Decals Before Paint?

Since I can't buy decals for the tangerine and blue CNJ units I decided to make my own. This would be pretty straight forward if I had access to one of those old ALPS printers. They can print in white which means they can be used to create decals that can be seen on dark paint. Unfortunately they are hard to come by and because of that rather expensive. I've also read that the company that made them will stop supporting them in 2015. No more white ink after that. I know you can use an inkjet printer for making decals but there is one big drawback to that. No white ink.

So how can I make my own decals? I can use white decal paper! There is, however, a small problem in doing that. You would need to trim the decal so the white doesn't show. While that may be possible on bigger objects it is a viable approach at 1:160. I had to think on this one quite a while.

Then the other day I was reading an article on making said decals. The writer suggested that usable decals CAN be printed on white paper. The trick is to use a color background. The printer prints the background while leaving white areas "blank". This allows the white paper to show through. You just have to make the background a close match to the color of the model...

Decal Sheet in Visio Program

Ignore the white holes. They are problems with the screen capture, not the decals.

Anyway, I tried this out, using the CNJ units as a test. It works, sorta. I used Microsoft Visio to make the decals. I do this because unlike my photo editing software Visio doesn't pixelate the image when it's reduced and printed. I used an HP 6500 color printer to print the decal. The reason I mention the printer is the fact that I was surprised to find the resolution of the printer was so fine that even the smallest type face (1 pt) was readable, albeit with a magnifying glass. Those heralds actually look better than the ones on my Microscale decals...

Printed Decals

As you can see I carefully cut out the heralds and lettering for the CNJ F Units and applied them. The decals went on pretty easy except for one I left in the water too long (more than 15 seconds). The color broke up and ruined the lettering. Apparently Testors decal fixer doesn't fix too well. Fortunately I had made extras. After applying I used some decal set so they would conform to the surface...

First Set of Decals

Two things are painfully obvious in the images. First there is a thin band of white around each decal. Second the background color does not match the paint. I think the white is caused by cutting the white paper. I might be able to solve it by making the patch of background color bigger. If not, I can touch up the edges with paint, which brings us the second problem. The color match seems the bigger issue. How do I pull that off?

Like so many other problems, trial and error is the only real way to find a solution. Basically this means experimenting with colors on the computer until something looks reasonably close. I tried various tricks I could come up with like importing images of the prototype and the painted model into Paint Shop Pro and trying to match the color...

Sampled Colors

In the photo above I have taken samples of the colors from the model image. You can see two orange and blue rectangles in the color bar on the right side. I can now flood those colors into any other image in the program. I open the original herald (a nice crisp image) and change the colors...

"Flooding" the Colors

I was able to get a match on the orange, but I had to change the paint color. Rather than clean the shell and respray I brush painted the nose with Tamiya X6 Orange. This is more yellow than the previous color. Came pretty close...

Somewhat Closer in Color

The blue is a whole 'nother story. I brushed on three other blues I have on hand and missed with all four colors. The decal has to get darker...

Blue Angle Blue and Flat Sea Blue

Gloss Blue and Gloss Dark Blue

Fortunately I've had some experience with matching colors on a computer. Making digital models of trains requires trying to get the the "skin" looking like the real thing. Each color has a code. Change the code and you change the color. That's how I was able to create these...

Milwaukee Road "Quills"

New Haven DL109'

Matching real paint isn't as easy. I did a bunch of research on the internet and finally found a VERY helpful site called ScaleModelDB. This site will give you the equivalent color in model paints to the code you key in...

ScaleModelDB

It uses a hexidecimal code used for webpage colors. I can get that code from Paint Shop Pro using the color tool...

Color Tool and HTML Code

I keyed in #F9B93B and ScaleModelDB showed me that the paint closest to the orange in my decal is available in a plethora of Model Master paints. All of them are for model automobiles. The closest appears to be Roadster Orange.

Now I need to match the blue. Using the RGB code from Paint Shop Pro I found that the matching colors are not readily available at the local hobby shops. Luckily the same site has color charts for all the model paints available. I looked up what I thought was a blue I could use. I found that Tamiya Flat Blue looked right and used the database to find similar colors. This brought up a list of paints, but more importantly, gave me codes I could use in Paint Shop Pro...

