70036 Boadicea

[Jim]

Funny you should suggest that Lisa as one of the members in my old club wore a white sail cloth hat topped with a UP cap, looked a bit odd.

It will be quite easy to fit a strip at the back of the foot boards which is a must for passenger cars where the public is involved.

The last photo for the day..all the windows 'in'.



Jim

[Jim]

Over the last couple of days I've managed to finish the driving truck with the addition of some home made transfers, I'm still thinking about adding the details of the load limits that appeared beneath the van number.
I also made up some handles for the van doors which will be just the thing to snag my trousers on.



That just about wraps it up for me for the time being.

Jim

[Lisa]

I made a guard's van to go with dad's sweet pea, many years ago, it had door handles as well. It soon became apparent that every child that noticed the door handles would try to turn them: In other words, I hope you've fixed them in well!

Looks good Jim, I do like a carriage that looks like a carriage.

[Jim]

The door handles are actually modified cup hooks, so are screwed in but easily replaced should one go missing. I must admit like you I like a ride on truck/van/carriage that looks the part and fits in with the rest of the train when in the yard. I will probably add a detachable booster seat if I find the current height too hard on the knees.

Jim.

[runner42]

Hi Jim,

I am impressed with your home made transfers and therefore was tempted to ask you for chapter and verse on how to. But instead I thought that I would using the internet find out how to do it and as a consequence found that special decal paper is required, available in either clear or white. I have ordered clear, but considering that some of my decals will require white numbering, the problem immediately became apparent that most printers don't print white. So how did you produce the white lettering and numbering decals?


Brian 

[Cro]

So Jim, does this mean its time to light that match?

[Jim]

Nearly Adam nearly. Though at present with the mercury hovering round the 40C mark lighting a match could well and truly bring the walloppers down on you like a ton of bricks. It's a total fire ban now.

Jim

[Cro]

Jim,

Thats a real shame, how about gas burner in firebox? Keeps it clean that way too

Adam

[Jim]

Jan 18, 2018 7:22:21 GMT runner42 said:

Hi Jim,

I am impressed with your home made transfers and therefore was tempted to ask you for chapter and verse on how to. But instead I thought that I would using the internet find out how to do it and as a consequence found that special decal paper is required, available in either clear or white. I have ordered clear, but considering that some of my decals will require white numbering, the problem immediately became apparent that most printers don't print white. So how did you produce the white lettering and numbering decals?


Brian 

Hi Brian,

I hate to say it but I too ordered clear transfer paper the first time as I hadn't known I needed white transfer paper for inkjet printers as the inks are translucent. The clear carrier needs solid colours as, I think you get if you have a laser printer.

Using the white carrier I prepared the 'art work' using Pages on my iMac though in the past I've used Print Artist on a PC.

With the Mac there comes an app called Colour Sync which I use to work out the RGB combination to best match the back ground colour since the background won't show through sadly as it does with standard clear transfers.

To do the colour match I took a colour photo of  the van's side and transfered it to the desktop where I could use the Colour Sync to work out the correct RGB combo for the transfer's body colour. In this case Red 113, Green 0 and Blue 17. I did a similar thing for deciding on the off white text.

Hopefully the screen shot explains it better along with showing two transfers ready for printing



Once you have printed the transfer I cut it off the A4 transfer sheet as the remainder of the sheet can be used for other transfers.

Then the transfer needs to be sprayed with a clear lacquer to set and protect the inkjet inks which are soluble in water!

Once the lacquer has dried trim the transfer to remove any trace of the white carrier, soak in water and apply. The carrier is a lot more robust than standard transfers so needs some gentle work to slide it off the paper onto the carriage side.

I've only just placed the transfer of dimensions etc for the CCT on the the van's side so you can still pick out the outline of the transfer. This will be sorted when I gently blend in the sides with Humbrol 20 gloss enamel to remove the white edges of the transfer. I did that with the two earlier transfers.



Once I'm satisfied that the transfer's background is blended into the that of the van I will give the whole side a coat of clear lacquer so that the gloss is even across everything.

Sorry if I've rambled on but I find being able to make your own transfers allows you to add details not covered by the commercial suppliers.

Jim

[runner42]

Thanks Jim,

looking at the likes received for your post I think that it is of interest to many forum members. I especially like your method of matching the background colour using a camera and software.

Brian 

[Jim]

Thanks Brian,

The system isn't perfect for reasons Fox give in their covering notes. For instance inkjets use a dot matrix system which isn't as sharp and precise as the screen printed transfers you buy. On the other hand there is no way I could hand paint all that detail in a way that didn't resemble a 3yo trying out a packet of crayons so the decals are for me the only solution.

