Inspired by Dave's (Deluxe Innovations) November announcements of new stuff, I thought I would post some quickie shots of some intermodal loads I've been working on, all DI products, of course. First I have been going overboard applying decal stripes to represent the door hardware and customs seals on a bunch of containers. Here is a recent shot with some of the latest, with 2 stock cans for comparison. All told, I've completed about 20 so far. Still need to finish weathering several of these. Unfortunately, I can never be happy with unadorned doors again (thanks to James Costello!), and with all the 5-packs Dave has coming out, I'll be seeing double before all is said and done. I also noticed Dave had posted some pre-production shots of some new items, including a Schneider trailer. Fortunately that release is the smooth side version, since I recently picked up a set of the DI scratch & dent trailers (a great bargain: five 53' Duraplate trailers for $20). The first one I painted was a Schneider: This one still needs a bit of finish work, but it will complement the smooth sides nicely when they're loaded onto a Long Runner. Thanks Dave! Gary
Looking forward to seeing that Gary. We still have the Long Runners available for others who want to model these unusual cars. Nice work on the containers. And I agree that James has set us a new standard on the doors! Peter Peter Harris N Scale Kits N Scale Kits
Thanks Peter. I've fashioned one Long Runner from your kits already: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=100825&highlight=long+runner This one used a pair of flush side flats, but I'll probably make the next one with flush & channel mixed (decisions decisions...). In any case, I'll probably add at least one Long Runner to my next order, gotta take advantage of your 4 for 3 sale: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=103897 Gary
Gary, Outstanding work! I, too, cannot leave the doors alone. How do you paint them? I've been trying to find some way to build a template so I could "assembly line" it but so far I haven't really found a good solution...so it's mostly a notecard to mask and a gray/silver sharpie or paint pen. Also, I really like the tires on that Schneider and would like to know how those were done. I have a few of those to detail, also. Again, very nice work!
Gary, awesome work!. yes, if you would not mind sharing how you did the detail work. I know it has been a topic before, but the 'ole laptop died here recently and I lost the info. I have a couple of the DI scratch and dent packs to do also, along with many containers and trailers.
Thanks for the comments gents! For the door hardware I first tried an extra fine black sharpie for the customs seal and a fine silver sharpie for the rods & handles, ala James Costello's tutorial in a recent posting. This looked great when my hand was steady, but I was getting a high enough botch rate when the ink ran that it was making me fussy.... and I couldn't get the vertical seal along the hinge lines at all because of the inner corner. So Microscale to the rescue. I'm now using their N scale 3" black stripes for the seals (set #71102) though I might switch to their HO 1" stripe (#91112) since you get more stripes per dollar and they are probably slightly closer to scale. (I tried N 2" stripes at first but they were too narrow - less than 2" for sure - and were almost invisible). For the rods I use HO 2" silver stripes (#91114) and for the handles HO 1" silver stripes (same set #91114). I apply the seal decals first: 3 verticals and 2 horizontals. Just lay them over the hinges and rods and set with Micro Sol. I then scrape the hinges clean, but I leave them over the rods since they'll be covered later. They have a really cool subtle 3d effect to them after they've set. For the rods you have to be a bit patient as they initially have a tendency to cling to one side of the rod or the other, especially the containers with the deep relief detail, so you sometimes have to coax them back to the center. But after the first coat of Micro Sol you'll be set - and you'll watch the transformation as the decal turns to "paint" before your eyes. I do the handles last with a 1 scale foot section of stripe just laid over the handle then set with Sol. I typically process 2-3 cans at a time in quasi assembly line fashion. The best thing about this approach is that if you botch a decal, you can easily remove it and get a fresh one (and it produces a very clean edge). The tires on the trailer had me stumped for a while as I couldn't get a clean rim/tire separation with a brush and it was making me fussy.... (you see the theme here) but I think I have a decent solution now. First I spray the rim color (white in this case, but I should have used a thicker coat of white). Don't worry about spraying the tires, they get painted next. Then I mask the rims as follows: I got a length of Plastruct styrene rod (0.100" for the DI wheels, 0.125" for Atlas wheels) and cut several short lengths off (~1" each) and wrapped one layer of double-sided scotch tape around the end of each section, leaving a bit hanging over the end of the rod. This ring of tape will then slide right into the wheel rim and give a perfect mask for spraying the tire color. (I leave one rod long for use as a handle while spraying.) As for tire color, I think grimy black works fine, but for this unit I mixed about 80% EL Gray and about 20% Engine Black to give a bit of a warmer gray base. Thanks again and cheers, Gary P.S. I did use a silver Sharpie and a straight-edge to paint the external side bracing on the trailer. That worked really well as there is enough relief to keep the ink from running, but you have to seal it afterward.