Tamiya Flat Blue

I think the color is much too light for a CNJ engine, at least not one in the early 1950's Have to look some more.

So the gist of this long diatribe is that I end up creating the decals using colors I believe to be the closest to the prototype. I then match the decals to a color to paint the model with. I know it's totally backwards to the conventional wisdom but what do you expect from a guy who builds grades from the top down.

So now I'm back to looking for a good match to CNJ's "seamist" blue.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

CNJ Units and DCC

Because there are no ready made decal sets for the tangerine and orange H-15-44 I tried to paint the orange striping myself. The first step on all three of the Jersey Central units was painting them "tangerine". I chose a color I thought might be close, Russian marker red. It may not be the correct shade but I've seen all kinds of interpretations of "tangerine" on CNJ models.

Anyway, to tape stripe something large like a pickup truck or car takes some patience. To tape stripe a 3" long locomotive takes a lot more patience (and a bit of insanity). First I had to make appropriate width tape for the masking. I took some Tamiya tape I had laying around and cut it to width with a model knife and a straight edge...

The Easy Part

That was the easy part. Putting the tape on the shell was a whole 'nother story. I started with the upper stripe and then discovered it was easier to do the lower stripe first. This stripe runs above the top of the radiator vent and dead straight down the side The hard part is turning the corner at the end. The stripe curves and changes direction at the same time. If I was striping a car this would be accomplished by slowly stretching the tape (it's vinyl) as I change direction. That's not possible with this tape, at least not at this scale. I was able to make it work, but not easily...

Lower Stripe

Still it was easier then the upper stripe. I had to piece the ends on that one because of the molded in lights. The resulting end pieces were very short. It took quite a bit of finagling to get it reasonably straight. After the tape was applied I used a set of tweezers with rounded ends to burnish the edges of the tape into the nooks and crannies on the shell. Once all this masking was done I sprayed on a coat of clear flat to seal the edges of the tape and let it dry.

The final step was a coat of "Blue Angel" blue. I let this dry enough to be handled and very carefully used the tip of a hobby knife to pull up the tape. Things went pretty well and the shell came out better than expected...

CNJ Class FPSD-37 (FM H-15-44)

While the shell might look good from a distance, it leaves a lot to be desired. For one the plastic used is some funky resin. The thing always feels a bit tacky, even without paint. The detail is not as crisp as the Atlas or Bachmann parts that are available. I think I'm going to purchase an Atlas H-15-44 body kit and trash this one.

The other CNJ shells were a LOT easier. The F units are two tone and the masking was pretty straight forward. Once again it was a bit of work to get the tape to curve, but the radius was much wider and more readily formed...

Masked F Unit

The blue paint was applied the same way as the road switcher. I sealed the masking with a coat of flat clear. Once that had dried I applied the blue. When the tape was removed I had a pretty good representation of a Jersey Central class FD-42. Granted the actual locomotives were F3s instead of the F7 units I used, but it's part of "repurposing" my diesel fleet. Since many F3's eventually received F7 style grills maybe I can fudge a bit...

Jersey Central Class FD-42 (EMD F-3)

One other thing I fiddled with today was this contraption...

Decoder Testing/Programming Station

Believe it or not this rats nest actually does something. Many of my DCC decoders are second hand and as a result need to be tested before I permanently solder them into a perfectly good locomotive. Actually, even new decoders should be tested so anyone who uses DCC should probably have a similar gizmo. The actual tester is the circuit board in the left center of the board. Most of the other items make up an Atlas Commander system. I actually have two Commanders. One is the hub of the layout DCC system. The on shown here is a "spare" of sorts that I use for programming my locomotives. Both units are second hand and a lot less expensive than newer starter sets.

