Painting locomotives without (much) paint.

[kirtleypete]

As we all know, one of the great attractions of the pre grouping period is the wondeful colour schemes carried by locomotives....however that attraction can wane somewhat when actually faced with reproducing it on a model! I am building an LBSCR layout in 0 gauge, set in the 1890's, which means Stroudley livery on all the engines. That gives me a problem, because I can't paint and line well enough to do it myself, and I can't afford to pay someone to do it for me. Catch 22!

 

Fortunately, there may be a third way, which is why I am beginning this thread.....over the next few weeks I will be building a kit for a D1 0-4-2T and that is going to be the test bed to see if what I am planning will work in practice. I am going to print the livery on paper. 

 

This was the loco that made me think it might be possible, an old Vulcan Terrier that I recently painted in Newhaven Harbour colours as carried in the 1920's.......

 

 

She's no use on the layout, of course, but it was a good way of testing the technique. The tank and bunker sides are simply printed paper, with artwork done on the computer, printed off, cut out and glued in place. The advantages are obvious - no problems applying transfers, getting the spacing of all those letters right, and so on. The downside is that the black isn't really black, so the patches where I've added some paint show up. That was my fault - if I'd varnished the panels as soon as I added them to the loco they wouldn't have scratched.

 

You may well be thinking "why didn't you use ink jet water slide paper"? Well, I've used it a lot but I really don't get on with it, in the main because the transfers stretch when being slid off the backing paper if they are on the large side like a tank side. I've also had trouble with the edges lifting. I wanted to see if there was an alternative. 

 

It's not perfect by any means, but it worked well enough to encourage me to try something more complicated. 

 

The next problem I had was deciding on the colour of Improved Engine Green, which people seem to interpret in many different ways. Just look at these four pictures of 'Boxhill'....

 

It was painted at Eastleigh in 1960 and hasn't been touched since, but you wouldn't think they showed the same engine. The only difference is the camera, maybe the film, and the weather but the colour changes from yellow to brown. No wonder so many models vary. Then there was the varnish, which browned as it aged, especially in the sulphurous atmosphere of a Victorian engine shed, so that a newly outshopped loco might well look nearly yellow but one nearing overhaul certainly wouldn't. 

 

In the end I did the obvious thing, I went ot the NRM and looked at Gladstone. The pictures I took will be the colour match I use on my models. (On my visit Boxhill wasn't on public display, sadly).

 

So, I thought it should be possible to produce a panel of LBSCR livery which could be printed off and used on a model loco. Here's my first attempt, with a picture of Gladstone used for colour matching:

 

 

I was encouraged enough to keep going; the next question was how to make sure the panels were the right size. This is best done by scanning a drawing of your loco, rescaling it on the computer to the correct size, and then overlaying your panel onto the drawing like this....it's easier than using trial and error on the actual model.

 

It's much better to work on the artwork nice and big and then reduce it to size once it's finished. 

 

Here's how I built up my panel..... I use Serif Pageplus software which is easy to use and more than adequate for jobs like this.

 

Top left is the first stage; I began with the olive green and worked inwards one colour at a time, building up the scalloped corners using circles. Each new colour overlays the last one, leaving a thin line showing, with the Stroudley yellow coming last. The small picture is a panel from the tender of Gladstone as a reference which was deleted when my artwork was done. 

 

When one panel with a single corner is finished, this is the next stage....

 

 

By copying and pasting the image, then flipping the new panels vertically and horizontally, four can be arranged like this, then brought together to form one panel with four perfect corners. Because the new three are copies of the first, the lining lines up perfectly. 

 

On a Brighton engine there is another stage to be considered - the name was painted into the side tank. My engines are all going to have the shortest names I can find! 

 

 

I began with the light green, added the shadowing then overlayed the lettering in yellow to create the shading; it should be gold, but that is one shortcoming of using this method. On the fourth panel the lettering has been spaced out more to give the right look. The picture of Gladstone is again for reference and will be deleted at the end. 

 

Obviously any name can be created, but the long part is adding all the fancy shading the LBSC used which has to be done one bit at a time. 

 

 

This is the finished panel, with a strip of the claret colour used below the footplate. The first letter of the name is slighly larger than the others. My hope is that I can carefully add a little gold paint once the panel is on the model to give the correct look to the letters. 

 

Of course, once you have finished your artwork it can be reproduced in any size for use in any scale, and the name can be altered as many times as you want. The colour could be changed to suggest an older loco, or a dirty one, there are a lot of possibilities.

 

 

I have no idea what sort of loco Hove was, by the way, it was just a convenient name to practice with. 

 

The next stage is to try it on my D1, and I'll post here as it progresses. If it works, the only yellow paint I should need will be on the dome and the wheels...if it doesn't, it's back to the drawing board!

