readingtype

1 hour ago, readingtype said:

What was the other thing?

Answering my own question, I just heard that the last of the mugs are going to be fired tonight.

Ben

I guess that's the banner sorted then.

What was the other thing?

It's really encouraging to hear (and see) these orders. Thank you.

Good news from the mug decorators: this evening I heard they should be able to deliver the mugs by the end of the week. In which case I will be bringing stock to Globalrail on Saturday for sale (see above). On the strength of that possibility, I have just ordered a pull-up banner to act as a good clear advert on the day.

Even better, my colleagues in the GRS have agreed to take payment for the mugs on my behalf electronically.

So: here's hoping for banners, mugs and a good turnout on Saturday.

Oh, and the mailing boxes arrived today so postal orders are not neglected.

Ben

Here's the fundraiser mug web page. I'll add a photo of the mug at the very earliest opportunity.

13 hours ago, Steve O. said:

Hi, just found this thread... how do I order? (couldn't find a link, sorry). Cheers, Steve.

I'm working on a web page to collect orders. I'll post details here as soon as I can.

Also I am hoping that I will have mugs to sell at the German Railway Society show, Globalrail, in Didcot next Saturday (18 June). Note this is a MAYBE as I don't have a delivery date yet.

Regardless, everyone should come to the show which should be a gem. Globalrail 2022 full details. Disclosure: I'm a GRS committee member!

On 09/06/2022 at 16:18, Ian Morgan said:

Something like the loco behind Ronald was parked in the car park outside the Rheindahlen Civilian Officers Mess for an 'Orient Express' themed Summer Ball in the mid 1980's. I am sure I have a photo of it somewhere, but will have to dig for it.

I think that's a Deutz loco (fairly obviously perhaps, West German produced). Photos most welcome!

There's a good Eisenbahn Kurier special currently available,  Züge der Alliierten, which covers many of the vehicles owned or used by the British forces. I liked the 1980s(?) Andrew Barclay loco pictured in it which seemed to have been "fattened up" a bit for the more generous loading gauge. Plenty of other oddities too.

Look forward to more on this thread.

Ben

Invoice paid ...

On 02/06/2022 at 18:41, readingtype said:

Proof approved. We're in the hands of the mug printer!

I must stop referring to 'mug printers' -- they are not printing the mugs. They are hand-decorating them.

Proof approved. We're in the hands of the mug printer!

I've now adjusted the artwork for the final mug dimensions (for some reason it took a while to find out what these were). That's meant a bit of tweaking to keep the loco facing one way and the text the other. We are now moving towards production: the artwork has gone to be assessed to check it's technically OK and I am expecting a proforma invoice so I can pay and get the kilns warming up.

I welcome further support of course! I'll post details of how you can donate and receive your mug here as soon as I can.

Ben

Thanks for comments/likes on the (second) colour revision. The yellow will be paler than it probably looks on your screens I'm afraid, but (as noted) the change to black lettering means we will be able to read the text! It's been interesting to learn that when I send a colour spec. to the mug producer, he looks it up in the colour reference and then goes to his store of glazes to see which is the best match. There is no possibility of exactitude. Glazing is the right way to make something that will last well and keep its colour (witness all the amazing multicoloured ceramics from hundreds of years ago) but it's not computer-age button-clicking flexible.

New colour samples arrived this morning. Here's the pragmatic design revision, with the text on the sunflower half in black -- Ukraine's yellow is very lemony. Comments welcome of course.

Spoke too soon. Colours thought too far off by a Ukrainian. I must defer to that opinion, as without a credible flag we have no project. More colour samples, requested last week, are on their way...

I've just got the glaze sample chip in the post and I'm inclined to think the colours will do very nicely. So we move on to finalising the artwork...

@Michael Hodgson Thanks. I agree on the subtleties of the effect of the colour change, as they relate to the legibility of the text. I did have that in mind when choosing the new colours. And I'm hoping not just the print but the entire mug is dishwasher-proof...

On that point I'm expecting colour chips to arrive at the end of next week to confirm those two colours. Then we can press the big green ceramic screen printing button, I hope. Here's the current, hopefully, final, form of the artwork. I now have the approval of the mug printer that this will (a) be practical to produce (with a total of four tones, it needs three screens) and (b) come out looking nice and even: the halftones should, he thinks, look alright.

Cheers

Ben

7 hours ago, doctor quinn said:

did (old) Piko release a version in pale blue

Now there's a question :-)

Perhaps it was Roco's T3109 017? http://www.modellbau-wiki.de/wiki/Datei:T3109_017_Roco62861.jpg

Many, many more colourful varieties are at http://www.modellbau-wiki.de/wiki/DR-Baureihe_130

Meanwhile here's an update. Testing out the 'official' RAL blue showed it was probably going to come out impractically dark, so I have found some new colours using my trusty Pantone swatch book (this entailed a bike ride as I have lent it to a friend...). I also talked to the mug printer today and he feels colouring the different parts of the loco will look bad because the halftone screens he can use with the solid colours will be fairly low-quality. I'm experimenting with some shading using only the black -- you can see work in progress on the driver's side buffer (our left).

