Painting
The first step consists of disassembling the wagon. In the two years of building this wagon, there are a lot of parts. There are no markings on the parts, but some will only fit in a certain position and all the others parts are interchangeable. So figuring out where which part should be mounted during the final assembly is possible.
All parts are degreased with thinner, paper towels and compressed air.
A red oxide steel 1k primer is applied by brush to all backsides of parts that come in contact with others, once assembled. (So if water should get trapped between the parts, there is a protective coat of paint).
The inside parts that are glued are also given a protective coat of paint.
The underside has three coats of black gloss paint. Between each layer, the paint is rubbed down with sandpaper, to get a reasonable smooth surface. This way, I hope, the underside is easier to clean, after a days running on the track.
All the metal parts are screwed to the body and given a coat of primer as well, so that I'm sure that all corners are covered.
Masking cardboard is applied, so the third coat of paint could be applied with a small airbrush.
(only to find out that I could have used the airbrush earlier in the process of painting; it works quicker, is easier to clean and.....no brush hairs in the paint 😑)
On photos in the book of "Painting German goods wagons", I noticed that the inside of the brakeman's cabin is gray.
For all the metal parts of the frame (running gear), I've used the Sigma Cover 280 primer. This 2K primer gives a very good adhesion to the metal and is a very good protection to the wear and tear on a live steam model railway. I still had some left from painting the locomotive.
The small parts of the brake rigging were hooked up in a chain, with a weight at the end.
This works quicker during the paint spraying, than spraying each part individual. The weight prevents the small parts to be blown away from the paint spray gun.
The leaf springs in a coat of primer. Between the blades there is still the Dinitrol ML, anti rust coating
The subframes are sprayed as one assembly.
Health and safety during painting; also a good protection against Corona-Covid19 virus I think 😊.
The bearing blocks had to be sprayed in two sessions.
The mainframes are also sprayed in two sessions; so every odd corner could be reached with the spray gun. After the primer coat, all these parts were coated with a semi gloss (satin) 1k alkyd paint, from a DIY store. This because it works fine on a wagon and............the 2K paint I still have left from painting my T3 loco in 2017 is still ok; but not the hardener. This has turned solid and can not be used😕.
Lettering
Lettering on German wagons is a science in its own way. Although there is a standard, every region has its own exceptions to the general rules laid down by the "Eisenbahn Verwaltung". But fortunately there are good books and websites available that provide a lot of very detailed information.
Everything is laid down in rules, drawings and guidelines. From letter font, letter size and position on the wagon, and which information should be on the wagon. These rules differ also according the period of time in which the wagon was in service and by which federal state.
The font I had to use (pre WWI and in operation of the Württembergische Staatseisenbahn) is
TGL 0-1451 Engschrift. All the lettering was drawn in Solidworks and saved as DXF, so it could be imported into the Silhouette Software.
I've finally come to use our Silhouette plotter
I bought this cutting plotter together with my son Martin and our friend Joris, to share the costs, back in 2017 at a model engineering exhibition in Dortmund . They already have made some beautiful 5" wagons, with lovely lettering; I'm totaly new to this.
The Silhouette Portrait is a simple desktop cutter that is easy to set-up and operate.
The software is quite self explaining, and I got some support from Martin and Joris.
After cutting the vinyl foil it has to be transferred to a carrier, that can be applied to the part were the letters have to go.
This a a painstaking business. Not only have the letters to be in the correct position, but they also have to be straight and correctly spaced.
The original foil is very thin (0.06mm), but it would not stick to the semi matt woodwork. So I decided to use a slightly thicker foil (0.1mm), that has a little stronger adhesive on the back side. But that posed the problem that the original transfer foil was not strong enough to lift the letters from their backing paper, once cut. So I've used painting tape. It works, but each individual letter has to be hold down on the woodwork, while peeling of the tape.
A bit cumbersome, but an acceptable result. Especially if you look from a distance....
In close-up you'll see that the letters are not perfectly straight cut. Due to the thicker foil, the cutting knife will not rotate as quick.
These 4 mm letters were to small to be applied by transfer tape. They would not stick enough to the background (woodwork). So they were put on individually, letter by letter.
Working so close to the work, I sometimes had to ask my wife to check if the words and letters were still straight.
Not only on the body work there is lettering, but also on the frames. This makes identifying the wagon possible, even when the side boards were removed. (Deutsche gründlichkeit; German precision)
A special sticker was needed for the tonnage symbol. This special shaped symbol indicates that the maximum load for this wagon is 15 metric tons. This way, even from a distance it was visible which category of wagon load could be loaded. (different tonnages had different shapes).
This is a black logo on an white background. Therefore I've cut two separate parts. A white background and a black foreground.
This is the thin black foil, attached to transparent transfer tape. In this case the black foil sticks perfectly to the transfer tape, and it is possible to get the two cuttings perfectly matched.
After almost three days the last letters on the wagon.
A transparent coat of varnish is sprayed over the body,
to protect the lettering and sealing them to the paintwork.
(The gauge 1 Märklin model is another guide line for lettering)
(The gauge 1 Märklin model is another guide line for lettering)
All the lettering in Solidworks.