 

The technique can be used for any livery, of course, and for later loco's with lots of rivets these could be added afterwards using Archers transfers. 

 

Peter

Edited June 15, 2015 by kirtleypete

[kirtleypete]

One thing I forgot to mention; something I thought about to begin with was using an actual photo such as the spalsher from Gladstone. It doesn't really work, though; you get refections in the image and it wouldn't be possible to do something such as the cab froint like that. It's better to do all the panels from scratch, then they will all match.

 

Peter

[James Harrison]

I've done something similar on a 4mm scale tender, and got a good result from it.  My own experiences lead me to think that there's nothing wrong with paper overlays, so long as you're using them on large flattish areas like tender or tank sides and cabs.  I'm not entirely sure they'd be suited to boilers; whenever I've tried it the overlay has rucked up or tried to flatten itself out again. 

[CKPR]

Really neat idea - the aircraft modellers have been doing this with waterslide transfers for really complex liveries (e.g. German WW1, modern commercial airliners, etc ) and it seems to work well.

[kirtleypete]

I'm going to try the boiler James, just to see what happens; fortunately a Stroudley boiler was nice and simple. Fingers crossed!

Peter

[Penlan]

Not really related to this, but I did a similar thing with the delivery cart shown, all the lettering etc., is printed (actually no, the black'ish background is printed - the white is the paper showing through), and then glued to the brass former.

 

It works and looks OK, to me.

 

[kirtleypete]

Excellent, that's exactly the sort of thing I've been doing. It looks more than OK to me,

 

Peter

[Quarryscapes]

I plan on doing this as CKPR said above with DIY transfers for Cambrian Railways locos. Whose idea was a full garter crest on a splasher!? 

[pete_mcfarlane]

 

In the end I did the obvious thing, I went ot the NRM and looked at Gladstone. The pictures I took will be the colour match I use on my models. (On my visit Boxhill wasn't on public display, sadly).

 

I wonder when Gladstone was painted? Can it be still carrying the same paint job that it got when first preserved in 1927? 

 

Boxhill is normally hidden away in the kids activity centre by the miniature railway. It took me several visits before I realised it was in there. 

[kirtleypete]

My understanding is that Gladstone is original, and that when Boxhill was painted at Eastleigh in 1960 they basically copied Gladstone. I'm no expert, though, so that could be wrong. 

 

You can understand why black engines are so popular....!

 

Peter

[edubs]

I read that the model of "Como" in the Brighton museum is considered to be the closest surviving match to Stroudley Improved Engine Green, but apparently even the tender and engine are a slightly different shade!

 

Cheers,

 

Eddie.

[kirtleypete]

You're right Eddie - he built the loco first and then took so long building the tender he'd forgotten exactly how he'd mixed the paint! 

 

A freind of mine went to the museum a couple of weeks ago and photographed it but it's in a glass case stuck in a dark corner so it's very difficult. However, the Brighton Circle have arranged for it to be taken outside on a sunny day to be photographed properly, which will be very interesting.  

 

Peter

[micklner]

Possible problems with printing on paper , it doesn't mention what paper type in post 1.

 

Colour fastness

 

Grainy/dotted finish on colour panel unless a very high d.p.i is achievable

 

Paper lifting off body due to age, quality of glue, damp when stored or any combination of these.

 

Ridges between panel and body due to thickness of paper.

 

If above can be overcome a good idea

 

 

I have printed onto transfer paper via a PC without problems. 

[kirtleypete]

I will cover all that when I start work on the model. The kit arrived today so I should make progress with it pretty quickly now all being well. 

 

Peter

[James Harrison]

The way I did my tender (and I'm sure there are about as many ways of doing this as there are people trying it) was to print the artwork, let it dry overnight, varnish it, let that dry out thoroughly, then cut it out and soak it (by which I mean, leave the artwork in a saucer full of the stuff) in diluted PVA.  Then when it was laid out on the model I used a brush to push it around and tamp it down (and ease out any air bubbles from underneath).  

 

This soaking of the piece in PVA ensured that the entire sheet was going to stick to the model, and prevented any potential (I hope!) for the artwork to work itself loose from the model over time.  

 

It works for whitemetal castings, I've not yet tried it on brass.   

[kirtleypete]

That's an interesting variation James,

 

Peter

[runs as required]

I too am attracted by this idea. I'm also impressed by the research that Kp has done on lettering and lining as well as on the colour (which is going to still going to be a prob when printing out onto the choice of print material).

 

Which brings me to my question, without having stopped to do any searches, I wondered whether the printing might better be onto a vinyl film, so that the laminating of edges might be less of a problem ?

