I actually paint the underside caboose red as well. Here is a shot taken at Sydney N scale club last night
A question or two... You reckon a little CA should be used to afix the MT end rails to the caboose? Obviously, regular model cement may not do the trick. Delrin to plastic...dunno. I'd guess the trucks are delrin too? Paint doesn't stick to them very well either. Just a simple upgrade is turning into quite the fun project.
All i ever use is Ca glue so it shouldnt be a problem, looking forward to seeing some pics of the finished model
Russell, I'm already being accused of having too many MoPac cabeese on my roster However this one certainly presents a great modelling opportunity
Colonel, I'm hoping this caboose mod I'm working comes out good enough to post a picture or two. Let you know in a day or two, I think. Ran into an issue or two sanding the roof. It may not come out perfect, but this is my first mod...So the next one will be better and not take so freakin' long...
Well one thing is for certain...My decaling skills have gone south for the winter. That teensy white decal stripe at the bottom of these cars is about to make me throw a king size HISSY FIT! I just can't get it right... Any body got any tips for getting that dang thing on the car?!? JEEEEEZ! I am so frustrated now I could throw both these dang cars out of a window. Preferably into rush hour traffic! I just had to walk away... I am soooooo Steamed... At this point I'm about ready to leave it OFF!
OK here is how I apply the strip decal. I hold one end with tweezers then place the decal from left to right over the cabooseonce the far right is in line I drop the whole decal in place. So I really drag the decal along the length of the caboose.
TWEEZERS! Of course! I am an idiot... But I think I'll drop by Hobby Lobby to see if they have some dry transfers I can use.
Well, Now it's official. My decaling skills, especially when it comes to skinny white lines suck WIND! I've ruined all but one of the long, skinny lines in that decal sheet and I've HAD ENUFF!! (for now anyways) I haven't managed to put even ONE of them on a dang CAR! Got 2 I'm working on. Maybe it's the flat paint finish? But as of right now I'm inclined to believe it's just ME! Maybe it ain't prototype but I may just leave them OFF for now! Crap! PS My idea for dry transfers - didn't work out- surface is too uneven?!
Tom - the flat finish may well be the culprit. Waterslide decals work best applied to a gloss finish (spray the area with GlossCote); I've done lots of decalling by now and, except for some that I'd kept for too long, have had no problems pushing them around (gently, mind you) with one of the micro brushes loaded with MicroSol. Once the aarrgh factor lessens, try this way - you may be surprised how easy it is. Good luck!
I'll give them a shot of glosscoat before the next time, then And no, no microsol. Tried that and it softened the paint so much on one of them that I had to do a repaint. But I'll give it another shot soon. I'm a grown man fer cryin' out loud. I've been building models since I was a pre-teen...I SHOULD be able to do this... Gonna have to order more decals though, LOL! Thanks for listening. 'nuff said...
Tom, You really should be using microscale microset to apply the decals then microsol to soften the decals once they have set. Today I started with an undecorated Atlas caboose I purchased recently from Keven Stevens store KSI Sales I was suprised to see an Atlas caboose with Microtrains couplers Here are the results, I also through in a few pics of its inauguaral trip on the layout as this caboose is headed Stateside
Nice work! Been using Polly S Decal softening solution. All is going mostly well. But I don't trust myself enuff to splice numbers together. They are sooooo tiny. So should I just fake it and put a number on that I know isn't real? It is my railroad after all!
The decal sheet comes with actual numbers of prototype cabeese. It isnt too difficult to slice numbers just do one number let it sent and continue on. In the end though it doesnt matter what number as long as you are happy with the end product. I would purchased Microscale microset and microsol for the decals.
Go ahead and splice together! It's a doddle - just take your time and do each number individually if unsure. I managed to get SACRAMENTO NORTHERN on the side of a VO-1000 (twice!) with far less problems than I was expecting. Each letter was individual and of the second smallest RR Roman type from MicroScale's N Scale set. The hardest part is getting the spacing correct. If your are unsure of the spacing, a scrap of decal film can be used and decal the decal film. Cut it out and voila!
