Sunday, March 28, 2010

Masking Tape Manufacturers....be Damned!!!

It's been a productive week in the spray booth with lots a paint flowing, mostly on the models. I've painted about 20 or so wagons in NSWGR Gunmetal Grey which I'm quite happy with and another 20 or so waiting their turn. So then it will be decal time. From what I've seen there seems to be 2 types of font used for goods wagon codes and numbers in the '30's, one a standard Arial looking font and the other a stenciled version. I'll have to consult with the Learned Ones at the "Early Days" convention in May as to what this means and what the balance would be in terms of how many wagons were lettered in each type of font.
Anyway, this is not the point of the post.
Here I am, painting the refrigerator cars as mentioned in a previous post, and all is going swimmingly. Fairly quickly, 8 cars are in startling gloss white with masking tape being applied to a BRC, 2x MRC's and 2 x SRC's. I used up some old tape I had on the SRC's and MRC's and then some new tape on the BRC.
Then I left them for a couple of days and came back and sprayed some Floquil Grimy Black over the roofs and under frames. It was hot those days so temperatures at Picton would have been not particularly pleasant.
Then I took the masking tape off..........
The BRC was fine but on the others, half the gum from the masking tape stayed on the wagons. Expletive, Expletive, Expletive!!!
I managed to get it off with some Meths but not without ruining the white paint and also damaging a fair amount of detail on one of the MRC's. So back to the workshop for repairs on the MRC and back to paint shop for the others.
I fixed the MRC during the week and painted them all today so I'm back where I started from. I should be applying decals this week and doing some weathering with some photo's to follow.
The lesson here is don't use old masking tape if you want to avoid anger management classes.

11 comments:

  1. Rob, firstly what brand of tape did you use on the successful paintwork? And sorry to hear about the failed attempts, there is nothing more frustrating when you've nearly finished, when the goal line is in sight to have Bloody Murphy remind us of the law modellers despise!

    All going to plan, with a little bit of careful planning I may with some degree of certainty be at the 'Early Days convention. We've some friends in Hornsby and Helen would love an opportunity to catch up. So we'll see.

    Some photos of the paintwork would be great, when you get a sec.

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  2. OK the above post is mine Rob, my son Zac was signed in. You've gotta love the 'communal' computer, so yep, as above, just a different poster this time!

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  3. Hey Geoff, The successfull tape was 3M, I've got no idea about the failed tape. I suspect age may have something to do with it and the warm temperature. Hope you can get down to the Early Days and we can have a bit of a chat. Elscotto will be there as well.....we both never miss it.

    Rob

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  4. Rob,
    Why not go to a hobby shop and look for the Tamiya masking tape? It is lower tack, but designed for use by those painting aircraft. Also praised by those who paint 1:35 scale AFVs into German WW2 three colour schemes and the like!

    As such, I suspect it would be ideal for use with refrigerator cars and the like. Available in different widths too.

    regards,

    Craig W

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  5. Aaaah yes Craig,
    Here in lies the crux of the problem. Basically I'm a cheap bastard who doesn't like to waste things. So I've paid the penalty for my cheapness. Anyway, you're right, you have to use the right tools to do the job right so next time I'm at the hobby shop, I'll pick up some Tsmiya Tape.
    Thanks,
    Rob

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  6. Gday Rob,

    I just stumbled across your blog. I am also building Picton, circa 1955. I was wondering if you had any plans/info on the row of houses that reside on Campbell st as well as what the loading dock at the beginning of the up station platform was used for?
    All the stuff I recieved form the Historical Society doesn't really explain it.

    Look forward to seeing more pictures!

    Regards

    Linton

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  7. Hi Linton,
    Great to see someone else doing Picton and I'd be interested to see how you go about it. Sorry, I can't help much about the houses aside from there are a number of photo's where you can get glimpses of the the buildings. My layout will be viewed as if you were standing in Campbell St so I wasn't going to be modelling it. As far as the usage of the Up dock goes, I'm not sure but I suspect it was used to store carriages that were taken off some of the Down trains for reattaching to the corresponding Up service. There's a photo in about 1935 of a 32 on what looks to be the Southern Highlands Express with a Redfern car sitting in the dock. Now this would be also late for a Redfern Car to be in revenue service so it could also be a Way and Works Rest Van or tool van for the Per Way gang on the Down side.
    Let me know what you can find out and I'll do some digging as well.
    Cheers,
    Rob

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  8. G day Rob,

    Yeah it is good someone else is building Picton! As your modelling from the opposite side to me, it will be good to see the differences in the two approaches.
    The only real information on the loading dock I have been able to find is that it was used to store an open wagon of coal for the station building. The length of the head shunt was very short so I am guessing nothing to major was stored in there.
    My layout will be in the form of a dog bone with the return loops stacked on top of each other positioned on the other side of the train room. The main part of the layout is ten meters long but that may expand slightly. So far I have most of the track laid on the main station, loco area. The turntable has been installed but I still have to cut all the ash and inspection pits out. I have been building it for around one and half years. I don't do things very quickly. Hopefully one day it will be able to attend an exhibition. If my progress rate remains the same it should make an appearance around 2050!

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  9. Linton,
    Any chance of getting a blog or website going to see how you're going? You've got a lot more space to work with than I have as mine is a 6m x 6m garage. The station will be one wall with the goods yard and engine shed on the next. I'll get around to drawing the track plan in some CAD programme one day but at the moment it's on pencil and paper. By the way I like your chosen era too. I was once going to model the late '40's ear;y '50's but got hooked on the '30's instead. Interesting about the coal truck in the Up dock, certain;y adds more operating interest.

    Cheers,
    Rob

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  10. G day Rob.

    I started a Blog. I am not very good at it so it's a little rough. My user thing is Linton78 and the blog name is Stonequarry Creek. How your layout going?

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