Also what kind of printer? Home (dot matrix or laser)?  Or agency (how can you check on their 'interpretation' of Stroudley i.e.g.)?

dhig

[kirtleypete]

All I've got is an inkjet so that's what I'll be using; at home I can mess about as much as I want, any waste is just paper and only the perfect pieces go on the loco. Hopefully this weekend I'll be in a position tro find out,

 

Peter

[Penlan]

Looking at the lettering on the Delivery cart in my post #6 above, it looks a bit rough, but it's using a photo of the side of a LNWR delivery cart, all I did was add the Barnum's notice at the left, and for either side, move the 'Railway' lettering either way for the small window in the side (for the driver to see what's about!!).
I'm doing a 'Carmarthen Farmers - Co-operative Society' wagon at the moment, by this method, we will see how it looks, but taking my friend, 'The Icon', outlook on things like this, "can a blind man on a galloping horse see it's wrong / right.".. I shall go with that. 
I have my standards, though with age, I think they're slipping.

[kirtleypete]

Right, here we go - this time it's for real!  Whether this is going ot work I don't know yet....

 

The D1 kit is by Albion Models, sold through Roxey Mouldings. Although it's blown up from the 4mm kit, it's pretty good and went together well. The only thing lacking is the Salter safety valves, but I might just have been unlucky. 

 

Here's the basic shell....

 

 

It shows up inadequacies as a loco builder, but never mind! The cab roof is loose, just resting in place so that gap won't be there. The top of the tank where it curves over is a length of Plastruct ....the kit tanks are full height and the instructions say 'form the curve along the top of the tank'. No clue as to how to actually do it, of course! I scored the brass and snapped off the piece that should curve and used the plastic instead, as if the curve isn't correct it's going to look awful. 

 

This is the chassis, very neat looking. 

 

 

The wheels were brush painted using Tamiya acrylics. I matched the colour to my pictures of Gladstone and to the printed papers I will be using on the engine; it's much easier to do it this way round. The colour was a doddle - one brush of red into a new jar of yellow, job done.  Some people won't like it, but it's my engine, so...............

 

The body had a spray with grey primer...

 

 

and then satin black.

 

 

You'll notice that all the detailing bits aren't there...that's because the paper panels will need to be fixed in place first. 

 

While the paint was drying, I began the artwork. First I did a sheet of simple shapes for each panel, tweaking them until they were exactly the right size; doing it like this all I wasted was some paper and a little ink. Some parts such as the cab sides need a second sheet. 

 

 

Then one panel at a time I did the proper artwork, simply filling in the outlined shapes:

 

 

With the black paint dry and the sheet of panels printed off, I could see how well they would look on the engine. I printed the sheet with an Epson inkjet printer onto Epson matt photo paper, as I've found in the past that using gloss paper the ink stays on the surface and is prone to scraching. With matt paper it soaks in and that isn't a probelm. 

 

I cut out the first panel and began to decorate the engine; I wasted more than I used, the artwork needed some ajustment, but none of that matters because it's so easy to do. This is how she is looking so far...

 

 

The dome isn't fixed; the colour of the paint matches pretty well.

 

 

I'm pretty encouraged; now i'm going to give the panels a coat of Microscale satin varnish to make sure they still look OK before I go any further.

 

The lack of cab windows, by the way, is becasue it's much easier to cut those out in situ, but not until the varnish has dried. 

 

Peter

Edited June 20, 2015 by kirtleypete

[BG John]

You've probably said this earlier, but what did you use to stick them?

[kirtleypete]

Sorry - I missed that bit out. I use Evostick imapct from a tube, but ignore the instructions; just spread it over the paper and put it straight on, then you get a bit of adjustment time.

 

Peter

Edited June 20, 2015 by kirtleypete

[BG John]

Do you use Evostick on other materials too? I'm hoping to try your technique on Plastikard first.

[kirtleypete]

I pretty much use it for everything, it's the only glue I couldn't manage without.

 

Peter

[kirtleypete]

She's nearly there, just a few bits and pieces to add. 

 

 

The Salter safely valves weren't in the box so a set are being sent in the post. There are no brakes yet because the kit gives you one etching for a wooden brake block with the helpful instruction 'use as a template'! At least I only need four. I need to line the Westinghouse pump, and there is tidying up still to be done as always.  I think, though, that I've ben alble to show that the technique works - the only yellow paint on the engine is on the dome, wheels and Westinghouse pump, everything else is printed on paper and stuck in place. 

 

Interestingly in view of all the discussion about Improved Engine Green, she looks far more yellow in the pictures than she actually is - they were taken in bright sunlight. The sample paper panels earlier in the thread are the actual colour. The dome looks the right shade, but the side tanks reflect the light. 

 

The ends of the handrails alongside the smokebox are wrong, just a lash up until I can get some fine tube to do them correctly. 

 

 

 

 

She needs works and number plates which have been ordered from Severn Mill.

 

 

The next loco will be a 2-2-2 tender engine 'Dieppe' which should be an interesting challenge; at lease now I know I'll be able to paint it, if that's the right word,

 

Peter