QRL&PCo Hoppers

[sailormatlac]

Wow! I am impressed with your ingenuity and creativity with this project! Looks like its gonna work out great!

Thanks,

Let's call it the poor man's white decal! Honestly, this project would have been deemed economically not viable otherwise. So far so good, but it's not a flawless method.

I started to decal one side of the hoppers this morning. Found out the laser printer kind of "bake" the decal on the backing paper. It won't let the decal slide from it. On the first car, I let the decals soaked a while longer and I started to see some decoloration. When you let them soak just a few seconds, you don't have this problem. I also used Krylon matte clear to see them. Honestly, I'm not impress by this product, it has its good sides, is not bad, but dullcote is hard to beat on this ground.

The decals are quite stiff (the sealing process I think) so you can use your finger to gently detach the film from the backing paper.

Placing the decal was my easiest experience in life. Printing decals fitting panels makes placement as easy as can be, everything align pretty well. The black ink match closely with Krylon flat black and was opaque enough to mask the white background. Lettering is very sharp. Definitively, this method as some merit on small project involving black models with white letterings.

I found out I made my original drawing file too much precise for the job on hand. I think somebody with an excellent picture could almost use it straightly without redrawing everything in vectors. Just turn everything in black & white and clean the image accordingly.

This picture shows you car 803 after receiving a coat of solvaset 15 minutes before. Car 802 wasn't covered in solvaset yet. I'm quite satisfied with the result and honestly, it's probably the first time ever a QRL&PCo freight car is modelled in a prototypical way.



Matt