Hello All,

after Mikkel asked me about how the carriage sides were printed on the last blog, here is the 'story so far'....

To start with, the actual carriages

(bearing in mind my layout is going for the 'modern image steam' look, modelled after the SVR over the last ten years or so)

can be seen here:

With due astonished thanks to 'Sharpo' for his incredibly useful site:

http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1025

'9055' http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1162

'3930' http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/blog/?page_id=1145

My printed side started off with some fairly unpromising photos I took during Spring 2009's 'Festival of Steam'. Whilst rather hopeless looking, they did provide lots of the basic components to make something out of in Paint Shop Pro:

Next step, cutting out a representation of the fiddly windows is a little beyond me, so I can thoroughly reccomend using Ultima printed sides as the starting point, giving you the windows. See here:

http://www.ultima-models.co.uk/catalogue/release-by.cs?Section=S

Here are the designs I made up for the sides, not side on photos as such, but more of a mosaic comprised of bits of side on pictures!!

The 'printed paper decals' for 46443 were produced in a similar fashion, starting with a picture of the real thing, usefully square on, taken on a pretty dull day at Bridgnorth:

I have been using a variery of scraps of printer paper to achive the best effect. It seems that you need to use shiny 'photo paper' to get the best, crisp print, but at the same time you dont want the paper to be too thick, and stand out too far from the side of the engine/carriage.

I think the paper used on both of these projects was 120 gsm HP Photo Paper, ideally a lower weight paper would have been better.

I think it ought to be possible to create a carriage side print from a single photo, though you need to find a good vantage point, without obstructions, from the subject!

A good one is the upper floor cafe balcony at the Engine House, Highley,

Here is one such work in progress, taken from there:

(An unusual looking Mark One carriage, seen here in 'mock teak' colours, it has since been repainted in more conventional maroon, and looks rather smart!)

I shall continue the research!! B)