The heart of the this decoder station is a tester kit made by NCE. I got their DTK DCC decoder test kit off the web for about $20, including shipping. The kit includes the tester itself plus two wiring harnesses. One has ends for those decoders with plugs. The other has pigtails that can be used for the plugless decoders. Although alligator clips can added to the pigtails I found some info on the web that suggests using microhooks made by E-Z-Hook. They make set of hooks colored to match the standard color code of decoder wiring, Model XM. I also purchased these on line. The price was about the same as the tester kit. It took a few minutes and some soldering to install them, but it's worth it...

NCE DTK Test Kit With XM Hook Set

The tester also has terminal connections for track power and motor testing. You might be able to see that I have added wires with clips to both of these. I plan to mount all of this on the board I'm using for the station and make everything oh so neat and organized. I should probably learn how to use the thing while I'm at it. I have at least a dozen decoders waiting to be tested and installed.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

The Joy of Painting II

After the travails posted last time I started to pull things together. The first thing I did was to make my airbrushes more "compatible" with the big compressor. The compressor air line is normally equipped with a "quick connect" so I can use it with a host of accessories. All my air tools have the fittings that work with this coupling so it only makes sense to add these fittings to the two airbrushes I have. After all, one never knows when one will need to inflate a tire while painting...

Quick Connect

With that out of the way I needed to clean up several of the shells. They still had some paint on them and it was ruining the new finish. I set up a kind ot production line so I could efficiently strip paint...

Paint Removal

The process goes from right to left. First a bath of clean brake fluid. I buy the stuff a quart at a time and pour some into a clear plastic container (a Bachmann box) that I have set in a splash basin (Chinese food container). I let the shell soak a bit and move it to the "cleaning station" (another Bachmann box) where I scrub it VERY gently with a soft bristle brass brush. If there is still paint on the shell I place it back in the bath for a while and repeat the scrub. The third station is yet another Bachmann box filled with soapy water. I scrub the shell with a nylon bristle brush. This accomplishes two things. The water stops the corrosive action of the brake fluid while the scrubbing removes any residual paint and oil. After the shell is cleaned I rinse it off in a sink and set it aside to dry. So far the process works pretty good. Several shells can be stripped in a very short time...

Clean Shell

I sometimes use the airbrush without a paint jar attached as an air gun to push the water off the shell and cut the drying time. Once the shell has dried it's time to paint.

When I originally "built" the spray booth I used a pretty good size box. I realized the box didn't have to be that large. The booth is equipped with a lazy susan taken from one of those revolving tool holders. The model can be turned to face the brush so the box can be smaller. I only need enough space to allow the paint to start and stop off the shell...

Paint Booth

Once the shell is painted I spray thinner/cleaner though the brush. If I'm changing colors I also spray some fresh clear thinner to clear out the previous paint. I make sure to use the correct thinner for the paint I'm using.

I try to leave the shell in the booth until it dries overnight. Sometimes I will remove it if the paint has dried enough to be handled.

I try to do the painting in batches. I may use different colors but shells of the same color are painted before switching colors. The process goes fast enough that I can paint an entirely different color on a new shell within minutes. This does present a small problem as the paint booth may still be occupied by the previous shell. Fortunately there is almost no overspray. I can use the top of the booth without painting the entire work area...

Lehigh Valley FA Unit

I think I was so happy that everything was working well that I went overboard. Within a couple hours I had painted eight shells in a variety of colors...

Colorful Collection

In the foreground from left to right...Lehigh & New England FA, Lehigh Valley FA, New Jersey Central H-15-44 (green with yellow stripes), Jersey Central H-15-44 (blue with tangerine stripes), two New Haven DL109 units (pullman green with gold striping). At the rear left is a Jersey Central F7 A-B set (tangerine & blue).

The tangerine and blue H-15-44 represents one of fourteen Fairbanks Morse units delivered in that paint scheme. The units arrived on the property in 1948. They were repainted green with yellow in the early 1950's.

