Quit breathing on the kid and go to your room!
Anybody tried these guys’ 3D rivet decals: Tank car double-row rivets (1.25 inch) for tank cars built before 1920 – Archer Transfers?
Asking for a friend…
Eric
Update:
KId-zilla is handling all the toolwork, as I am at the 80% mark. After successfully mounting the bolsters, I showed him how you can find the centers by drawing from one corner to the other, tehn he tapped holes for some woodscrews…
Next came the critical will-it-work-on-our-railroad test. We had to find a transition car, as we had not yet converted this to hook and loop. AM-Critter was today’s ready locomotive, we being too lazy to bring AM-Critter in from the lanai last night!
Kid-zilla took the throttle, and the test was off (video). He put the car through its paces, backing it and pulling it over all our turnouts. Later, we added a car behind it to validate the test. All is well, and we can move on to detailing!
Kid-zilla said, “I like the drop-bottom flat car. We need to clone more!” This followed last night’s talk of container cars. It all started with an affinity for diesels…
Updates as progress merits!
Eric
P.S. I am restraining myself from forging ahead alone. This is a cool project that I am eager to see done, but CONCHOUSE’s long-ago admonition is still ringing in my ears: “It cannot be just your hobby.” Time flies. It will be just my hobby all too soon.
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Yes I’ve used the archer weld decals not the rivers but similar idea. They work great like a regular decal. I found the best is to prime, apply decal like normal, let it dry and then lightly prime over again to seal.
The Micro Mark knockoffs stuck. They don’t stick to anything.
Craig,
Thanks. These look like a cost-effective way to move the ladder of complexity without ruining the fun factor.
Eric
Granted you don’t get too many on a sheet and they are a bit pricey but dollar for dollar I’d spend my money on Archer products all day long. I’m glad the original owner found a replacement buyer. The new buyer ( now a few years) has kept the same quality and customer service as the old owner.
When Archer came out with “G Scale” rivets, I queried them and got a trial set. They are visibly round and flat, but not really rivet shaped. Maybe the 1/25th ones are better - and they’ve had a few years to improve them.
Update:
Kid-zilla had the tools while I briefly returned to the office.
My inability to make a straight cut made his job tougher. Luckily, my 'flu became sinusitis, so I had the opportunity to stay home again today and to use epoxy to fill in some gaps and move this item closer to “square.”
We are discussing the rivets (thanks @ctown2 and @PeterT ). I am leaning towards trying them. I think we have a way forward on the gun, too. I’ll post that later.
Eric
Update:
'Flu gave way to sinusitis, which made getting parts for projects or any real concentration impossible. Of course, when I was ambulatory, I had the rest of life’s duties left unattended, so those parts remain at the hardware, hobby, and automotive parts stores. On the other hand, it gave me some time to really look at the pictures to see how we approximate that m1888 gun.
“Oahu’s Narrow Guage Army Rail” in particular had pictures of these guns in use on their flats and in barbette, which allowed me to make reasonable guesses about what the detail bits were all about." I particularly drew from these…
…to get sense of function and proportion not obvious to me from the line drawing in Pacific Fortress. The key element to me was the fact the platform rotated on a nearly triangular parallelogram. The breach is largely centered on the car, while, I assume, the platform and extended part of the parallelogram serve as counterweight to the barrel. Pease see the MIK-worthy diagram below:
We intend for Battery B, US Light Artillery, currently in service on No’u’ea to provide gunners. This means the equipment should look right next to PLAYMOBIL artillerymen. @Rooster had sent us some thick plastic to use for AM-Criter, and I think that would be the material of choice for the platform and mount. Styrene tubing is then an obvious solution for the Barrell, breach, and recoil chambers. Styrene then becomes likely source for the breachlock and non-structural details.
Alas, this project will likely come to a standstill for a bit as we attend to some family summer fun! But the plan is there!
Updates as progress merits,
Eric
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Rereading this thread had put an idea in my head. Many years ago I started to model a cannon. I was going to add a carriage and wheels, but this thread has given me a new direction! Now I need a drop deck rail car.
