Mick's Colourisation Methods.

The colourisation procedure that my friend Mick Gulovsen is using. He shows us the steps involved for the featured photos at wizard-of-oz.com

When Don met Mick.

I ran into Mick in 1980 at what I believe was possibly one of the very first Australian Computer User Group meetings. This was held in Holmes Road Moonee Ponds and ran for many years.

I had already been in Computers for 5 years at this stage, an had laid a claim to having the first Personal Computer in Australia in March of 1978. I have been accepting challengers to this claim openly on the internet for many years. See my "About Us" page for further details.

With very similar interests we became close friends, and still do lunch together a number of times a year. We exchange from 1 or 2, up to 50+ messages a day at times.

Individually and jointly, we have come up with many new concepts in Business, Electronics, and Computers, however I don't see either of us making an entry into the history books any time soon for our adventures. 

Although both of us are now retired, Mick is still involved with Micro-controller design and development.
I swapped my soldering iron for a keyboard many years ago.

Mick and other Friends

My problem with Mick and the "RtFAT" FB group

My good friend Mick is now collaborating with me on the colourisation of the old Rainbow photos. He would like to see the fruits of his labour, and possibly join in the chats regarding selection of colours, etc., so he applied to join as a member of the "RtFAT" FB group, and I have sent him invites, however he hasn't been approved to date.

Click on the button below for more info.

This is the image we started with.

This is a copy of the original photo I got from Ally Harper. She grabbed heaps of recent images, and fixtures from the building, as she hopes to restore it back to original in the future.

The colourisation process in steps.

Two Gallery display methods.

Because of the display methods of different devices such as PCs, Tablets, and Smart Phones, I have decided to use two different techniques of producing these galleries, so that most users will be able to see the conversion images reasonably well.

Display Method One - Carousel.

You may have to swipe, or click on the arrows to get the carousel started. -->>

Display Method Two - Static.

Click on any image below to see it in full size.  

And the final image.

BTW The two car image was just a bit of fun. 

Colour Choices. So difficult.

How do you determine what colours you are going to make specific items that may no longer exist?

In the case of the Old Flour Mill chimney, we had a colour match with the house that was built from most of those bricks. You can see it on Google Street View.

What flag would we fly outside the old Cafe?
Easy enough to find a similar image of a flapping flag with an Australian flag, or even a Rainbow flag, and just patch it in.  But would something like this be flying up a flag pole in Federal Street in 1930?

We felt it would be more likely to be a special sale, Business Name, or owner name on the flag, so we were heading in the direction of a basic blue or red tinge to the flag. As blue tended to clash with the sky, we chose red.

This is the sort of discussion that went into this one flag on one single image.

Read on...

Car Colour Choices

We looked far and wide in an attempt to get the correct colour for the Car outside the Rainbow Cafe. We came across this eBay Art print for the same make, model, and year.

After first deciding to go for the burgundy color, we did an about face and opted for green, as it seemed a much better match for the image we had. 

Then in the final image, we decided on the Red version, as it appeared to be a good mix for the final image, and also looked a good match for the Art Print we found on eBay.

I bought my grand daughter a new bed for when she goes off to university. She was undecided about whether she wanted to keep it. I told her to sleep on it.

The colour choices that we needed to make for this image.

I outlined our  decision on the car colour above.

BUT the hardest choice was the street.
We are talking about Federal Street Rainbow in 1930. I can only assume it was a dirt main road running through the centre of town. Mallee dust? Would it be the same as the colour we made it outside the Royal Hotel when it was a single story building. Or perhaps more like the road we placed outside the old Flour Mill? It is just getting past the horse and cart era, so I dare say road cleanliness and general street maintenance would make it a much nicer place to pass through compared to the earlier years of horses and bullocks.

What is that Car outside the old Rainbow Cafe in the 1930s picture?

That car outside Beckwith's shop that Ally Harper posted back in November 2014 is a 1918 Studebaker Special Six Tourer. I know I didn't have to do this for any reason, but I pride myself on a general knowledge of old cars, planes, and manufacturing dates of same. So, I set myself the task of identifying the car parked outside of Beckwith's shop, just for a bit of fun. (Really George's shop ?? ) Little did I know that the chase would take me on a three hour Google adventure.

I started with the local Rainbow dealers and checked what type of vehicles they were supplying up until the thirties, then when that failed, Melbourne dealers. I concentrated on U.S. models, but hit a brick wall and decided to try the same procedure with English cars. Same problem.

So I took an entirely different approach, and concentrated on the radiator badge, which is the manufacturers logo. Even that wasn't a lot to go on, but I could see what looked like white area surrounding a dark splash of colour. Enough to take a guess from hundreds of logos if need be. Pages and pages of badges appeared. I was able to narrow it down to the Studebaker Logo. Once I had that, all I had to do was go through a range of pictures showing the different models for different years. And a fabulous shot of a restored to factory condition, 1918 Studebaker Special Six Tourer appeared, and I knew I had it.

I have added the original picture, as well as the updated one that I found on the web. There are a few minor differences in each car, that could easily be written of as local verses overseas manufacturing, or optional extras, same as we have today. The new picture of the car has a radiator cap temperature gauge, different mirror(s), extra running board trim, wind screen wiper. (possibly hand cranked). What really convinces me it is the same model and year car, is the split wind screen and the shape of it, the rail tube bracing between the guards (also head light mounts), is at the top of the lights which is very unusual. Logos look the same, chromed radiator enclosure. The bonnet louvers are the same, and the small twin oval windows in the fabric top at the rear, are identical.

But the clincher was the front door, and the way it is hinged. It is called a suicide door because it opens from the front. There is a gap at this position in both pictures. I don't understand what it is, but neither seems to fit onto the body panel correctly, well unless in both photos, the door is never fully shut. Perhaps it has a half lock plate, and drivers tended to be a bit lazy with it.