A tale of two gondolas

[finescalerr]

John, you have completely lost your mind. But in a good way. The modeling is just wonderful and your attention to detail astounding. -- Russ

[John McGuyer]

Two questions I have on building these things.

First; I will do the paint on the outside (they didn't paint the inside) of this thing using Chuck's thinner/tape method of chipping. Now when I apply the decals, they will be way too stark for the rest of the paint. What I've done in the past is to lightly airbrush them with the principal color. Only problem is, this will not coincide with the chipping. Does anyone have any other suggestions for fading the decals to the level of the rest of the model?

Second; Does anyone have information on the brake linkage for outside mounting on the trucks themselves? I know what the car linkage looks like and have done it. I also know what inside mounted brake linkage looks like and have done that in the past. What I don't have is outside mounted brake linkage on the arch bar type of truck.

Thank you muchly!

John

[lab-dad]

You can "chip" the decals with your choice of paint to simulate the wood below.
But that doesnt help with the faded color.
What about some pin washes over the decals to "fade" them?
-Marty

[marc_reusser]

At This scale, can you avoid using decals, and instead use a laser cut stencil to sponge or airbrush the lettering on? This will allow you to discolor and age the lettering as needed...also will allow you to avoid that pesky decal film silvering" that often happens on wood.

Can you use something like acetone in a fine brush or toothpick, to try and chip the silkskreened paint off the decal film surface?

I unfortunately am of no help with the brake st-up. Maybe if Jerry Kitts sees this he can chime in.
I am sure he knows.


Marc

[finescalerr]

Most of us would be unable to hand cut the stencils; laser cutting would seem to be the answer and it probably wouldn't be excessively expensive. If you need help with the artwork, contact me. -- Russ

[John McGuyer]

Marc,
That is why many people prefer rub-ons in applications like this. They are also a bit easier to apply over the rough surface. Unfortunately my decal maker only makes wet, slide-on  decals, so they are done and ready for application. I think I can lightly airbrush them to the faded level I'm looking for, then do a bit of chipping with my X-Acto (if the intern will allow me a sharp object). Just have to use lots of water to float them to the location I want.

Meanwhile here are a couple of shots on progress. This first is the cut levers. They are fabricated from all sorts of tubing, wire, strip, angle and whatever else I could find.

[John McGuyer]

Next is the bottom of the coupler draft gear. It will make a lot more sense when I bring my other camera over here and download the interior details.

[John McGuyer]

This is a side view of the draft gear. It does run from the coupler all the way to the truck mounting bolster (which is seldom done on RTR applications). It is hard to see the webbing and rivet detail here, but that will become more apparent when I post the other pictures.

[John McGuyer]

Since we have had some discussions on nails, here you can see the nails in the bottom boards. What to do if it is raining and you can't get across the street to the garage.

[John McGuyer]

!cnU

Thank you for the offer. You are right about hand cutting a stencil. The logo wouldn't be bad, but the data info would be a female canine. I've thought about applying decals as a sheet, then cutting out the lettering itself and using the decals as a stencil. Unfortunately I don't drink and nobody would try that sober. I think Dave at Ozark now has the ability to do rub-ons so maybe I can do some trading in the future.

John

[Jerry Barnes]

John,
  YOu can get vinyl cut as a stencil, not the letters themselves. Look at my article on bashing the New Bright car in a GR from a few issues back. You just put it on, then dry brush  on your color as much as you want, then peel off the stencil. Any sign shop can cut the small letters for you. Del Taprio has a little business doing it, has ads on MLS.  Car looks AWESOME!

[John McGuyer]

Thank you Jerry for your kind words. Since I already have the decals made, I think I'll try the air eraser approach. I have it coming along with walnut shells, ground glass and spark plug cleaner media. I've also contacted North/South Machinery and they are going to bring me some 80, 120 and 220 grit media from a water-jet. I'm excited about the possibilities for this technique.

Meanwhile I've almost got the brake linkage done on the trucks. I'll photograph it soon. I think I'm pretty close and since nobody else seems to know what it should look like, I'll claim it is right. Actually I've done inside brake linkage several times and that I know what it looks like, so the outside can't be too different.

John

[RoughboyModelworks]

John:

I'm curious to know how the air eraser will handle these other abrasives. The eraser's nozzle opening is quite small, I believe in the neighborhood of .5mm. It's too small for glass beads (which I use in my blast cabinet. That nozzle opening is .312" dia. and can be used with crushed walnut shells). Paasche of course recommends their AEX aluminum oxide grit for fast cutting. It's very fine, something in the neighborhood of 600 grit I believe. Their medium grit is pumice and their fine is starch which is essentially a powder. I'm thinking the grits you're planning to try may be too large to pass through the eraser, but experimentation will tell. Keep us posted...

Paul

[John McGuyer]

Time to show some brake detail. This is my best guess as to how it works. I have shots of bits and pieces plus I've done inboard brakes so I know I'm pretty close. The first shot is of the entire truck side frame.

[John McGuyer]

This is a close up of the frame extension to carry the cross beam that the brakes are hung from. I have some pictures of sideframes without these extensions and from the best I can tell, the brakes are hung, believe it or not, from the car frame. Do understand that at this point, I have not filled the joints and filed them to appear to be one piece. Some of the solder joints are also still rough. Those were tough in places as the side frame is die cast, while the brakes are plastic. That means I'm soldering brass together that is connected to plastic which is less than 1/2" away.