You guys on this forum have modeling skills way above my capabilities. Eric, what is the rate to borrow Kid-zilla? Oh, never mind it doesn’t work that way. The Kid has the talent!
Update:
We are going to try the rivet decals from Archer. They are on order. Busy family and personal schedules have put other progress on hold…
Thanks, too, for compliments to my partner. I always pass the along !
Eric
Update:
We go the decals from Archer. They look like this:
Many years ago, I was involved in a restoration project of the John Brown, and, as far as I can remember, these look like rivets. I was, to be frank, expecting a bit more textural definition.
Kid-zilla had selected a dark grey, which, to my eye, looks more European than American:
With no surviving equipment and no color photos, our railroad, our rules. We went with it! Subsequent coats did a good enough job hiding the wood grain.
Before Lala hit, we did go ahead and apply our rivets, following the prototype pictures with Kid-zilla’s caveat that this should look a bit like a job done to meet a contingency. This was no problem; I promptly butchered the first decal strip!
Unlike our Estes rockets, these decals come off the backing pretty quickly. The instructions say 30 seconds, and that is no joke! It took a couple tries to remove a rivet strip without stripping a rivet head or mauling it into a rivet mass, but we managed. In fact, Kid-zilla insisted I step aside, my fingers being too bit, and walk the dogs to allow him to finish the car.
I returned in time to show him how to save a decal by floating it in the water, scooping it on the old paper backing, and reapplying the decal. This scored major Dad Points!
In truth, we found this a four hand process, with someone holding the strip with a dental pick as someone else pulled out the backing with tweezers. some of the results are below:
Once humidity is less than 100%, we will apply Micor-Sol, let it dry, and paint the lot grey. To be frank, I am wondering, when this is said and done, if this was worth the time and expense.
Updates as Progress Merits!
Eric
Regardless of the look and it’s “worth the cost”, you’ve introduced the ideas of raised decals and how to use them. And that is a big step! And have learned that all decals are all different.
Update:
We covered the decals in Micro-Sol, let it dry for 24 hours, then sealed them behind clear matte paint. I wanted to cover them in grey. Kiz-zilla said that it would obscure the “rivets” too much. To be frank, he is correct. As the following shots show…
…these things are barely visible. Many of them will be partially obscured later by the telescoping legs that swung out from the car to stabilize it while the crew worked the gun. No idea how we’ll do those yet…
The gun…We are likely going to make the pedestal from - GULP - wood. We located a suitable piece we can cut to size and sand to shape. Wood, we figured will make a more stable platform for the gun. This brings us to the gun itself, which we located on e(vil)-Bay.
It was about $15 with shipping. Kid-zilla really likes the gunshield, as it is closer to the Civil War era “land ironclads” he had envisioned for this project. Once he found out the firing mechanism still works on this thing, there was no turning back! It has a late 19th century to early WWII look to it, so it is era-appropriate for the Triple O, and the size is right on for the exacting standards 1:24-ish PLAYMOBIL scale.
Once the gun arrives we can cut, shape, sand, seal, and mount the pedestal. Then, we can have real fun adding whatever details make sense (ammo carriage and crane; gun cradle; stabilizers; etc.) without ruining its durability or fun-factor.
Updates as Progress Merits!
Eric
P.S. We did consider going with a Flak 18 model, as, even in 1:32, it had the right look. Neither of us were certain that a model meant for indoor display would long survive the back-and-forth 0-5-0 shuffling from storage to tracks, so we were pleased to find this.
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I found the cannon I started making some 20 years ago. Has a little rust from sitting in the basement, but that will clean up.
I enjoy watching the young Kid-Z honing his modeling skills!
Sorry Eric, I feel you are incorrect.
You envisioned the Civil War era ironclads.
The boy is envisioning a bigger gunshield with 1,000,000 candle power lights on top and a pivoting base underneath with an office chair on the side.
Oh, Hep cabling and ditchlites as well.