How Not To Make Decals

I've been working on this for days now and I'm hoping I will finally get it right. As I type this I'm creating the third stencil. The PhotoEZ film is being exposed to the icandescent light at the workbench. It should be ready for developing in about fifteen minutes. I think I have the exposure procedure down pat. We shall see.

The first step in the process is creating a drawing. This can get pretty involved. I wanted to put as much in that drawing as I could, so the stencil is crowded.. The sheets I have are only 4x5 inches. You would think filling one would be a cake walk. It's not. Finding stuff to fill up the drawing takes quite a while. Once you find some info, like the lettering you want, you may want to research things like the class and number series of the car you are going to decal. It's pretty easy to make different numbers for each car. The finished drawing is a composite of five others...

Composite Drawing

The drawing is sized to fit an 8.5" x 11.5" transparency. That is room enough for four sets of decals each on its own 4"x5" sheet. You can see that I packed as many different road names as I could. All of them are railroads that I'll be modeling. I also threw in few others from other model railroads and the Owertown trolley.

Then I printed the entire drawing on a single transparency. Wanted to take advantage of all that real estate at one time. It doesn't make sense to me that I should print one 4"x5" image and waste three quarters of a rather costly piece of  acetate. I didn't intend to make multiple stencils at one time but if need be I could "burn" four stencils at once.

Anyhow, the transparency came out great. As I mentioned before, the inkjet printer I use has awesome resolution. It is possible to read the smallest lettering. It would be really nice if the finished product comes out the same way. By the way, it helps if you feed the transparency into the printer properly. If not you waste ink on the paper protector sheet...

"Misprint"

 I expose the PhotoEZ by laying the transparency over it and then pinning both of them down with a piece of clear acylic. The light I use is just 40 watt (I think) bulb in the magnifier over the worktop. I let it sit for 15 minutes and find something else to do (like this blog)...

"Burning" The Stencil

The part of the drawing I'm using first is the upper left quadrant. It has all kinds of stuff on it. I've included some of the motive power, a variety of cabeese, the trolley and a few boxcar decals for foreign road names. You may recognize some of them... 

Upper Left Quadrant

I'm not sure if some of the thinner linework will actually appear on the actual decal. I've been having trouble with that part of the process...

Fine Lines

Sometimes the artwork comes out "gloppy", sometimes too faint or not at all. I've tried acyllic paint sprayed through an airbrush and actuall silk screen "ink" (seems like thick paint to me).

I know it's me. I don't have the knack of it yet...

Upper Left Corner Of Stencil

Decal Air Brushed

Decal Inked

Part of the issue is the stencil. I've beat it up quite a bit. Even so, under magnification the stencil is nowhere near the resolution of the original printout... 

Detail Of Stencil

 You can also see the evidence of the actual screen mesh on some of the decal. This sample was not made from a fresh stencil. By this time the poor thing has been scrubbed clean several times...

Mesh Marks

Soooo...The new stencil was exposed for 15 minutes. I looked at and it appeared to be blank. I guess I did something wrong. Put it under the light for another 15 minutes...Here is where I issue a word of warning. On the first stencil I thought I could see the artwork. That was a fluke. More than likely the stencil will appear totally blank. After developing the artwork will be VERY obvious. By putting it back under the light I overexposed it...I cleverly managed to make the same mistake with two different sheets of PhotoEZ. Those were the last two 4"x5" I had. Fortunately for me Circuit Bridge slipped two extra small samples in the bag. I was able to create a new usable stencil. There is a silver lining...I can experiment with paint and ink to my hearts content...

Improperly Exposed

Another thing to watch is handling the stencil before it develops. I got finger prints on the first two. Now I make a little handle from the Tamiya masking tape I use. This way I can lift and manuever the sheet without fingering it.. Make sure it's on the mesh side of the template...

Masking Tape Handle

Once the stencil has been exposed place it a shallow pan of water to develop the image. It's like that step in developing photos from film (if anybody remembers film). There are some documents out there that suggest scrubbing the stencil. WAIT until the stencil is developed. In fact don't scrub it at all. I know this because I scrubbed the first sheet. I striipped away most of the emulsion and was left with empty mesh. Lift it out of the water and rinse it under cold water. If there is any excess emulsion rub gently with your fingers while rinsing. Once I rinse it off I lay it down between two paper towels and let it dry... 

