The Golden Grain

All,

One of my priorities on the layout will be the movement of grain & to that end i have bought up big on the Auscision NGPFs & variants....

Through procrastination i largely missed out on the first run of these wagons & have had to purchase where & when possible.

I have at last count around 90 wagons & all of them were purchased as the "Non Decorated" variety....a decision that i have come to happily accept as this means i can paint,  weather & personalise without having to mask the number panels & logos.

Around half the fleet have now been treated with primer, teal ends & the first coat of finish colour.....

In my weathering world....now is the time to add the number panels & a variety of logos that were utilised on the prototype.

This caused a bit of angst for a few days as i had no idea where to source these items...either in whole form or decals made piecemeal.....So the project came to a halt & placed on the backburner.

A few weeks later my wife was delivering a cup of tea to the train room & made comment on the "rotten row" of wheat wagons that were lined up all over the place in the paint shop section.

After explaining my predicament she suggested i make my own decals.....After raising my eyes to the heavens....i enquired as to how this could be achieved...." What about using one of the digital printers? " was the reply.

It must be explained that as part of our business we possess wide format digital printers that are utilised for signage & it had never occurred to me that they could be used in this fashion....It was at least worth a try???!!!

First trial was to ascertain whether the fine print on the number panels could be achieved & this test passed with flying colours...

Next was to measure & dimension real number panels & a quick trip to Goulburn yard yielded that info....

The last piece of the puzzle was to try and procure the differing logos utilised over the years on these wagons.....That proved harder than expected.  I thought a google search would unearth what i was looking for....Not to be.

I have redrawn the Freightrail Grain logos in both blue & white backgrounds, did the same for the L7s & was lucky enough to have a friend donate the FreightCorp logos....Now i have an almost full set in high reolution.

The next step was to run some colour proofs for checking &  produce some masters.....SUCCESS!!!

The printer has print & contour cut ability in one operation so i printed a run of them on an extremely thin adhesive sign vinyl.....what i ultimately ended up with in essence was a few hundred tiny stickers...

The last part of this saga was to compile a list of prototype wagon numbers & check letters....this proved to be the easiest task as wheat harvest was in full swing & we had a 20kph speed restriction past the front door....so easy peasy!!!

I have attached a couple of pics that show the finished article ( FreightRail Grain ) logo & number panels attached to wagons for evaluation...

As an added bonus...the ink used in the progress can be aged / faded by using a wipe of metho....or indeed continuous rubbing with your finger......when the desired result is achieved...apply the logo & finish weathering the wagon...

Armed with the ability to now complete this task in-house...i have found a supplier of 600mm wide water slide, decal paper & trials will begin printing direct to this material soon..

My apologies for the photo quality....

Wagons with decals applied for testing

  

 

Faded logo applied...

Another logo variation...

Regards,

Rod