Just by the by, I might add that for P O Wagons on my O gauge layout I make the the whole wagon side and ends as decals to place on plain unlettered wagons. That way matching back ground colours isn't a problem. Tamiya put out a decal settling solution to settle the transfers over rivet and strap details, it's similar to Solvaset which I understand is no longer available.

Jim.

[racinjason]

Looks good Jim let me know when your bring it to the club I'll try and get there for it's first run.
cheers Jason.

[Jim]

Thanks Jason I certainly shall. I must admit to being an absentee member for the last 12 months what with one thing and another.
Jim

[Jim]

After returning from our regular muddle engineer's Thursday lunch I decided to tackle the tender's lining. A soothing ale is a wonderful booster of confidence I find.

First task was to mark out the corners with washable black pen then put down as corner guides two short strips of Tamiya low tac masking tape.
The corner transfers proved tricky as they are very thin and double over with very little effort with the result I discarded 2 before I got one settled in the right spot and properly aligned. I found that reducing the length of one leg of the angle stopped the tendency to double under and from then on all went well. I should add the Decal setting fluid I bought recently was perfect for settling the transfers over rivets in the odd spot where the two met.

Fortunately the colour match with the earlier lining I did with a pen is spot on as is the width etc. I must admit I was concerned that there would be a mismatch.

The BR1 tender is long and while Fox are quite generous with the number of straights on a sheet I'll still need a second set of straight lines to complete the other side. The order has already gone!




At last it's all coming together.

Jim

[GWR 101]

Jim, that's looking very good, can I ask the name of the Decal setting fluid please and is it ok for ink jet printed decals. I am preparing to try and print some decals for my 7 plank ride on truck. Inspired by your method of matching the paint shade I decided to cheat and do the opposite of your approach.    As the wagon is grey I assume that there is a fair bit of licence in the shade so I have selected a grey on my computer and will take a sample of that to the paint shop and get them to mix some paint to match it. Regards Paul

[Cro]

So close now Jim, I'm sending the lit match in the post!!


Adam

[Jim]

Thanks Adam, I wondered why the fire brigade was chasing the postal van. 

Jim.

[Jim]

Jan 25, 2018 11:56:29 GMT GWR 101 said:

Jim, that's looking very good, can I ask the name of the Decal setting fluid please and is it ok for ink jet printed decals. I am preparing to try and print some decals for my 7 plank ride on truck. Inspired by your method of matching the paint shade I decided to cheat and do the opposite of your approach.    As the wagon is grey I assume that there is a fair bit of licence in the shade so I have selected a grey on my computer and will take a sample of that to the paint shop and get them to mix some paint to match it. Regards Paul

Matching the paint to the decal is a neat idea Paul and especially as paint matching is now available in hardware stores where before it was only available in specialty automotive paint suppliers such as the one where where I get my BR Green.

To answer your question about the decal setting fluid, it's a Tamiya product called Mark Fit, an odd name that in no way tells you what it's for. Whether it will work on inkjet transfers would depend on a few factors. For example the carrier I use is from the Bel Co. in Miami US and is a fairly heavy strong carrier unlike the very thin carriers the commercial transfers come on. As a result the last time I tried with Solvaset the the carrier proved resistant. There could be much thinner ones available now. As an aside, I used the Photo Paper setting when printing my transfers which gives a much better quality image.

Nothing to do with transfers but for anyone interested the orange paint I used for lining is Tamiya's X-6 Orange which as mentioned earlier is an almost perfect match for the orange Fox use in their BR era transfers. I confirmed this with my wife whose colour vision and colour memory is spot on. She can walk into a wool shop and from hundreds of different shades select the exact match for a knitting job she is working on.

Jim

[92220]

Just as a point on matching colours for readers..Don't match colours to photos unless no other option is available. Colour photos are ALWAYS wrong! Just as an illustration, Jim's photo of his tender, with the BR logo on it....The colour of the lion, in the photo, is way too lemony. The actual colour is a golden yellow with a hint or orange in it. When I did the transfer artwork for the Precision paints range of transfers, I had an original BR transfer to work with, as well as the drawing, (still have it). That way I was also able to colour match, and formulate, the transfer ink colour, to the original.

Really nice job of the paintwork and lining on the loco and the lettering on the driving truck/coach.

Bob.

[barlowworks]

Yes be very wary of matching colours from photographs. I one made an O Gauge Duchess for a friend and he was adamant he had a picture with the right colour on it. We had some paint mixed which I duly sprayed on the model and shortly after he got a phone call. " You had better come and have a look at this Duchess, it's pink". Luckily it was acrylic paint and a trip to Halfords got us a spray tin of the darkest red they had. After letting the propellant out we mixed the two together and by luck it was just like the faded red that the Duchesses had a few years after painting. For a few months the lid on the paint would occasionally fly off as the propellant desolved in the spray paint slowly released, frightening me to death.

Mike