The next step for most of the units is decals. The tangerine and blue units need to be masked off so I can apply the darker color. Hopefully I'll do a decent job on the FM unit stripes.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

The Joy of Painting

You may have noticed the blog header has changed a bit. Since the PRR is no longer the primary focus of the layout I thought I should change it. My apologies to all the diehard Pennsy fans. I dug through my rather oversized library of images and found a Baldwin Consolidation similar to the 2-8-0 used by the Average Eastern. A bit of computer wizardry and I had an image of AE #11 even though the "real" 2-8-0 is still dressed in its NYC livery..

Average Eastern #11

Since I wasn't happy with my last attempt at brush painting I removed all the paint from the locomotive shells I was working on. I use brake fluid as a paint stripper. I fill a container with enough fluid to submerge the shells. After they soak a bit I "scrub" them with an old tooth brush. It make take a few soaks to get all the paint off. I don't like leaving the shells in the liquid overnight. Sometimes all you get is dissolved plastic...

Stripped Shells

Painting the shells proved to be an adventure. There were a few problems with the brush which appeared to be a wrong needle. Then the paint came out rough so I started over. It took a while to get back to painting and when I did I found the compressor had locked up. It's an AC motor so there isn't much to fix. The starting circuit had failed. The design of the motor is such that trying to repair it would destroy it.

A new compressor cost serious money. Canned air or an air tank (or even a spare tire) would work, but none of those options is as desirable. The only real solution was to get the compressor working. So I thought about it for a while...it occurred to me that the rotor shaft would fit in my drill chuck. Presto, working compressor...

Gutted Air Brush Compressor

Or so I thought. The paint just wouldn't flow even though I was getting air. I tried spraying some thinner, but still no joy. Somewhat desperate, I decided to try my Craftsman compressor. It seemed like overkill to use a 2 horsepower pump for an airbrush. I had also read that a compressor like this would produce air pulses that would ruin my attempts at painting. To my surprise everything worked great. I had airflow with the "kitbashed" compressor, but not enough. Apparently the drill cannot drive the compressor fast enough. The brush worked fine at the 45 psi the Sears unit was putting out...

Sears 2 HP Compressor

The thing that really burns me up about this is that I've had that air brush compressor for years and have barely used it. When I finally get serious about painting, it goes south...ARRRGH!!!!

After hours and hours of fiddling it took less than five minutes to paint the first DL109 in New Haven "pullman' green. Rather than remove the shell from the spray booth and go for the next ALCO I decided to leave things well enough alone. I'll let the paint dry before I do anything else...

New Haven Class DER-1a (ALCO DL109)

After painting I immediately sprayed thinner/cleaner through the brush. This helps keep the beasties passages clear. I do not like tearing an airbrush down after every use.

More adventure to come...

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

Spiders

Progress is at a minimum, meaning work on the layout is at a dead stop. I wish I could blame it on summer and all the time I'm spending out of doors, but I can't. I just haven't had the ambition. After getting the four track roadbed realigned and leveled out things came to a screeching halt. The only changes made since were constructed by spiders.

I haven't been completely dormant, however. This week I got it in my head to remove all the flotsam and jetsam that was hiding the workbench. Tools, materials, and everything else had been piled on this conveniently horizontal surface. I did my spring cleaning about three months too late and reorganized the whole shebang. After clearing the work top (a lot of stuff is now layed out on the layout) I started going through the three boxes that hold all my paints. I have always hated rummaging for the color I was looking for. I had the most commonly used colors towards the front in one box but it was still a matter of hunting when I needed the metalizer for a smoke box. To add to the aggravation the boxes rested on a shelf about 12" deep that got in the way of quite a few other things. To remedy this issue I removed said shelf and built VERY narrow shelves just deep enough to hold a paint bottle. At 42" in length each of the new shelves can hold a whole lot of those small bottles used for model paint...

99 Bottles of paint on the shelves, 99 bottles of paint...

With all the paints out of the way I started sorting the hundred or so tools I've collected over the years. I cast aside any tools that were not specifically for modeling. Things like a foot long bastard file and the three sets of duplicate pliers. I decided I only really needed one jewelers/coping saw and retired the other two. There was also a plethora of electrical parts, pens, plastic paperclips and a dozen Sharpees. Shouldn't forget to mention the overabundance of magnifers and other paraphenalia. I relocated some shelving that was at the side of the workbench and found I had a place for those drawer cabinets full of parts and projects. Hell, I even had room for my seldom used airbrush (more on the later). I went to Home Depot and picked up two magnetic bars to hold the tools I had decided to keep. The bars run along each side of the worktop. The tools stick like they were glued there...

