is re-fasten the cap catcher and find an original bottle opener for it.
There is alot of blue, so I am thinking I may get some very mild pinsriping done on the legs, but I'm not sure, looking for opionions on that ... I'm making up some old wooden cases with the ol smoothie logo and will put bottles in those and put them down below, so maybe that will break it up enough, we'll see.
so all in all I'm pretty happy about it... the pictures are not the best as I assembled the whole thing in my collection room downstairs... but thanks for looking!
First picture is of original Cooler..
I have get one of the inside and side graphics as well, as they are simliar but a little different..