Finished (Sort Of)

After examining this last example in camera images I can see that there are places that may have had excess emulsion. Should have taken more time cleaning off the film...

Residue

Well, at least I have one more piece of PhotoEZ. Might as well try again.

If anyone out there wants to take their own shot at this, You can buy four 4"x5" sheets of PhotoEZ for about $10 from Circuit Bridge. Gives you something to experiment on without draining your bank account.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

5 A.M.

What does a model railroader do when they wake up VERY early and cannot fall back asleep?

Silly question...Work on trains of course!

Yes, I am that crazy (or obsessed or whatever).

So I found myself awake. First thing to do is make coffee. What else do you do when you can't sleep? I know, that is counter intuitive, but it seems to work that way. The second thing to do is go out to the garage and clean the new Baldwin shells. Read up on it and everybody has a different idea. I settled on full strength household surface cleaner mixed with Dawn, no water. I set up the little assembly line I use for stripping paint but used the cleaning concoction in lieu of brake fluid. A short soak in the goop, a light scrubbing then a rinse in soapy water. Repeat process a few times and then wash off the soap with clear water...

Baldwin Cleaned

It looks pretty much the same but without the wax. I could now get a better look at the detail...

Oh, That Face

Overall it looks pretty good. There are "artifacts" from the printing process but they have to be magnified to be readily seen...

"Artifacts"

I suppose they could be sanded smooth, but I'm not confident I wouldn't ruin the shell. I can't see well enough and my hands are a tad shaky in these golden years. I think I'll leave well enough alone. If painting really highlights these then maybe I'll revisit the idea.

I have the four track section nearly complete. The curve at Clark's Summit still needs to be completed, but  that's only about six feet of mainline...

Clark's Summit

I did a major rework of the track through Gateway tunnel. The curves were just too tight and didn't flow well...

Gateway Before

I widened them and split the mains, similar to the Pennsy tunnels at Gallitzin. There is also a more graceful transition that eliminates the abrupt changes in radius that caused derailments...

Gateway Now

This resulted in a better looking track arrangement at both portals, as the mains split quite a ways from the tunnel mouths...

West Portal at Average

East Portal

The method for building the scenery shell was a bit different from conventional. I did not use balled up newspaper to support it while it dried. The cardboard matrix supports itself for the most part. I had to cut away the east side of Gateway Point to access the track underneath. As you can see the shell holds itself up well...

Self Supporting

The tubular upright was placed there because I wasn't sure such a tall section of the matrix wouldn't collapse from it's own weight. It probably wasn't neccessary and now I can't remove it without breaking the mountain further than I already have.

I finally fell asleep and woke up somewhat refreshed. I've had my coffee and a nap to boot. By that time the PhotoEZ sheets had arrived in the mail. I jumped on that project right away. The screens can handle ink or paint and that has given me some ideas. Using the sample stencil that Circuit Bridge sent with the package I did a couple of experiments. It had occurred to me that what PhotoEZ creates are essentially stencils like you use in painting letters on boxes or other things. Can the stencil be used with an airbrush just like any plain old stencil?

Drum roll please!

YES!  Using the sample screen I tried first with a brush and got what you might expect. A smeary mess. Then I fired up ye old air brush and made a light pass. The crazy idea actually works. It appears that I can airbrush my own decals...

PhotoEZ Sample

How well will it work with N scale lettering? Tune in the next adventure and find out.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

Babyface

Most model railroaders might be familiar with Baldwin "sharks". They are a very distinctive looking locomotive. Their extrodinary car bodies were designed by Raymond Loewy, a major player in industrial design in that era. The shark nosed style appeared on two diesel models and on one steam type in that period, all products of Baldwin Locomotive Works with the strong influence of the Pennsylvania Railroad...

Pennsy Shark

What many modelers may not know is that the mechanicals of the original sharks were based on an earlier locomotive design. In the 1940's Baldwin built a series of car body diesels meant to compete with the bull nosed products of General Motors...

General Motors FT Set

Because of design patents the sleek lines of the Electro Motive locomotives could not be duplicated. Baldwins major competitor for second place in diesel production, American Locomotive Company, came up with the unique streamlined noses of with their DL109, PA and FA products...

