testing the 'look'

I've been trying to decide what to do with the various locos of my small fleet.. Originally my plan was to re-patch everything for the Yellow Pine, but the advent of the Midland Belt RR, and fear of cocking up, have delayed me.

So - I have decals for another Midland Belt loco and was trying to decide which one to pick for the new livery. (900 being almost ready).

My instinct was the recently purchased Bowser AS16 just wouldn't look right with the very modern style of the MBRR logo, and started to think about perhaps either applying something more vintage in style.. or stick to Yellow Pine.. but last night I thought it might be worth printing off some mocked up stripes to mimic the decals and see how they actually look.

The B&O AS-16 with mock up decal and stripes

As far as an exercise goes, it has been really useful.. I was surprised how actually the AS16 might look quite well.. it also confirmed for me that my little Baldwin switcher (which I love, especially with the Loksound noises) is probably not a contender..likewise the Bachmann S4. (Which does need a repaint  but I think will stay Yellow Pine)

Nope...

I am undecided about the SF C30-7. It would really need taking apart, stripping and repainting, and I'm not sure that I'm keen enough on the loco to do all that really.

sticky stuff.. decals

Here's something I've never done before.. making your own decals (or transfers.. ?) . I knew it was possible but never really looked into it properly, so this week I thought I'd take the plunge and give it  a go.


Two reasons..First up, I still have a hankering to play with my American HO trains at some point, and liked the idea of re-badging some of my engines for the Yellow Pine RR, my own fictitious shortline. Secondly, On Winkford I felt that the side wall of that pub really needed some advertising on it. I felt that a local brewery was apt and might help to set the scene too.



There are two choices in inkjet transfer paper, clear or white. After some rather pointless head-scratching, I ordered a sheet of White inkjet transfer paper from ebay and printed off my designs..(this took a lot longer to do than to say - I chopped my A4 sheet into 4 almost 6x4 photo paper sized bits and had to convince the printer that it was okay to print!)

At this point I needed to spray the sheet with a clear varnish to seal the ink. I had a can of 'water based' clear sealant which I hoped would do the job. A couple of light coverings left a yellowish sheen, but otherwise everything seemed okay, so I left the sheet to dry overnight.


This morning, with much trepidation, I cut out the Home Ales decal for the side of my pub and dunked it in a saucer of clean water. At this point I expected to see all the ink run and / or the decal screw up into an unusable lump.


Actually, This is the result! I am pleased. Next up, applying the Yellow Pine decals to my engines..

By the way, the Home Ales brewery in Daybrook, Nottingham, was my local brewery. I remember the smell of hops filling the air on a foggy morning. Despite local loyalties, their bitter was generally pretty bad, although preferable to Shippos (Shipstones)!