Garden Railway Forum

gregh wrote: ↑Sun Dec 27, 2020 10:47 pm Very crisp painting of stripes sets it off.

The secret is to use waterslide decals........ Spray a piece of blank decal paper with the desired colour and then cut strips with a scalpel. On the flat front panel of the body, it gives a nice straight sharp edge and the stripes are all the same width.

The bonnet stripes aren't as sharp as they look though, as they had to be masked due to the tapered shape of the bonnet and the louvres in the way. Strips of Tamiya tape made by sticking it down to a sheet of glass and cutting with a scalpel gives the best result, but there's always a buildup of paint on the edge and underspray in the odd corner that needs touch up.......

Not sure where I picked up the technique of making custom wood mouldings by planing the profile onto the edge of a piece of timber and cutting it off in the bandsaw. Probably read about it in a woodworking magazine I guess, but it's a useful trick nonetheless.

Regards,
Graeme

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:07 am A different Rowlands book simply called The Tralee & Dingle Railway. It's got some drawings (including the inspection car) by David Pinniger.

That was actually the first book I bought about the Irish ng and that was the drawing I used for the model. I only recently tracked down a copy of the later book.

My copy was bought in the ‘80s from Hyland's Bookshop in Melbourne, of fond memory. Now sadly closed, but a large chunk of my railway book collection and most of my ship books came from there.

I don't care what the computer generation think, a couple of hours browsing in a good bookshop beats online shopping hands down.........

Graeme

GTB wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 12:33 pm I don't care what the computer generation think, a couple of hours browsing in a good bookshop beats online shopping hands down.........
Graeme

Absolutely!!!

I'm lucky that there's a marvelous secondhand bookshop about ten miles away which has a superb collection of railway books. I'll happily spend an hour or more browsing through his collection and inevitably end up buying three or more books. The owner is very knowledgeable about railway books and really knows his stuff, which is a mixed blessing - it's almost impossible to find a bargain as he knows which books are rare and prices them accordingly. I can't complain though as he usually gives me a bit of a discount as a regular customer.

Rik

You are lucky having a good bookshop nearby.

Completely off topic - when we visited Ireland I was surprised to see all these 'bookmaker' shops in every little town. I thought Ireland must be a mecca for writers and readers.... Then the penny dropped...

GTB wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:35 am
The secret is to use waterslide decals........ Spray a piece of blank decal paper with the desired colour and then cut strips with a scalpel. On the flat front panel of the body, it gives a nice straight sharp edge and the stripes are all the same width.

Regards,
Graeme

I've never thought of painting decal plastic. Do you prepare the surface in any way?
(I have painted other sheet plastic but always rub it with fine sandpaper first to give the paint something to grip)

A similar trick from my 4mm days was to use Rizla cigarette papers. Spray one the colour you want for the lining background, then draw a line across it in the central colour using a bow pen or Rotring pen. Then use a fresh scapel blade to cut as close as you want either side of the line and hey presto you have, say, a black line with two white borders. The cig paper will stick to the weted model surface and can be manouvered to the right location with a fine paint brush and will follow fairly tight corners. When it dries out a quick squirt of varnish will seal it in place.

gregh wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 9:47 pm I've never thought of painting decal plastic. Do you prepare the surface in any way?
(I have painted other sheet plastic but always rub it with fine sandpaper first to give the paint something to grip)

No, the clear coating on blank waterslide decal (transfer) paper takes enamel paints nicely. I wouldn't use acrylic paints on a bet though, so I've no experience with them.

I normally don't do any surface sanding on polystyrene and ABS, or use a primer. The only time I've used primer on a plastic recently was when I painted the sleepers before laying the track in the garden. They were moulded in either polyethylene or polypropylene and I used plastic car bumper primer so the paint would stick. It's lasted out in the weather for two years so far....

Graeme

GTB wrote: ↑Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:02 pm
No, the clear coating on blank waterslide decal (transfer) paper takes enamel paints nicely. I wouldn't use acrylic paints on a bet though, so I've no experience with them.
I normally don't do any surface sanding on polystyrene and ABS, or use a primer. The only time I've used primer on a plastic recently was when I painted the sleepers before laying the track in the garden. They were moulded in either polyethylene or polypropylene and I used plastic car bumper primer so the paint would stick. It's lasted out in the weather for two years so far....
Graeme

Very interesting that you don't 'sand' styrene. I usually use 'scotchbright' on styrene before painting, then wash.
I can almost guarantee the spray enamel I use will craze with no primer, and may still craze when primer used.

gregh wrote: ↑Fri Jan 01, 2021 2:41 am Very interesting that you don't 'sand' styrene. I usually use 'scotchbright' on styrene before painting, then wash.
I can almost guarantee the spray enamel I use will craze with no primer, and may still craze when primer used.

Hmmmm, I wonder........

I do all my model painting with an airbrush and enamels and I've never seen any crazing on either injection moulded kits, or polystyrene sheet. Even back in the ‘80s when I used Floquil I had few issues, although being a lacquer that had a reputation for attacking polystyrene.

However, I've never used aerosol paints on models. With aerosol cans, there's little control of application rate and no choice in the thinner used, so I guess the risk of solvent attack on the primer, or the base plastic, would be higher.

I degrease polystyrene before painting with detergent and an old toothbrush, but that's all.

Graeme