Paint and Decals

This is a very preliminary shot of the new coal hopper with paint and decals applied. In fact the decals have been applied to only one side. The paint is a gloss coat which will be dulled down when all the decals have been applied.

To test the look of the coal hopper with paint and decals applied I decided to apply a coat of terracotta red paint and some home-brewed decals. The O-Aust kit for the hopper is not supplied with decals however even if they had been they wouldn’t have been any use to me as I was building a private owner wagon that was hauled by government locomotives and crews. Therefore they had air brakes but these were a hold over from the lever applied brakes which only existed on one side of the wagon. I hauled out the Alps printer today to print the decals I’d done the artwork for on my computer. To get this old printer to work I have to use an old laptop I purchased well over 12 years ago which has Windows XP on it. Anything much later than this and the Alps printer driver doesn’t work. It’s a bit of a performance to get the decals to print properly but they are beautiful when they do eventually emerge from the printer and I still don’t know any other printer that can print white. The decals as applied are a very close representation of the way they were applied to Muswellbrook Colliery wagons. When the wagon is dulled, weathered and has its hook draw gear installed it will look a million dollars.