Wow Gary, Fantastic work!:thumbs_up: Just looking at those 2 stock containers makes me go 'yuck' compared to the others. And that trailer....:tb-shocked: Wow! -Mike
Gary et al, Those of you into containers would probably love this one area just up the street a little bit from my house. Right across from Terminal 4 in Portland, Oregon, is a storage yard with loads and loads of these containers stacked up and ready to go. I don't know exactly what they are used for, but I think they are being staged for when they are needed for exporting something, even if it's just sailboat fuel. Google Maps
Gary, thanks for the info...great stuff. I will try the decal route. I apparently missed Mr. Costello's tutorial, and a search yielded nothing. Anyone have a link?
Yessir - it was buried towards the end of the Stacks thread, ~page 8: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=99130&highlight=stacks&page=8 SteamDonkey74 - I'm jealous that you get to live in Portland and I don't. Gary
Gary, have you tried to work with any of the "Scotchlite" yet? It is really easy and gives a different view. Bob.
Did I mention they were magnetic? I'm using a variant on Jagged Ben's technique, described here: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=85281&highlight=magnet [WARNING: serious modelers stop reading now!] The magnetic technology raises all kinds of new possibilities, such as triple stacks and single-20's: Mike - thanks for the compliments! Of course the DI cans are without peer (as I'm sure you know - e.g., fantastic pad printing) and it's only 1 side out of 6 that could use any upgrade at all. Jan - I'm getting itchy to chop a Thrall set now, like you did... Bob - I have been working with the Scotchlite samples you sent! I have a loco project in the works that I think will especially benefit from them. Hopefully be able to finish that up one of these days. StrasburgNut - I can't wait to see them on the layout too... I'm working on it! Cheers, Gary
Similar finish treatment on an old Atlas Pines trailer, with a stock trailer for comparison: Decals for the safety stripes, door rods, and rear lights. Silver Sharpie for the hinges and side sills. Paint for the underframe and tires, then lightly weather.
Looking good Gary! Glad you found a technique that works for you mate! I got a box of new DeLuxe goodies on the weekend and you're making me want to get right into them this weekend!
Nice work Gary! How are you sticking together 3 and 4 containers with the magnets. My technique pretty much only allows for 2.
Ah - success! I hope you'll post some pics when you get some new projects done James. Ben, I really appreciated your magnet thread. My variant is to glue the magnets to the floor & ceiling of the container with Goo: 2 on the floor and 2 on the ceiling (actually I usually double up the floor magnet for a bit of extra oomph). On 40' and longer cans I place them +/-10 scale feet from the center of the container making sure the same magnet pole is always pointing up. For 20' cans I just use one each at the midpoint of the floor & ceiling. This way, any combination of sizes can be mated and they always line up automatically (assuming you've done your measurements correctly...) As far as polarity goes, I keep one container handy as a reference. When it's time to outfit a new can, I drop a magnet on the roof of the reference container and it always lands right side up! I then know which side of the magnet to apply the glue to. Until now, I didn't realize there was a difference in how the two approaches behave, but now I can see how there would be. Of course there is no real advantage to being able to stack more than 2 unless you have an operating terminal or something (which I don't). The only reason I glued mine in the first place was because I had an irrational aversion to loose items in my containers. But I do like the feature that they line up automatically. One way or another, magnets are the way to go with stacks! Cheers, Gary
Here's a quickie. I never quite got used to the mustard yellow color on the latest release of Deluxe's MSC containers, since most of the prototypes I've seen are much more beige, so I thought I would see of I could tweak the color in that direction. Here is a proto shot of one of the more yellow cans I've seen: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=482534 and the models (finished one on top, stock on the bottom): For the fade coat , I added some transparent red to the white, then hit it with a wash of raw sienna lightened with some titanium (opaque) white. I like it. Can't wait for the 5-packs...