ALCO FA Set

Unlike the ALCO designs, which many railfans consider works of art, Baldwin's attempt did not inspire a great deal of enthusiasm. The locomotives were somewhat pugnosed with windshields that brought to mind the droopy eyes of a cartoon character. This series of Baldwin's DR designated models became known as "babyfaces", a somewhat derogatory moniker along the lines of "A face only a mother could love".

The first series of these "babyface" diesels were 2000 HP passenger units. They could not be considered successful. Very few were purchased and production never reached any major numbers. Aside from the sharknose version of this model, the Pennsy BP20, the only memorable version of these locomotives were the double ended DRX-6-4-2000 units of the New Jersey Central...

Central Railroad Of New Jersey Diesel Class PD-30

Another series of passenger units, even more obscure, were known as vest pocket passenger diesels. The DR-6-4-1500 sold a whopping nine locomotives...

Vest Pocket Passenger Unit

The freight version of the babyface design, designated DR-4-4-1500, also failed to topple GM as leader of diesel production... 

Babyface Freighter

Of all the "babyfaces", this model had the largest production numbers. One hundred five units were sold to five different railroads. The Jersey Central purchased fifteen, the New York Central bought another six. The Missouri Pacific owned twelve, the last of the babyface freight units produced. The remainder of the production run went to the Pennsylvania. These are the most familiar of the DR-4-4-1500's although none of them wore the babyface car body. These fifty units were the first generation of shark nosed freighters...

Sharknose DR-4-4-1500

As far as I know, there have never been any N scale models of any of the babyfaces, at least not by any major manufacturer. Thanks, however, to the miracle of 3D printing and a fellow who goes by the Railwire handle of Piperguy an N scale DR-4-4-1500 is readily available. I just received an A-B set my wife gave me as a birthday gift... 

DR-4-4-1500 A Unit

Baldwin DR-4-4-1500 B Unit

"Babyface"

I still have to wash off the wax that is part of the printing process. I was a tad excited and took these as soon as I opened the package. While I'm told there may be some evidence of the layering action from the printhead, a magnifying glass is required to see it (at least at my age). From the normal viewing distance I doubt anyone can see it.

I'm planning to paint these units in the "as delivered" color scheme of the Jersey Central. The tangerine over blue is my favorite...

Tangerine Over Orange

To my mind the more familiar green and yellow paint applied later is not as atractive. They will match the set of  F-Units I'm in the process of painting....

Jersey Central Diesel Class FD-42

Meanwhile, back on the layout, some more progress. Track 2 of the four track section has been put down and tested. I use a Pennsy 2-10-0 to pull the test train. It has the longest wheel base on the roster and the curves have to allow for it. The radius the decapod can negotiate is the absolute minimum for the Class 1 mainlines. I took a shot of the I1s and her charges at Average, her mass overwhelmed by Hollow Mountain towering in the background...

I1s At Average

I'm still working on the decal project altough I've changed direction. I'm falling back on the tried and true silk screen method, albeit with a 21st century slant. The screens will be created in a much simplified way using ready made emulsion screens...

The emulsion screen as provided by EZ-screen is rather expensive, especially when you can buy it from the manufacturer for half the price. I'm already creating the stencils for the emulsion by modifying the previous set in Vizio. Because I'm using photo sensitive emulsion no color background is required. The stencil need only be in black and white. Probably the most involved part of the process is creating all the variations...

Pennsy Decals

Caboose Decals

Boxcar Decals

Aside from saving money (I hope) making your own decals means you only make the ones you will use. No more odds and ends of lettering from time periods you don't model. You can also make a full set with different road numbers instead of cutting out individual numerals. Hopefully this idea will work the way I'm planning on. If not, at least I'll have some artwork I can send to somebody who actually knows how to do this.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

Loss and Gain

I failed to find the perfect "fixative" for the decals. My first attempt with Floquil flat clear seemed to work, the second attempt did not. I would have thought an enamel paint would last longer in water, but that was not the case. I sprayed another coat of clear but this time it was acrylic. Despite the fact that the enamel had dried overnight the ink still ran when I sprayed the acyllic on one sheet...

