August Micro-Trains Weathered releases are up

[mu26aeh]

Looks like I will be at least getting the CSX car.

https://www.micro-trains.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=63_69

[ednadolski]

Wow, MT are getting pretty good at that!

Ed

[ryan_wilkerson]

My friend Ryan Slaton sent me the first attached photo about a year and a half ago and I thought it was pretty cool. I think @jpwisc will like it too
Thanks for this one and the other AWARE hopper too @Shipsure !
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[peteski]

I made a  made decal for that one but it looks like Joe beat me to the finished model.  It is funny and annoying at the same time.  I'll probably still finish my model (mine will be a Southern Pacific hopper).

[coosvalley]

I caught the sister car..

[Philip H]

I made a  made decal for that one but it looks like Joe beat me to the finished model.  It is funny and annoying at the same time.  I'll probably still finish my model (mine will be a Southern Pacific hopper).

If you do get around to printing these pm me - I'd like a set to add to my others.

[peteski]

Sure Philip.  I'll announce it on the forum once they are ready.  Originally I was going to use the same road number as the 1:1 car but I changed my mind and now I'm redoing the artwork to leave an opening where the road number is, so whatever car you are "decorating" can retain the original numbering. They are specifically designed to fit the IM Southern Pacific car.

What MT has that I don't is that fancy ink jet printer which can not only print excellent graffiti, but it can also lay down the white background on that car (Aware first prepped the entire side by rolling on a layer of white paint). Probably to cover up other "art" already on the car.   I'm so amazed how these people can do this on such a large area and remain unnoticed.   It probably took couple of gallons of white paint to cover the entire side.

[jpwisc]

My friend Ryan Slaton sent me the first attached photo about a year and a half ago and I thought it was pretty cool. I think @jpwisc will like it too

Thanks Ryan, I will be adding this one to the fleet!

[tom mann]

We need to figure out what kind of printer MT is using and then all of us do a group buy on it and it can live at my house.

[John]

What MT has that I don't is that fancy ink jet printer which can not only print excellent graffiti, but it can also lay down the white background on that car (Aware first prepped the entire side by rolling on a layer of white paint). Probably to cover up other "art" already on the car.   I'm so amazed how these people can do this on such a large area and remain unnoticed.   It probably took couple of gallons of white paint to cover the entire side.

what software are you using?

[tom mann]

I don't know what printer they have specifically, but printers capable of what they are doing are what the industry calls "direct to substrate" and around 7K on up.

[peteski]

what software are you using?

Corel Draw v10 and v12 (I have been using Corel since v3 in the '90s).

The printer, I suspoect is like Tom mentioned a direct-to-substrate ink jet which uses waterproof inks.   I'm not sure why the actual model # is such a secret - it is not like some hobbyist will buy one (they are bug bucks!)  I suspect that it has a very large bed so they can build cradles for holding multiple cars, to speed up the printing process.

Maybe @Shipsure will let us in on the secret and tall us the model # and maybe eve show us a photo if it in action.      Even knowing which printer means nothing - it is knowing how to design the artwork and know how to use the printer properly.

While I'm still not a fan of using this type of decoration fro printing entire side of a car (they don't just do graffiti or weathering anymore), they process has improved. Maybe they bought a better printer or figured out some trick to make the printout look better (with less visible rasterizing).  In the past wooden reefers were printed so the raster was perpendicular to the molded clapboards. Nowadays they print them parallel to the clapboards. That made a big difference in appearance.  The overall clear coat over the car also makes a difference. But I still prefer the crisp Tampo printing to the slightly-fuzzy ink jet printing.  But that fuzziness is what makes this type of printing ideal for weathering and graffiti.

[Chris333]

Maybe their printer is one of those deals where you buy only the license and they sell you equipment that will only work with dongles. Just pay $4000-7000 a year and we'll keep your machine working. Add a little extra for a service contract.

Seriously the service contract we have on a large Kodak laser printer is around $20,000 a year. That is just in case it breaks. Doesn't cover the cost of the machine or the renewal of the license.

[ednadolski]

it is not like some hobbyist will buy one

OTOH there is Atlas, Athearn, IM, ....

I'm sure those guys could figure something out if they really wanted, but why make it easy for them?  Alternately, perhaps the printing could be outsourced -- model manufacturers are certainly not the only potential customers for such equipment.  Like most things, I would expect to see it first in HO.
 

Ed

[peteski]

OTOH there is Atlas, Athearn, IM, ....

(I'm sure those guys could figure something out if they really wanted, but why make it easy for them?)

Ed

That seems pretty silly to me. It is not like there is no Internet which malks finding stuff like that easy.  Kato has and used similar ink jet for a while (longer than MTL).

But they might be worried that once they tell us the model number we (the modelers on TRW) can look up the specs and gripe about the poor 300 dpi print resolution on out fine N scale models. 

I'm fairly certain that MTL has the printer in-house.