New brass Milwaukee Bipolar EP-2 clinic- part 2

[u18b]

Exquisite!

Another (much more involved) way to protect that beautiful plate would be to mill out a recess in the top of the box to make the name plate sit flush or slightly below the wood surface.  That should be done before staining and clear lacquer.

Great idea.... but yikes!
You are well above my pay grade now.

[peteski]

Great idea.... but yikes!
You are well above my pay grade now.

LOL!
I suppose that a low-tech approach could also work: prop the inside of the lid's top panel with a block of wood, then use a chisel and a mallet to carefully carve out the area.

I also had plans for using that identical box for one of my projects.  For decoration I was planning on printing a metallic gold decal on my Alps printer, apply it to the lid and then seal it with several coats of urethane clear.

[u18b]

I like your idea of a decal.

Hmmmm.  A silver oval Hiawatha might look good.
 

[peteski]

I like your idea of a decal.

Hmmmm.  A silver oval Hiawatha might look good.
 

I can just see the gears inside your head cranking! 

Mo other idea (well, actually a copy) woudl be to glue inside the lid a sheet of paper with a write-up about the model.  I have seen this done in wooden boxes of sets like Minitrix  (Model Power) Krocodile, Der Adler and couple of others.

[u18b]

Had some time off and got some airbrushing done.

I added a light coating of gray primer so the the orange will be truer.  I'll use the gray primer next time.




And then painted the orange. 

[u18b]

Next week, I plan to get some more painting done.

Black will be easy.

The hard part is the masking for the maroon.

This post is research.
The bottom line is.... I want to be prototypical, but the step at the nose is a problem.  The real railroad could just unbolt it- I cant.

So I'm studying photos to see something to go by.
These five shots help- and show the problems.

Here is E-1.
Notice that the top edge of the maroon comes up to the bottom of the hatch hinges on the side.
What this does is allow the step to be maroon.  The separation is ABOVE the step.



Here is E-2.

Notice the separation is just a LITTLE lower.  The separation goes right to the very edge of the step.



And E-3.
Different yet again!  Separation is a little LOWER.  This time it appears to be exactly halway between the hatch hinges and the side railing.
And in this spot is goes right into the MIDDLE of the step.



E-4 is higher.  Like E-1, the red goes up to the bottom edge of the hinges.


And E5 is the LOWEST of all!
The separation look LESS than half way between the railing and the hinges.
Furthermore, look at how the painters fudged the nose!!  Hahaha.
Unless, my eyes are playing tricks on me, it looks like they angled everything DOWN slightly on the nose so that the separation goes totally UNDER the step.


What I'm going to do later is try to take some good side shots of my model to get an idea of what might work.

I then have to make a decision of whether to go very prototypical per road number, or just pick a variation that works and go with it for all.

[peteski]

I assume you are talking about those things on the nose. Most of those photos show the steps (platforms really) being in the maroon area.  That should not be a problem painting.

I would first spray the orange paint and mask whatever stays orange.  Since orange is slightly above the steps (or right at their top) masking is not a problem. Roughly mask the maroon area (since the orange mask is already protecting the orange area, and spray black.  Peel off the tape masking areas which will be maroon and now roughly mask the black (again since the orange mask is still in place). Spray maroon, then remove all the masking. Presto, the shell is painted!

[u18b]

OK.  All this was helpful.

If you look at the 5 photos above, you will see that the black is not consistent either.

On E-2 and E-4, the black goes practically right up to the bottom of the window.
But E-3 and E-5 clearly have the black lower.

So I took a side-on shot of my model and the decision is fairly easy.
If I go too low with the black, I will hit that grabiron.
If I go too low with the maroon, I'll run into the step.
This way will make masking much easier.



So my plan is the following.
For black (painted next), I'll mask right up to the bottom of the window.
And then on the body, mask to the bottom edge of the etched hinges.
The rest will be square with that line on the nose and rear end.


For the maroon, I'll just mask to the rivet line- which is only an N scale inch or two above the highest loco.
But this will be an easy line to follow on the body.
This also will take me (mostly) right OVER the steps on the nose.

Glad to have that decided.

More painting next week.

[u18b]

Also, some decals just arrived.

Micro Scale 60-53 is the Milwaukee set for Cab Diesels like E and F units.
Most of this I don't need, but what it does have is the black pin-striping and the semicircles for the nose.
It will take all of them for an EP-2, so if I mess up, I'll need another sheet.

The box heralds might be useful for other schemes.
So this sheet is a help and not a waste.

So I also now need to finish up the custom decals I am drawing to have made.
This includes the THE MILWAUKEE ROAD herald.

Alas, these decals are not correct for an EP-2.
These are maroon.
I need gold with black edges.

[u18b]

Oops.
Forgot to mention the BOTTOM edge of the maroon.

The step at the cab is the most distinctive marker.

[u18b]

Spent several hours working on fonts.
Getting closer.



Commentary:

This is just a quick test shot to focus on the SHAPE of the fonts.  Sizes don't matter.

For example, the letters in THE MILWAUKEE ROAD will not all be the same size.  THE and ROAD are actually smaller.  When they are reduced, they will look better.     As a specific example, the R looks too heavy.  But remember that these letters were draw straight from a photo.
This photo.



Also, I know that the spacing of the letters is not perfect.  Once again, this is not really problem.  Rather than spending hours upon hours (yes, there is a LOT of trial and error), instead, Corel Draw can adjust these letters with the greatest of ease.

[u18b]

I decided to get out my ready to run painted unit.
Wow.  The paint job was really poor.

Anyway, I notice a couple of things.

1.  Kumata made the same decision I did.  The separation between orange and black is at the rivet line.
2.  Those herald decals look much too large.  Further, the last E should not be hidden under the railing.  Milw Rd stretched out that last E so it would fit.
3.  And further, the THE and ROAD are the same size as MILWAUKEE, but the railroad made these letters smaller.




Since the maroon section is a tiny bit on the wide side, I realized I would have to make my nose curves just a tiny big bigger.  These are pretty close.
I further decided to cover my bases and print three sizes for all eventualities.



Here is a draft of my decal (on paper).  Looks a lot better. 
Although that R does not look just right.  I'll do more checking.  It appears correct above- the problem appears to be in the printing.




The front/road number decal will look good.



Wow- that is bad.   Those blobs are supposed to say DANGER 3000 VOLTS.


Mine looks better.

[u18b]

Well, after about 2 days work, I think I'm about ready to send the work off to be test printed.

[Mike C]

That paint job is pretty bad !  I'm assuming you're going to strip it sometime ?  Your paint on the first loco was MUCH better !

[u18b]

Mike, you aren't kidding.
It's pretty bad--- though worse under macro photos- better from a distance.

Yes, I'll eventually strip this one.
This one will be a back-up in case I have some problems with the others.

This one had all kinds of problems.
But rather than complain, I'll just make lemonade.

I'll end up with something good when all said and done.

But that will be along time form now.