Bleeding Decals

The other sheets came out fine so I applied some and then sprayed a cover coat of flat clear. I wanted to see how the colors matched when all was said and done....

Model Master Insignia Red

Model Master Bitish Crimson

Testors Flat Red

To me the Ontario & Western caboose is the best match. The British Crimson on the boxcar also seems to work. I trimmed the white away after the decal had dried. It became really apparent that the match was nowhere near close enough. Besides, trimming the decal works fine with some heralds but it's impossible for the lettering. For me the idea is a failure.

That's the bad news. The good news is that I'm able to run trains again. Only Track 1 is in place right now. I wanted to test it out before laying parallel tracks. This first one will be the guide for the other three so it's probably a good thing to make sure it's right. I had to "enhance" the roadbed by laying on a thin coat of joint compound and making sure it was level. There were sections of the styrofoam spline that were not square. I should taken better care to see that they were. The resulting roadbed was not what I wanted for this four track section, and made superelevated curves impossible. Filing in those areas and sanding was the only way I could think of to repair it. I also had to widen the curve around Clark's Summit. The radius on the inner track was too tight for the 2-10-0. The curves inside the tunnel under Gateway were also redone. They didn't flow the way I wanted.

The first train to run in months was a VERY short freight headed up by an Pennsy I1s. I made a short video of the train running along the north bank of the Split River, just east of Quotidian...

Tracks 2, 3 and 4 should be in place tomorrow.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

In The Eye Of The Beholder

The experiments continue. I'm sure anybody who read the last entry was thinking "Why, oh why, don't you pick the paint first and THEN match the decal?"  As I've written before, sometimes the most obvious thing escapes me. It's only over time that I realize what everyone else sees immediately (if not sooner). You are absolutely right. Over the past few days I have been going over the color charts looking for what I think is the closest to the prototype. I then use the HTML color code to produce that color in Paint Shop Pro.

Now that it appears that the background matching problem is solved (almost) there are two other issues to solve. First off I need something that REALLY seals the decals. The Testor's fixer doesn't seem to work at all. I've also tried spraying the sheet with Floquil clear flat. This works better, but if left in the water too long the decals are easily messed up. It may be that the water saturates the paper and destroys the decals from that side. Secondly, there are still colors that don't translate well. So far the reds, yellows and browns seem to work fine. The blue and orange in the CNJ colors does not seem to work like it should...

Printed Decal Fail

The colors on the herald with the blue Statue of Liberty, the lettering on the Jersey Central Lines and the smaller class markings are almost as they should be although the blue is lighter than the actual paint...

Blue Angle Blue?

Blue Angel Blue

The heralds with "yellow" Liberty should be orange. I found this may be the result of layering in Paint Shop Pro. Sometimes a color on a lower layer combines with colors on the upper layer. I was able to fix this by merging the layers before cutting and pasting into Visio. 

Back to the color charts where I found Tamiya's Royal Blue, a much darker shade. I copied the code into Paint Shop Pro and the result looked much better...

Royal Blue

To make sure the color works I cut and pasted the herald into Visio...

Checking Color in Visio

So far, so good. On the computer screen it looks fine. The final printed color can be a lot different. I made a test print. I try to use paper with a better finish than the rock bottom copy paper. The ink is less likely to "blot". I placed the print-out by a window in natural light and snapped a picture...

Test Print Under Natural Light

As a final test I took a photo of the printout and the shell together...

Final Test

At this point I ran into that bugaboo that has caused SO much controversy amongst model railroaders. In the image there is a definite difference between the two oranges. The paint on the shell appears to be warmer than the printed version. To my eye they are so close I cannot tell them apart! The orange on both are nearly the same shade. Same with the blue. This is true under natural, fluorescent and incandescent light. What the camera sees and what I see are two different things. I would like to drag out my 35mm camera to see how the colors appear on film but I'll settle for the evidence of my eyes.

One thing that is evident from this exercise is just how various factors affect the "actual" color of an object. Rather than try to get a "perfect" mix that obviously cannot exist I'm going with good enough. As long as it looks the way I think it should it's fine. Weathering with washes and chalks will provide the variations we see in actuality. 

Having said that and making the corrections suggested by these tests I think it's time to start applying these decals 

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad