Painting smokebox number plates

[92220]

Some time ago, there was a thread on here that talked about a method of painting the faces of the numbers on a smokebox number plate. I remember it was in a Britannia build thread, but I can't find anything with a 'search'. Please can anyone point me in the right direction.

Bob.

[JonL]

I'd be interested too! I know I might be a way off doing this but I like to mix up my timeline a little to keep things interesting.

[barlowworks]

I seem to remember Jim doing this on Boudicea but I'm not sure what page it was on. Perhaps drop him a PM.

Mike

[dhamblin]

A trick I remember from model railway practice is to paint the etch white, allow to dry, paint black then wipe it off the raised numerals using paper or card.

Regards,

Dan

[Jim]

I did Boadicea's numbers and shed plates following the advice that came with Dianne Carney's plates which was to paint the plates in their base colour, black in 70036's case.

Next smear printer's ink very thinly on a flat surface, ideally a sheet of glass and press the plate onto the ink. Once the ink dries give the plates a coat of clear varnish to seal and protect the ink.

I got the ink at an artist's supply shop where it's used for screen printing and lithographs.

If you're not happy with the first attempt you can clean the ink off easily with turps.

I found the found the main problem was having the smear of ink too thick so that it bled into the sides of the raised numbers or letters.

As you can see in the photo the ink picked up the bolt heads and the fine raised rims to the plates too.

Jim

[92220]

That's it! Thanks Jim. I knew I'd seen it described somewhere. Just couldn't remember where. I can get some white ink locally. I've also got a small rubber roller that I used to use for inking printing blocks. That should be ideal for coating a sheet of glass.

Bob.

Hi Dan.

Thanks for that suggestion. I've got a spare shed plate etching that came with my set of etch plates, from Diane Carney, but is not suitable for my loco as it is the shed plate fitted back around 1963. I'm building as now. I will try your method as well.

Bob.

[JonL]

Sounds like Diane Carney is the place to go then... I'd heard she stopped trading a while ago but a brief look for her website shows business as usual, luckily. I know what I'm asking for for Christmas...

[Jim]

At the time I ordered my plates I was asked to supply details regarding the loco, its name, number and which shed plate. The full set of plates including the builder's plates and tender capacity plates arrived all as carried by Boadicea when built.

As you can imagine was a very happy customer.

Jim

[don9f]

Yes I can vouch for that. I’m quite pleased with how mine have “weathered” 😉

Some might have seen this before....

Cheers   Don

[JonL]

If I didn't know that was your locomotive I would have assumed it was full scale. A locomotive that has worn-in a little looks so much more prototypical at these sizes (not to detract from those making stunning pristine locos)

[mbrown]

I made exactly the same comment when the photo first appeared on the forum!

It took me back to visits to the last steam sheds in 1968... Carnforth, Rose Grove, Lostock Hall.... All just memories now, but very vivid ones!

Malcolm

[don9f]

Yes me too and in its last days of service, the real 92167 looked much worse than mine!

Don

[doubletop]

Letraset?



2 years old now and no problems with it at all

Pete

[JonL]

If they did Letraset in Gill Sans I'd consider using it, maybe as a template so I could cut the letters to suit. I'm waiting for 3D printers to get to my price range so I can make patterns for brass casting

[doubletop]

Feb 18, 2019 9:32:56 GMT JonL said:

If they did Letraset in Gill Sans I'd consider using it, maybe as a template so I could cut the letters to suit. I'm waiting for 3D printers to get to my price range so I can make patterns for brass casting

I assume you'd need somebody to do the casting so rather than wait for a 3D printer do what Adam Cro does and produce the drawings and get them to do the whole job for you?


Pete

[JonL]

I'd do it all myself, I've done some casting in silver before with no issues. It's more for the interest and challenge than the need for the final product.

[Jim]

I used letraset as the resist for photo etching the name plate and smoke box door ring plate plus valve chest plate on my Burrell SCC traction Engine. The border rings were done with black paint and using the trusty bow pen

Sadly out here at least Letraset is now almost impossible to find. The alternative now would be to have the letters or numbers cut from vinyl using vinyl cutting machine.

Jim

[mbrown]

I made name and number plates for two locos using Letraset and enamel paint for the big areas that needed to be protected. Suspended upside down in warm Ferric Chloride solution (occasionally agitated gently) and they came out really well.

But very small lettering can be hard to do neatly because you are working at a scale of 1:1 rather than doing a big master drawing and then reducing, and (as noted) the old range of Letraset in hundreds of fonts seems to have disappeared from sale.

But there have been a number of articles (ME? EiM?) About doing your own computer generated images and painting them onto the brass with a resistant ink.

Malcolm

[jo479]

I've recently used "Guilplates" for name plates, great job and very reasonably priced.