Scottish Wagon Works

Hi all, firstly an appology for my recent abscence, John Duffy and myself have set up a joint venture to make wagons we want and not currently available from the modelling community, and between that, and the number of spam accounts we keep getting my free time for the forum has been limited.

I've known John for almost 40 years, but lost touch over the years. Then a chance meeting at the Dundee show, and a few coffee's later the idea of the Scottish Wagon Works was born.

Up until the Dundee Show, John had dismissed the idea of 3D printed models as too coarse, that was until he saw what resin printing was able to do. Until now he'd used and produced his own laser cut models. In his own words, OK for the odd wagon but when you need them by the dozen it's off putting.

John Duffy's wagon build

Back to the coffee's, initially we tried to solve the ill's of the world and other trivial issues, and generally decided that if more people modelled railways then a lot of the issues would be solved - simples. Now the more pressing issue of why we can't get the wagons we need. The answer being just do it ourselves.

Problem Number 1 - nobody makes the typical Scottish Pre-grouped PO wagon, uniquely with cupboard dors rather than drop doors. A big issue for most pre-grouped modellers except the Highland, as PO wagons were rare, there were some but not many. For modellers other than HR modellers (I have difficulty in seeing why anyone would not model the HR) the number of PO wagons equaled or outnumbered the number of company wagons.

Problem Number 2 - To produce a 3D model for printing you need to use 3D modelling software, for Laser cut models 2D software is used. Both have steep learing curves, and not a lot in common.
There are a few of us here have experienced this and can empathise with John's concerns.
I'm kinda glad coffee was involved in these discussions and not Alcohol, as God only knows what we may have committed ourselves to.

The plan was for me to guide John through the build process of a L&Y 20ft wagon, fortunately that one is sitting on the back burner as the brake gear would give even Mossy nightmares. So a simpler wagon was decided upon, John chose a 4 plank wagon and I the R Y Pickering 15ft 9ft wb fixed end 5 plank open. It did have Morton brakes, but you can't have everything.
John already had the drawings as part of the Caledonian Railway Association Drawing archives, so this seemed like a good start.

Progress on the 5 plank was fairly swift, but several bits were redone for future adaptation - some of which worked and others didn't



So I was aimed at the next model on the wanted list (thankfully not the L&Y 20T), the R Y Pickering 16ft, 9ft WB End door 5 plank open.
The idea to was to use as many common parts as possible - there were some ish



Now these are of as 3D models, but what about actual wagons we could run.......

Over the last few years I've learned a few lessons from the school of hard knocks.
And now print the Body separate from the floor, and incorporate locating blocks on the solebar to align the W irons.



The two cross beams not only support the floor, but help align the brake assembly. The beauty of that is, the wagon as built only had brakes on one side, but later upgraded to brakes on both, so we can easily do the same as both assemblies are kept aligned when installing.

After a few test prints we had an acceptable model, and this is where the coffee started to work overtime, John had taken the test print to show at a friends house for feedback ,

can you make a 4mm one.

erm ....... yes

The Glasgow show was now looming, and we were asked if we could supply a couple of examples for the HR Soc and Caley Association to display on thier stands, and can you supply these for other modellers, the Scottish Wagon Works was born.

The headaches were only just starting, PO wagons need letterting, my handwriting is abysmal, but better than my painting / signwriting skils, how we going to letter these wagons.
We looked at custom transfers as John had done before, but the price was off putting, after much research and costing, we decided (well the boss allowed me to purchase) a white toner printer.

So we can now make our own transfers

To be continued .....

 

The two above photo's were a couple of test prints to test the printer as were having print issues with the toner not sticking in places, and marks appearing in the paper.
Eventually traced to a faulty Fuser roller, an issue the technician hadn't seen before. Replacement fuser unit sent out and we are now gooking by gas light.

John has been up to his neck creating the website and artwork for the transfers, created from original photographs or by commission.
This one is for the 16ft 5 plank end door wagon


Not long after the site went live, we got a request, can you do these in Gauge 3, erm ....... it turns out we can, and did supply to order a wagon, and since that I'm now working on a Gauge 1 version - I wish they'd make thier mind up if its 10mm/ft or 1:32nd scale, so 3D models for each were made up until we find out the final order.

Slowly I'm adding my Highland stock to the range, but also starting on the 7 plank open - lots of varieties, Fixed ends, Open end, Cupboard doors, drop doors and no side doors. R Y Pickering versions of each, then Hurst Nelson, just wish they used standard plank sizes as it changes all the bolt positions on the strapping.

One of John's builds



And



Paul

 

Well you asked .........

Your normal printer relies on printing on a white surface for the colours to appear correct.
Unfortunately, most of the printer inks / toner are translucent so the base colour will show through.
A search online will throw up two types of waterslide transfer papers, clear and white . Available for both inkjet and laser printers - both types are not interchangeable.
These allow you to print colour just like a normal print, if the model is white then you can use the clear transfer paper, if the model is coloured then you'll probably have to use the white transfer paper and cut out the transfers from the paper.

A white toner printer adds a white toner cartridge, the cheaper ones replace Black toner with a White toner cartridge, and use the Cyan, Yellow and Magenta to create the black. I say cheaper with much trepidation, by cheaper I mean sub £10K, the dearer ones add an additional White Cartridge to the existing CYMK set.

I have seen DIY conversions of mono printers to white only printers by refilling a cleaned out black toner cartridge with white toner. I did consider this, but white toner since early 2020 has been very difficult to get.

Now there are two method of printing, Underprinting and Overprinting.
Underprinting is where the white is printed first, and the subsequent colours are printed on top.
Overprinting is where the the colours are printed first and the white is printed over the coloured prints.