Almost Organized

With everything in it's place I decided to start working on side projects that have been on hold for months, if not years. The new scheme of the Average Eastern involves a lot more that "just" the Pennsylvania Railroad so I decided I would repaint and re-letter some equipment for the other roads represented on the layout. The first step was removing paint from some of the locomotive shells I want to "re-purpose".

The first shells to be stripped were four ALCO cab units and a Fairbanks Morse road switcher. Two DL109's are destined to become New Haven Class DER-1a...

A Plethora of Paint Schemes

The biggest problem is choosing which of the plethora of New Haven paint schemes to use on these two locomotives. The two red liveries are easy. I won't use them. The red, black and white "McGuiness" paint did not appear until about 1956. The Average Eastern is set in an earlier time. The other red, the "Cranberry" was a one off that only appeared on a specific train that ran between Boston and Hyannis, Massachusetts...

The "Cranberry"

Lucky me...now I only have seven paint schemes to choose from.

Then two FA units are to be repainted for the Lehigh & New England and the Lehigh Valley. I was originally going to paint both units for the L&NE. I may still do that...

Lehigh & New England #701

Still, I think I'd like to have an LV engine to go with my new Lehigh Valley caboose...

LV # 95067

#95067 is just one of the several cabeese I've been gathering. The genericity of the Average Eastern allows me a bit of artistic license in choosing what to model...

Cabeeses

There is a Lehigh & New England "crummie" to the left of the Lehigh & Hudson River. The unlettered N5 will be repainted for the New York, New Haven & Hartford. There is also a Reading hack laying around here somewhere.

Anyway, the FM H-15-44 will become a Jersey Central FPSD-37 Class that was painted in a kind of "transition" paint scheme. The only locomotive to wear this livery, #1502 was dressed in "Seamist" blue with tangerine stripes...

"Seamist" Blue

I started with the DL109's first. Because Testors has decided to cancel most of their model railroad colors I had purchased some Badger "AccuFlex" paints. Badger still sells paints like "New Haven Pullman Green" and "Lackawanna Gray". That's the good news. The bad news is that the paint is not friendly to brush painters like me. For years now I have painted ALL my models using a brush and achieved flawless finishes. In my humble opinion, the Badger paint sets up too fast to work with a brush. This makes plenty of sense considering Badger specializes in air brush sales. So I switched to a dark green color from Floquil (I think) and it went on the way I thought it should. The paint is thin enough to flow evenly, but requires several coats. Thinking about it, I realized that if I gonna paint several coats I may as well dust off the air brush. That way I'll get nice even coverage. I'll also be able to paint multiple color and stripes, something that is a lot more work with a traditional brush. 

I'm constructing a paint booth so I don't airbrush the entire garage. Then there will have to be a bit of practice so I can relearn how to use the damnable thing.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

Genericity

There has been a long hiatus. Work on the Average Eastern stopped about two months ago. Other things grabbed my attention and I haven't made any efforts to get back to it. Reading through the seventy years or so of modeling magazines has been the bulk of railroading related activity. I started out looking for plans of items that might fit on the layout and scanning those I liked. Lately I done little but page through. Presently I'm working through Model Railroader issues from 1990.

I haven't, however, stopped thinking about the layout. One recurring theme has been the opportunities afforded by the "genericity" of the Average Eastern. Originally the idea was summed up by the name. It was to be a presentation of a "typical" short line in the eastern United States. The class one railroads that interchanged with the AE could be any major railroad that served that area of the country. It allows me to model many of my favorites. The previous (and incomplete) layout attempted to capture the essence of the Pennsy and I felt it fell far short of that goal. While the new incarnation still has sections of four track right of way, they are meant to represent any of the similar mainlines seen in northeast America...