Ben

Thanks for these comments and suggestions. To agree with @Michael Hodgson and @John Tomlinson as succinctly as I can: yes, the colours are a bit strange but, indeed, they're not intended to represent a livery. I'll keep thinking -- but I do want to get into production soon. With luck perhaps in time for Globalrail in Didcot, on 18 June (disclosure, I'm a German Railway Society committee member).

Cheers

Ben

I've been working on the artwork to make it suitable for a real-world mug.

Firstly, although they look dark on screen, I'm using the 'official' Ukrainian flag colours according to Wikipedia: RAL 5019 Capri Blue and RAL 1023 Traffic Yellow. BR blue is down as RAL 5020, incidentally, though it had its own designation in the hallowed BR Corporate Identity manual.

Secondly, I am hoping I can use some halftone screen tricks to keep the number of colours reasonable. Everything should come from yellow, blue or black -- and not forgetting the absence of all ink, in which case the white of the china mug will show through. I'm trying a couple of variants to see which bring out the contours of the loco better (I'm thinking the one where the side is darker and the front is lighter is the better one).

Thirdly, there's the option of switching the lettering to white so there is less chance of a green fringe around the letters. Make things easy for your (mug) printer and they will be able to give you a good result: that's the thinking.

Here's a screenshot from Scribus showing work in progress (the original idea at the top).

Ben

I've been talking to the mug printer. Naturally as a graphic designer I have come up with pretty much the most technically challenging design possible. It's going to be fun figuring this out. A couple of highlights:

• the background is a flag. We want this to be printed the boldest, brightest, thickest possible. But I have placed lettering over the flag, both yellow on blue and blue on yellow. If either colour is slightly overlapping or mis-registered we could end up with green fringes as yellow is generally almost transparent to anything under it.
• although the illustration is basically a line drawing, the loco's shape is given by colouring the various panels in shades of the blue and yellow, showing highlight and shadow. This potentially requireds extra screen printing layers to reproduce.

So, watch this space. Some headaches likely, but we'll get there.

There's still plenty of time to show your support by the way -- read the first post to find out more (TLDR -- click 'agree' and be prepared to pay for a mug when they're ready).

Ben

Thanks to everyone for the interest shown over the last four weeks. I think the time has come to move things closer to production. I will get started as soon as I can. Please do let others know. If they're not on RMWeb they can contact me by email: ben-132mug (at) readingtype.org.uk

Thanks for Agrees so far and thanks @Allegheny1600 for your kind words. I've edited the title because I realised the teaser wasn't cutting it.

Ben

19 hours ago, MichaelE said:

Since there is no forum for Austrian railroads I will post this here with the German threads.

Have a look at https://www.kleinbahnsammler.at/

Yes, it is mostly not in English. But have a look anyway, if you haven't :-)

Ben

The recently issued 'compendia' of articles from Model Trains International are worth a look for those who haven't seen them. I've got a copy of Modelling German Railways.

http://modeltrainsinternational.co.uk/

Chris Ellis introduces the book as 'a good basic guide to modelling German railways, either for complete beginners to the German scene, and to long-time enthusiasts ...' and I would imagine the same can be said for the other titles.

Don't look for product reviews, look for pragmatic projects and well-judged doses of modelling inspiration. And don't be put off by the presentation (in black and white only) which looked a bit basic even when the articles were first published.

Ben

@nest Speaking as an enthusiast and not in any ways an expert...

My feeling is, as you dig into this topic the variety within Bavaria will emerge. There are masses of books on German railways big and small and you'll probably need to make some false starts to find the right thing  in terms of operation, scenery, etc. Second hand is definitely the way to go; searching Abebooks under 'nebenbahn', 'kleinbahn' or (as it's a term used in Bavaria, but not the whole of Germany) 'lokalbahn' is good -- see what comes up. Publishers like Franckh'sche Verlag did good photo albums and Verlag Wolfgang Zeunert published a Deutsche Klein- und Privatbahnen series from the end of the 1970s which I think ended up  with another publisher. booklooker.de is good for comparing prices. Watch out for those crazily high prices you sometimes see (don't believe them) and don't forget to check everyone's favourite auction site.

Endbahnhöfe Vorbild und Modell by Gerhard Peter (MIBA) is a great modellers' book for track plans based on branch line prototypes and several of the stations covered are somewhere in Bavaria. It's in print, so really only available new, but since br***t completed you can't order it direct from the publishers from within the UK. Search for the ISBN 978-3-89610-734-3 -- model shops may have it.

Finally, Germany had a lot of private railways. On those, as far as I know, pretty much anything goes (as long as the EBO is observed) and you even in the period you are interested in you don't have to paint the steam locos black all over. As long as the wheels and frames are red :-)

Corrections to my babble are welcome as always by people who know more!

Ben