Colorado Central number 7

[peterbunce]

Hi,

I was looking for some photos on my computer of my Colorado Central loco number 7 and could only find some of it before the transfers were added. As the weather was behaving afetr a fashion, it was 'out with the camera' for some and here are the results.

This loco is the second I have built, (the first was a model of the first loco on the sister railroad to the CCRR the DSP&PRR) and was finished a while ago now, they were both made with the help of 'myLargescale.com, who ran a project on building these little locos, on the chassis of the Bachmann 'Indie' mogul, that is a quite small loco, which was maily written by David Fletcher who lives in Australia.

I built one to be number 7 as I has some photos of it, and decided to paint it blue - something like the colour of Caledonian Railway locomotives, and it would have black & white lining.

The loco was built and also had a (unusual for the USA), 6 wheel tender - the locos started life with an even smaller 4 wheel version!

Here are a three of photos of it on my railroad, the boxcar at the rear has a Hobo sitting in the open door with a satchel and other bits also inside the scratch built vehilcle.

Outside my station (depot)

a 'ground level ' view of it

and a final view from higher up.

The errrant pipe for the water feed has escaperd from its clqack valve, and has been both noted and now fixed back to where it belongs!


Yours Peter B

 

[trammayo]

Very attractive loco there Peter - looks great! How long did that take to build?

Mick

 

[coyote97]

Hi Peter,

nice work as usual!

Could u give me a help with how u do the lining and where you have the decals from?



Greeitngs


Frank

 

[stevedenver]

wow peter i envy your skill
lovely 

 

[peterbunce]

Re:Colorado Central number 7 & decals or transfers

Hi Frank,

You ask about decals or transfers ? a lot of complicated work! All of it in the design stages, and if pictures are included a scanner is needed for those to be sent to the printer.

First IF you have a wide screen monitor take that into account ? the finished result will be narrower than the screen view. Lettering is a case of finding the font(s) you require, don?t forget the free fonts that are available on the web but do make sure they are Truetype fonts as they have anti-aliasing or smoothing built in: that stops the dreaded ?Jaggies? or steps in the curves of the lettering. IF you can, try to get the largest lettering you can; five times is a good compromise, but do mark the design with the multiplier you have used.

Pictures ? I hand painted a design for DSP number 1 (again) five times larger than required, the reason for that is that the reduced version will tend to hide any mistakes you have inadvertently put in!.

You can work in ?Word? but Powerpoint is preferred: don?t forget that ?WordArt? can be used and spaces are needed as well. Put them at each end to stop the first & last letter falling out of line in arcs and such like for instance. Also you can add shading to the letters with the extra tools, do not forget to set the colours for both the shading and main colours that you have decided on. Multi colour work is quite possible ? it naturally will cost more! Metallic?s will be more still but they are very effective. .

Whilst working and with a completed design print it out (black & white is quite OK) and try it on its intended location; wide screen monitors are good but they do have their foibles!

But where do you find a printer? First it is a specialized printer that can print white, that is needed, and most will not do that. The only printer that can do it is called an ALPS printer which uses a tape with the ink in it; it will also print metallic colours (as in gold). I have my decals printed by Stan Cedarleaf in Phoenix Arizona, here is a web link to his website

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/StanCedarleaf/WebPageDecals/CustomDecalsx.html

I am not connected to him: he is both good, helpful and fast ? after receiving the masters I have had decals delivered in 11 days to the UK. He uses Belldecal paper, which is good, and I varnish them for extra protection before cutting them out with scissors ? NOT a knife, the scissors provide a better result ? they seem to taper the edge. As usual they need a gloss finish to put them onto.

The lining on CCRR 7?s tender was in 4 pieces per side: the top and bottom were straight pieces with the ends incorporating the incurved corners. All the letters were separate, and the tender flare was three pieces. The cylinder design was one piece the sand dome as 3 pieces, the edge to the pilot deck was one per side and a lot of care persuading it round the curve! Note the painted panel in the sides of the headlamp ? I made some for my Mason Bogie and David Fletcher prepared a design for these locomotives as a result of seeing mine and they were added to the decal sheet design, which also included the shield shaped makers plate and its complicated lettering.

David did the sheets for the Mason Bogie that incorporated a lot of fancy designs, which included stars, curls and multiple colour work as well ? it is quite superb: he has been working with Accucraft on their both their 2 8 0 locomotives and also their Mason Bogies which will be in two designs. I believe they are sold out now but both are shown on their American website. Here 89s a photo of part of my Mason Bogie decal sheet in position, tweezers are needed to locate some of smaller pieces! Note the lining on the truck under the tender - all the pieces are separate

All are put on together with the aid of a good water film, and a tiny amount of wetting agent (windscreen washer fluid is good, and just a drop is needed) allowing for the movement of the pieces to get them all together and then left overnight to set.

Stan will put in the package a help sheet as well. Payment is by Paypal.

I think that will help Frank - if you want any more just ask.

Yours Peter

 

[peterbunce]

Re:Colorado Central number 7 & decals or transfers

Hi,

Thank you for the kind comments - most appreciated!

Trammayo - you ask how long did it take - I think it was about 6 weeks or so, BUT do remember that I am retired so I have more time to work on such things.

SteveDenver - skills are an accquired thing - yes I have been building models in different scales for a long time, but they do accrue quite quickly - and are kept by regular use of them - thanks for the comment.

Yours Peter B

 

[simon@mgr]

Re:Colorado Central number 7 & decals or transfers

Very nice job indeed.
The decorative lining which was applied to so many things of that era has always impressed me and your model certainly has.

 

[royale]

Very impressive - nice to know you now have a unique loco - well done.

 

[David Buckingham]

Hi Peter

Glad to see you are keeping up the good work

Looks wonderful

Dave

 

[corgi]

Fantastic and informative thread Peter.