Average Eastern: July 15th, 2014

This is also true of the section of double track. This was pretty common on other railroads in the same area. Most of the lines the in the northeast started in the early 19th century. Multiple tracks were the only way to handle the traffic density in the area. Modern CTC did not exist. Even telegraphy was still in the future. There was no other way to avoid congestion and/or collisions.

It has occurred to me that these multi-track sections can also represent other railroads. The double track sections could be used as a single mainline with sidings while the quadruple track sections can be used as two track the same way.

The other thing I've thought about is using the actual Allegheny Eastern track to serve as a branch of one of class 1 lines. If I use the yard at Quotidian as an interchange I could even model two branches of two different railroads. Rather than run Average Eastern motive power, the equipment would reflect the parent road.

Using the scenario described above, the layout could represent almost any railroad. The locale could be anywhere from California to Maine. The only feature that limits this idea is the Hollow Mountain area at Average, a section that I have doubts about anyway. There is something just not right about it. To fit a mountain high enough to serve as a view block I had to make some compromises. The side of the mountain that towers over the "west" end of the AE is much too steep. It is also concave, with the top overhanging and threatening the small town of Average...

Average

Reducing the height of the mountain is possible. I built it high thinking I needed to clear the upper "level", the two track section and the east end of the AE. I thought I would need a high mountain to legitimize the tunnels under Gateway Point. Not all railroad tunnels, however, bore through high obstacles. There are quite a few that appear in places where a cut would seem a more likely solution. Apparently tunnels are cheaper than very deep cuts and are used whenever possible. Looking at East End you can see that a lower height also works...

East End

The height of the mountain in this section can be reduced quite a bit. If I cut it down to that third horizontal cardboard strip it would become a hill and still serve as a view block...

Hollow Hill, East End

The barrier that looms above Average can also be cut down in the same fashion...

Clark's Summit

I'm thinking this not only expands the layouts adaptability, it also makes it more realistic.

This does not, however, imply that UP Challengers or Missabe Yellowstones will grace the AE rails. I'm still focused on the railroads of the northeast for now, but don't be surprised if L&N or Rutland equipment appears at some point. The idea of D&H Challengers or C&O Alleghenies pounding along the Split River is not too far fetched. Anything might show up...

Seaboard "Centipede" Citrus Scheme

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad

One Thing Leads To Another

This has nothing to do with model railroads per se, but I couldn't help myself. Saw this in the parking lot when attending my granddaughter's dance recital...

Ford COE

High "cool quotient" in that ride. Not sure of the exact year but '39 to '41 seems close enough.

As for the layout, the more I deal with these construction methods the more I like them. I don't have to be afraid of tearing up and redoing a section. After the first loop of track was permanently fastened down I encountered serious derailment issues. There were two sections of roadbed that were definite trouble. One was at Clark's Summit where a defect in the roadbed caused the super-elevation to become excessive. The Erie test unit kept flopping over. The other problem occurred inside Hollow Mountain. I used 1" thick Styrofoam when I revised the roadbed and it doesn't flex as well as I like. The result was not a smooth sweeping curve. I redid the roadbed using laminated 1/2" strips...

Revised Roadbed In Hollow Mountain

Of course to get at the curve I had to peel away the mountain. A few quick slices took care of that. I also cut away the roadbed in the tracks above. They're as easy to replace as the mountain itself.

This modification also allowed me to realign the approaches to the tunnel through the mountain. Based on a few influences, like the Pennsy's penchant for twin tunnels, I used two bores at each end. I was able to provide smooth curves at both places...

Four Track West Portal

Four Track East Portal

As for the problem at Clark's summit the only way to resolve it properly was to make sure the roadbed was level. While I was at it I went over all the roadbed for the four track spreading a viscous mixture of gypsum with a brush...

Resurfaced Roadbed, Clark's Summit

Resurfaced Roadbed, Average

Once the gypsum dries I'll check the roadbed and make adjustments. The cork will then be glued in place and track relaid. A test train will be run as the track goes down to make sure things are what they should be.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Average Eastern Railroad