Most White toner printers are Overprinters, as the main application of white toner printers is for Tee shirt production, the image is printed in reverse, then heat transfered to the garment. The Black toner is swapped out for a White toner, so becomes a CMYW printer

However we require the image printed the correct way round with the white as the base layer and the colours on top - Underprinting, this requires the white toner to be first, with the CMY toners applied after.

You can use a CMYW printer to give an underprinted result by doing two passes, a white only layer, then reinsert the paper and now print colours, it does mean you could reinsert the black for a better black, however you are reliant on the paper being reinserted in exactly the same position or registration errors can creep in.

The printer we have is capable of both Under and Over printing. In standard print mode the toners are ordered CMYK, in overprint mode the toners are ordered CMYW and in Underprint mode they are WMYC. In standard print mode the printer is used as per any other printer, however for white toner printing a proprietory RIP software is used to remap the colours to suit the toner cartridge placement and mode required. The software was included with the printer, but purchased on its own is about half the cost of the printer.

As seen from John's George Loftus wagon above, and the Black Isle transfers below, we can use any colour we can print.



Suppose I'd better get back to work.

Paul

 

Hi Jim

Now this like most computer aided modelling is a two stage process.

1. Create the artwork - John's department.
He creates the artwork from photo's then adds drop shadows etc.
Then adjusts the letter placements to suit the model.
The background needs to be transparent.
Then sends me the files as either a .PNG or .PSD file along with the actual size of the image. We have had issues where the image has resized.

2. My bit, I import the file into the iColorProRip software



Now the software has a lot of tweakability - and may take me years to findout all the implications.

Now I compare the imported image size with the dimention it's supposed to be. As we are concentrating on the larger scales, the original artwork is created for Gauge 3, I then resize the file to suit the final transfer size.
This is done within the Job section in the lower right. Gauge 3 to O Gauge is 51.95%
Also check that everything that should be showing is showing in the preview window - I have had numbers missing or artifacts / layers that should be hidden showing up in the preview, and if its in or missing in the preview theprint will show it.



Then see how many copies will fit onto the sheet.

Clicking on the page tab - basically defines the paper



Any paper thicker than 165 gsm, needs to be loaded into the Bypass tray.

The Que tab shows the paper profile, for water slide transfers the recommended setting is Uninet IColor Aqua Clear



The colour Adjust button allows tweaks to be made to the colour balance



I've not needed to adjust this - yet, however the Processing option is worth a look.



The coverage % is the amount of white toner applied. Default is 280, max recommended setting is 300. We are getting good results with 220, but for transfers onto dark surfaces we may need to up the value.

Choke is interesting, this allows you to reduce the size of the white printed area, so if you were doing a multipass print you may decide to increase the value so as to mask any registration issues. As we underprint and do only one pass this is set to ) none.

It's now time to print



It can be difficult to see the white only transfers on the paper, but even more difficult if the backing paper is white
The process is actually quite straight forward, we had some difficulty at first as the fuser was faulty, and gave strange inconsistant print results, but working with the supplier the issue was resolved, and now its straight forward.

Paul

 

Hi Rob

The Uninet iColor 540, which is based on a Ricoh printer.



I think the sole importer for the UK is Amaya.

Apparently there is a Gold toner available, only £850 +vat, think that one will have to wait.

In the States the iColor560 is avaiable, looks more modern, toner capacity is approx twice that of the 540, but has less memory and a slower processor, so I decided to go with the 540.

 

Hi Andy

The Can you question is very probably ......., if you go through the website is probably the best way to get in direct contact with John (he's the management, PR and arty side, I'm more the manufacturing side).

Personally, once the fuser issue was traced and resolved, I have been really impressed, I was impressed with the transfers before the issue was resplved, but they wern't consistant to be able to use. Not being a great transfer user that's not a great endorsement.

However John does use them a lot, and even when we were having the issues his comment was these are amongst the best he's ever used.

Application method used below

Apply gloss varnish to painted wagon to give a smooth even gloss finish for the transfer to stick to.
Cut out transfer from sheet - for best results trim close to the transfer edge
Soak in water for approx 30 sec until transfer starts to slide on the backing paper
Apply to the model - Microset will help in the adjustment and adhering the transfer - but not is not required.
Leave the transfer a few hours to set / dry, then apply Microsol to soften the transfer and let it meld into the panel - see CHARELES STARK lettering how the transfer looks painted on to the model rather than stuck on top. This can take several applications to get the final result, but worth it.
Finally apply a coat of gloss varnish to help the transfer edge disappear.

While you have a gloss finish now is the time to apply a Pin wash if required, then apply the matt coat to allow weathering powders etc to adhere better before applying your final finish coat.



As these are toner based, the transfers don't need sealing before application unlike ink based transfer which do need to be sealed.

And yes Jim Ouch was probably one of the politer adjactives used, but not as bad as the price for a 5 colour laser printer - It can also print upto A3, but at £11,950 Morag reckoned a Divorce lawer would be cheaper, - warning heeded

Payback - hopefully we will have covered all our costs before the white toner cartridge runs out, but if only used for my personal use, and based on using HMRS Scottish Pre-grouped transfer sheet (I only get 4 HR wagons per sheet for the period I use) then I would break even at approx 550 wagons - better buy in more resin looks like I'm going to need it.

A big advantage of going down the laser route rather than inkjet, Alps or Dye sublimation route, is the laser can sit for long periods of time inactive, then spring back into life. The others need constant cleaning and usage to stop heads lines etc from clogging up.

Paul