I've started work on my fleet of locos for my mythical SP&S Ry. First unit, GP20 #101 is almost out of the shop and ready for paint http://EJE.Railfan.net/temp/sps_gp20_101.jpg I started thinking I might want some hazard stripes on the pilots. Problem is, I already had plows on these units when I started, so it's too late to file off the hose detail. Has anybody just put stripe decals right over the pilot details? How does it look? Also, what's the best way to do them? Put them on, then trim out the coupler hole later with a blade? Dave D. Los Angeles, CA The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Photo Archive & E-Mail List: http://eje.railfan.net The Ashley, Drew & Northern Railfan Page: http://eje.railfan.net/adn Southern California Trains: http://eje.railfan.net/socal
There are two ways to do this, both requiring very good eye-hand coordination. First is to slit the decals with a scalpel where the hoses are so it can be positioned on either side of the hoses. The sccond is to put the decal over the hoses and then pick them out with black paint and a 20/0 brush. Good luck and have fun!
Dave, having a plow in the way just made it that bit harder! I add the stripes over any details as Gregg suggested. For the coupler aperture, I slit the decal from a point level with the top all the way down as wide as the narrowest point (at the bottom) and carefully apply it with plenty of water to float it into position. Use plenty of Solvaset to snuggle the decals over the details (hoses, et al) then after it had dried pick out the air bubbles with the tip of a sharp knife or pin, then reapply more solvaset. Keep doing this until you are happy with it. Trim the decal out of the coupler aperture after it sets up or cut an 'x' in it and solvaset it back into the aperture. Pick out the hoses with weathered black and old silver (or aluminium) and liftbars in an appropriate colour. As for the plow, the same applies. Fortunately, you have used a debris kicker so getting the stripes down behind is going to be easy. Touch up the stripes with a fine brush when done. Gary.
I just painted an MPI SD45 for a friend of mine to which I applied the safety stripes on the front after the snow plow was painted. I used the slit technique. I had a rather large snow plow on the model so I simply cut the stripe decal in half (lower portion staying on model and upper portion on pilot. Turned out GREAT! Just take your time!
Beacon isn't glued yet. Thanks for the tips. Still not sure if I will use them, but at least I have an idea now. I'm trying to remember how they do them from the factory. I guess they just paint right over the details. Dave D. Los Angeles, CA The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Photo Archive & E-Mail List: http://eje.railfan.net The Ashley, Drew & Northern Railfan Page: http://eje.railfan.net/adn Southern California Trains: http://eje.railfan.net/socal
