Triang/Hornby Class A Tanks

[Kend]

I have been a member of the RMWeb for some time but I don't think I have ever written on a topic so here goes.

I have accumulated a number of 4 mm scale tank wagons from the Triang/Hornby company and mainly the only thing I think that lets them down is the decals and some finer details. So with about 10 of these floating around I decided to do something. Firstly most of the moulding lines are polished away and then they were ready for the barrel to be repainted. I referenced Paul Barlett's wonderful wagon photographs which showed lots of partially derelict tanks at ROF Bishopton. The paint work was very old and worn and the colours were very muted. Off I went to Halfords and discovered Artfx paint. In my local Halfords it is situated beside the car paint section. The paint is £7.99 a can but contains 400 ml so is cheaper than the car paint. The tin said it has a matte finish. Clutching a tin of a matte yellow I rushed home and selected a barrel that was already primed. Disaster.... having thoroughly shaken the tin the first press of the button saw a horrible dribble that deposited itself on one side of the barrel but it dried out very well and the ends and other side were brilliant.

Now for decals: I am going to make some ROF ones and have done a couple of variants for the ROF owner signs. I thought I would try making my own and bought 1 sheet of clear from that well known auction site. £3.99 including postage is not too bad for an A4 sheet. I must say that I have tried these decals before with terrible results but I have changed printer and now have an Epson. I followed the instructions on the paper and printed sufficient decals for one tank. I used the best glossy setting and the decals looked OK printed on ordinary paper so I printed them onto the decal paper. They came out looking great. The owners signs are printed in 3 point (which is about 1 mm high) in white on a black background as this is the only way to get white letters. Out to the garage for 3 light coats of varnish (actually car laquer). These were left to dry overnight and the first tank had decals applied this morning. Results, well see for yourself, I think they are great. A word of caution the backing film is very, very thin and they don't need long in the water. Place the decal with backing onto the model and carefully slide the decal off a little then slide away the backing. Really crisp sharp lettering is the result. The ICI logo was borrowed from the internet and the lettering is as per Paul's photos which I must say are really excellent and I do buy a few every now and then to ensure he has some recompense for his work. Finally the decals stick well to the ArtFX matte.

I will add all the extra bits to the tank later this week and add some more photos when it is finished. I am then going to make 4 ROF Nitric Acid tanks. Suitably weathered a rake of these old wagons would looked pretty good at very little cost.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Kend
spelling mistakes

[Kend]

A bit more achieved and a couple of photos of ROF Bishopton Tank wagon Number 12. I tried to work a bit faster but it was a disaster. The ink jet ink had not quite dried and the laquer didn't set off properly. All seems well until you drop into the water to release. There is a slight seeping of black ink and the laquer starts to dissolve. So the moral is give everything a good time to dry, overnight for each stage.