Birney Project ~ Stickin' On the Stickers

Now that the Decals are made, it's time to stick 'em on.

Before anything else, seal the decals with a spray coat so the ink won't smear in the application process. Folks use clear Krylon, Dullcote, etc. Since the Birney is painted with Scalecoat paint, I sealed the decals by spraying them with Scalecoat Gloss. Let dry 24 hours.

It has been a while since I applied decals to a model, let alone decals with pin striping and that need such precision placement as these do. So, to gain some confidence I'm going take some decals that didn't print out all that well when I was trying out different settings on my printer, and use them to practice with.

Shown above is my handy "big ol' hunk of iron" that comes in very handy as a weight for various things. As you can see, I even used it to try out my SDERy Mission Yellow recipe on before I applied it to the model. Now its a perfect candidate to try the decals on! I'm using Microscales Micro Set and Micro Sol to help with the application proccess. Micro Set helps set the decals in place and Micro Sol softens the decals so that they will conform to irregular surfaces such as brick detail, plank detail, or in my case... rivets. The bottom decal was applied first. I was very pleased with it until I discovered that while smoothing it out, I had also stretched it to about 125% of its original size! Thinking I'm not supposed to smooth it out, I applied the second (top) decal and just let it dry on its own, thinking it will just tighten up and lay flat. But no, even though it didn't stretch as bad, its all wiggly. So I sent a frantic email to my good friend and fantastic modeler, Don Ball. He told me his technique for applying decals, which I followed very carefully. Turns out, I was not only using too much Set and Sol, I was using WAY TOO MUCH Set and Sol.

Following Don's instructions, I first dipped the decal into clean drinking water and set it aside to let the moisture from it loosen the decal. While that was happening, I took a much smaller brush this time and applied just enough Micro Sol to moisten the surface of the area of the car to be decaled. The decal was then slid off its backing right on to the moist, slippery surface. I used the brush sparingly dipped in Micro Set again to help position and smooth out the decal., using a small piece of tissue to blot up any excess. Once the decal is in place, I let it dry completely!

Now that everything is dry and stuck in place but good, now I can apply the Micro Sol (the hot stuff, that's why the bottle is red). But only to where its needed! In my case, right over the rivets. I applied small amounts over the rivets and let it soften things a little, using the brush to help conform the decal around the rivets. Not too much though, don't want to rip the decal. Let it dry!

Keep repeating: Moisten with Micro Sol only where needed, nudge, and let dry, as many times nessessary until desired results are achieved. When everything is in place and perfectly dry, I seal the decals by spraying the car with gloss coat.

For the dash signs, I cut some shim brass to size. I wanted to use styrene, but it don't come that thin. I painted the sign the trim brown color. After it was dry, I applied the decals to it and sealed them with gloss. Later I will glue it to the front of the car, after the weathering is done.

It's always amazing to me what a difference lettering and striping makes to a model. I think its looking sharp in its new pin striped suit. Yessir! Lookin' real sharp in it's new pinstriped suit!

Dandy

Birney Project ~ Painting Brass Models

Before I commit paint to brass, I'm going to experiment a little. I started by making some guesses as to what color paints to mix to achieve SDERy "Mission Yellow".

This is a page from my notebook. I masked off a grid and airbrushed some paint samples to see what color these paints really are (Scalecoats color guide is a three color process that uses color inks from the printer and not actual Scalecoat paint). I'm really liking Scalecoats Erie Lackawanna Yellow (but read on!!!).

First, to prep the model, I soaked it for 15 minutes in vinegar. Vinegar will not only chemically clean the brass but will also micro-etch it to give it some tooth for the paint to stick to. Then rinse and dry.

Inspired by this photo of an actual Birney interior, I have decided to paint mine similarly.

Floquil makes a nice tan color, so I used that for the interior (can you guess what color tan I used? Answer). Floquil and Scalecoat don't mix, so Floquil will be used exclusively for the interior and Scalecoat exclusively for the exterior.
Edit: I have since discovered that San Diego Birneys had green interiors. Live and learn. Yessir! Live and learn.

After the paint dried thoroughly I masked off the entire interior. Say goodbye to bare brass! Its off to the paint shop.

Following Scalecoats "Recommended Steps for Application", I airbrushed the paint on and then "baked" the model at 175 degrees for 2 hours. This will make the paint really shine! I used this old toaster oven that I kept for just such an occasion.

Whoa! Way too lemony yellow! Lackawanna yellow looks very different on brass than it did in my notebook. Back to the drawing board, or, paint booth.

I need a much more of a golden yellow color. After trying a few things, I'm going to give chip #6 (center, right) a go: 1 part C&NW Yellow, 1 part SP Daylight Orange. I'll also give Boxcar Red (top left) a go for the Mahogany trim color. The bottom row is my explorations for the roof color. I eventually used all the colors: 10 parts white, 5 parts C&NW Yellow, 5 parts SP Daylight Orange, 1 part Boxcar Red (in other words, 10 parts SDERy Yellow, 1 part SDERy Brown, and then lightened that considerably with an equal amount of white).

Much better. I got so involved with the painting process that I forgot to take pictures of the fancy masking I had to do for the brown trim, sorry. Practically to whole model was masked except for the doors and window frames! Tiny strips of masking tape had to be cut and placed between each of the windows. I laid the masking tape on a piece of glass and used a straight edge and Xacto to cut it into the strips.
This yellow color seems to be pretty darn close (considering I have never personally seen SDERy Yellow!!!). I think it needs to be darker. Or maybe slightly more orange? Oh I don't know! At least it's well within the ballpark. Yessir! Well within the ballpark!

Dandy

Birney Project ~ Painting and Detailing the Seats

Now that the seat assemblies for the Birney are built, it’s time to paint and detail them.

The trim color on SDERy equipment is brown, so I’m going to try out Scalecoat Roof Brown on the seats to see if it’s a good color for the trim.

Scalecoat is a high gloss paint, great for decals, not so much for seats. So I weathered the seats with some weathering chalk and then sprayed the seats with Testors Dullcoat to kill the shine. The seats on the left are freshly painted with Scalecoat, the seats on the right have been weathered and sprayed. After they have dried thoroughly, I can glue the figures in place.

I had to cut and file the feet off of the figures, not a natural thing to do! I also had to file some of the material off of their butts to get them to seat properly. None of this will been seen when the figures are riding in the trolley.

Once the figures are seated properly, I super glued them into place. The motorman I was able to leave fully intact since he sits higher and doesn’t have to deal with the mounting bar. Which is good because he is fully visible through the doors.

There! How’s that! Don’t quite notice the motor as much, hmmm? Yessir! Don’t quite notice the motor as much!

Dandy