Ben,
There are many big things in Texas and you have mentioned a few, but you
missed big hair, and big liars. Also most big hats, attitudes and
houses came from big oil and big ranching which this former
mid-westerner can't claim any heritage.
I did manage to find those missing decals to finish lettering my
Southwind combine. I had purchased it from Jettie at the Lowell
convention. It was lettered on one side for the NYC and the other was
blank. It was dull coated last night and will get glass tonite. It
should make it's reappearance in train in a few days.
I also started on backdating (with lettering) the UP brass caboose and
it's going well. However those GP-30's are eating my lunch time-wise.
Besides the usual gray and yellow, it needed some black, light gray and
red paints in some places. Putting on the two continuous red stripes
around the engine also takes some time, so I need a couple of evening to
finish them up not to mention the reassembly, lighting, glass and a
touch of weathering. I've always been amazed at all the time one needs
to devote to applying the decals and the array of problems associated in
applying them.
For instance the decals for the UP caboose consisted of white lettering
on white paper. So I did the coloring of the back of the decal paper
trick and that helps a little (very little) but it took about 90+
seconds to soften the decal itself. Typically a Microscale decal will
take 20-30 seconds and I've had others take even less. Now the custom
Champ and LBR decals seemed to have been made on the Alps printer. The
wetting times are normal but they seem to be subject to easy scratching
and need careful handling. Also one has to accept that the lettering
will consist of tiny dots for those who typically use a magnifying glass
to examine things. Luckily the days of the old Enhorning's variable
quality decals are not being used on my current projects. I hated when
those decals split into dozens of pieces in the water tray while others
were so thick they were like shrink wrap!
I hope to receive a envelope of additional decals from OddBalls shortly
for a large modern Downs tank car and two grain hoppers that I plan on
doing by Fall--hey this dude thinks ahead!
No wonder the prototype railroads had hundreds and even thousands of
workers keeping up a railroad. I roster enough cars and engines equal
to some regional railroads and I'm doing it with one part-time, get'in
old guy!
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
Bob,
Isn't Texas the land of big hats, big attitudes and big houses? Who
needs a basement when you have all of that?
Oops. I better stop cuz I'm straying off topic.
Ben Trousdale
--- In [email protected] <mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com>, Bob
Werre <bob@...> wrote:
>
> Ben, Since Texas homes don't have basements we do have problems storing
> large quantities of parts for future projects. However, I also don't
> like paying a mess of postage for just a few items, so my feelings are
> to wait until I need a few things.
>
> And I've got several projects open on my work bench that are slowly
> making their way unto the layout. I'm going to do a bit of hand
> painting on my GP-30's tonight--I need to add a little red to the MU
> electrical boxes and some gray on the steps to the cab that would have
> been a pain to mask when I was airbrushing a couple of weeks ago. I've
> got most of the lettering done. This project has been years in the
making.
>
> Also some decals from LBR arrived a few days ago to letter a combine
for
> the C & N W--that went well except that I misplaced some additional
> decals that were supposed to be stashed away that I can't seem to find.
> Later tonight, I do plan on working on a UP caboose that has been
> needing some decals also--Marker Lamp had made them for me maybe 12
> years ago! I know what's the rush!
>
> Next up is a certain N W caboose that's also way behind schedule-so
> stirrups aren't on the horizon yet.
>
> Bob Werre
> PhotoTraxx
>
