149th Street Harlem Station - Printable Version

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Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - sailormatlac - 06-27-2016

doctorwayne Wrote:Matt, if you can find any of C-D-S sets 655, 782, or 783, the ERIE "diamond" heralds are roughly 21mm wide, and I would guess them to be about 14mm along each edge. These are for the HO scale sets, but you might want to also check those for larger scales.

Here's a link to OZARK MINIATURES, who now supply C-D-S. Their product numbers appear to be different, but the large ERIE heralds are shown in the diagrams. If you need something larger, take a look at their large scale stuff, too.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne, I took a look at the dry transfers. However, I got a little bit anxious the size wouldn't be correct, particularly on the boat wheel house. I decided to be more creative and to print black decals then apply them to decal a decal sheet previously painted in white. I also did the same but with a decal sheet painted in brass color for the name plate. So far it works quite well even if I was afraid the decals would be quite thick. In fact, two layers of decals, paint and dullcote are thinner than the stock Walthers decals provided qith the kit!

I'll post some pictures later when it's completely dry. I saved me a few bucks and the decals are 100% accurate.

Best regards,

Matt

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - doctorwayne - 06-27-2016

Sounds like a good alternative solution, Matt. Thumbsup Thumbsup

Wayne

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - sailormatlac - 06-27-2016

doctorwayne Wrote:Sounds like a good alternative solution, Matt. Thumbsup Thumbsup

Wayne

I'm glad to report that the homemade black and white decals worked extremely well... and the gold decals came out extremely well. I think it could be an excellent custom answer to dulux lettering on black locomotive (the same way I once made hopper and gondola decals and the Erie sign on the pontoon).

I'll post WIP pictures tomorrow when the decals will be completely sets.

Matt

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - sailormatlac - 06-28-2016

Wayne, here are some early results:

[Image: IMG_1261b.jpg]

[Image: IMG_1263b.jpg]

[Image: IMG_1256b.jpg]

Matt

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - Rscott417 - 06-28-2016

Looking good, going to be a nice addition to the layout Thumbsup

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - doctorwayne - 06-28-2016

Very nicely-done, Matt. That looks as good as any lettering that's commercially available. Thumbsup Thumbsup

Wayne

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - sailormatlac - 06-28-2016

Rscott41 Wrote:Looking good, going to be a nice addition to the layout Thumbsup

Thanks! It really brings life to the layout!

doctorwayne Wrote:Very nicely-done, Matt. That looks as good as any lettering that's commercially available. Thumbsup Thumbsup

Wayne

Thanks Wayne! Once again, it prooves a modeler's weapon of choice is his own creativity.

Here's a WIP I put together about the way I made the decals.

The original Walthers decals was very thick and didn't soften very much whatever amount of Solvaset I used. You can see the black was showing through the artwork. I had to remove the decal the hard way, sand the part and repaint. Yes, the decal peeled off in two layers, the last one harder to remove.

[Image: IMG_1250b.jpg]

My printer (black laser) can’t make white or brass-color decals. With some creativity, I decided to spray transparent decal sheets with white and gold paint. Then print black decals on another decal sheet. The next step was to merge the decals together by applying the black artwork on the colored decal. As crazy as it may sound, it worked far better than I thought. Sure, the decals are a little bit on the thick side (2 films + ink + paint + dullcote) but far less than the stock Walthers ones. If you've seen my threads some years ago about my QRL&PCo gondolas and hoppers, it is a similar approach.

Here you can see the three decal sheets ready to be merged (black artwork, white and Model Master Gold #1744 which is a very good color for clean brass).

[Image: IMG_1252b.jpg]

I applied water and solvaset on the colored decal sheet then applied the black artwork on it. No fear because the paint already sealed the decal and water + solvaset didn't affect that layer.

[Image: IMG_1253b.jpg]

A close up shot of the brass plates:

[Image: IMG_1257b.jpg]

With a brand new blade, I cut the decal to remove the black contour. I always try to trim the maximum possible of decal film. It makes the end result better.

[Image: IMG_1254b.jpg]

The decals are a little bit thick as previously said, but application was easy since the decals lay on flat surface devoid of rivets. It's not perfect, but when you can have clean edges, just like the brass plate and Erie's diamond, it works wonder. It is also well suited for models on which the artwork is framed by ribs like hoppers and exterior posts cars.

[Image: IMG_1255b.jpg]

Now the model is correctly lettered according to prototype and I can move forward with the project. My goal is to complete the tugboat on Canada Day.

Matt

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - sailormatlac - 07-01-2016

Bruce kindly sent me a few old cars to populate the layout. I didn't attempt at detailing them since they are purely operation models. However, I did rectify the color scheme when I could. This is particularly true with the NYC Pacemaker boxcar which got black ladders and saw the sliding door brackets removed and sill painted red.

I took them as a challenge for improving my weathering skills.

Before:

[Image: IMG_1266b.jpg]

After:

[Image: IMG_1277b.jpg]

[Image: IMG_1278b.jpg]

Before:

[Image: IMG_1268b.jpg]

After:

[Image: IMG_1279b.jpg]

[Image: IMG_1280b.jpg]

Before:

[Image: IMG_1269b.jpg]

After:

[Image: IMG_1285b.jpg]

[Image: IMG_1286b.jpg]

Matt

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - bdw9535 - 07-04-2016

Matt,

Nice to see them put to good use and good looking weathering too.

Bruce

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - sailormatlac - 07-10-2016

Bruce, it was a fun one-day project.

Here's some picture update on the layout. The tugboat is now completed and in service. It was a very fun build. It was a long time since I built a structure following the instruction!

[Image: IMG_1318b.jpg]

[Image: IMG_1300b.jpg]

[Image: IMG_1301b.jpg]

[Image: IMG_1302b.jpg]

[Image: IMG_1304b.jpg]

Matt

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - Genetk44 - 07-10-2016

Absolutely awesome modelling Matt...beautifully done!

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - Schraddel - 07-10-2016

Thumbsup

Thumps up, Matt!

Cheers Lutz

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - doctorwayne - 07-10-2016

Cheers
A good-looking scene, with nice, neat model building, and great-looking weathering. Applause Thumbsup Applause Thumbsup Applause

Wayne

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - sailormatlac - 07-10-2016

Thanks guys!

Here is a glimpse of my next project.

[Image: IMG_1329b.jpg]

Matt

Re: 149th Street Harlem Station - faraway - 07-10-2016

A perfect match Thumbsup