Chariots of Fire

Actually the resolution is not adversely affected. In fact, as you reduce the size of the decal the imagery stays the same. That is one reason if I am making decals I start with something much larger and shrink it down by percentage. The only thing that has to be adjusted somewhat is line width. If you start with a thick line, when the image is reduced, the line thickness has to be reduced by hand to keep it in perspective. Not nearly as difficult as it may sound. For example If I am making a set of letters for the doors of a truck and the letters have an outline of a different color starting out with a thick outline while the letters are large I have to reduce the line width of the outline otherwise it overwhelms everything else. In the example above all of the lettering was done on the ALPS. Note the black outline on "MASHPEE". It is relatively thick but goes well with the size of the decal. If I shrunk it down to the size of the letters on the door, the outline black would have to be dropped down to a thin line width as you see on the "FIRE" and "RESCUE" letters. Incidentally the town seal on the door was directly imported from an on-line image and printed directly. One of those cases when the direct image was recognized by the Micrographx program. The resolution stayed perfectly clear.

I'm glad I still have an ALPS printer that works. I always print on clear decal paper. Get mine from Sunnyscopa. Not that it matters but I've had great results with this material. ALPS always needs a solid undercoat of white in order for the colors to be solid as well. Otherwise when you print without the undercoat the decal all but disappears on the model. That's because the image is simply a series of small "x" that get blended together from the four print cartridges. But the end result looks solid enough and is very crisp. I've made some very small decals for 1/87 scale vehicles and they are very clear and readable. I've also copied images from internet files into my graphics program for use in emergency vehicle decals. Sometimes the images are such that I can print them directly and with very exceptional results. Other times, the image includes a background that cannot be deleted so the image has to be redrawn separately for printing. Just my experiences over the years with an old ALPS MD1300 and a Micrographx vector based drawing program that has to be more than 20 years old by now. They both still work with my old Windows XP computer. Micrographx was bought out by Corel, I believe several years ago.

Ditto!!

Ya gotcha work cut out for ya!!??

Nice job on the console! Nice bright yellow, too!

Thanks, Warren. Having a little difficulty getting the right color for my Cat D-8.

What did you use for the color coat?

Not so much I think. The M-20 was designed to haul tanks so I don't know that the D-7 (not the D-8) will be any heavier. The D-7 kit has arrived in the US. Just waiting for it to clear NYC.

FINALLY! The other side is done. I don't know what happened during the casting process, whether one side of the AMT kit is shorter than the other or not but the second set of tracks has one less plate in it than the original side. If I put the additional plate in, the tracks are way too loose. So if nobody counts, they won't know the difference (except that I have now told you all). ? So here's what they look like on a partially built up AMT D-8. The kit was one I bought at a show and some of the parts were already together so rather than pull out another kit I decided to do up this one with some additional scratch building along the way.

Those tanks are so much bigger than the one I built. In a way I'm glad I didn't have to deal with parting lines and joints where the two halves come together. However, I'll bet the same technique could be used to scratch build one of the larger ones as well.

You got that right, Steve! A very slooowww process indeed! I will put them away for a rainy day project!?

Got one side completed! There are 44 separate pads and links on just the one side with 45 connecting pins. They fit the D-8 sprockets quite well. I ground down the drive sprocket just a bit so that the pins fit into the notches better. Not to get the other side done!!? Silver tracks are from the AMT kit. White ones are mine. I'm happy with the results.

I like it! Nice color combo!

That is BIG!! Nice work going on there, Warren!

Thanks for the info, Paul. I will keep it for reference. Just made a new piece of the sprocket for the final drive. Will cast it up in several pieces to get the right thickness. I'm finding more and more about the D-8 that is nowhere near like the D-7!

Hey, Brian. I have been accused in times past of having a shrink ray machine. However the truth is I have gnomes who work for me under the table!?

Renshape comes in various grades. I use 440 grade (7000 now I believe). It is the least expensive yet retains sufficient strength and durability for working. You can find references to it on line. Not cheap BTW. But they do make samples that are reasonable enough.

With 3D just about anything can be printed nowdays! I haven't reached the 3D plateau yet except to order some 3D parts from someone who does that sort of thing.

You are right Russell. Just a bit off on the location of the connection holes and the result is a curve. I noticed that in what I am doing since each link is cast from the same mold. Fortunately this can be corrected by a bit of cleanup of the holes where the connecting pin goes. (Hope I don't get fired!)

Thanks, Bob! I'm just a glutton for punishment, I guess! So far I have 22 tracks done of the 36 or so that I need for one side. Also ran out of casting resin so more is on the way.

Looks like I'm pretty close on the workup of the tracks. I may have to tweak the sprocket drive a bit but other than that they will fit just fine. $60 is not bad.

Don't forget the old Floquil paints for railroad modeling. Some of the best paint ever!

Hey, Bob. Two versions in the photo. The larger one is 1/35 scale and there is a second one at 1/72 scale beside it with British markings. I made the small one and still have the 1/35 scale one to do if I can convince myself to betray 1/25 scale building for a while!!? It was done by Merit International. The kit is exceptional in quality with MANY parts!

Thanks, Greg. I have a load already in progress. They carried D-7 bulldozers during the Red Ball times. Will be using the AMT Cat D-8 to start with but the tracks are being done over "as we speak".

This will probably be the one and only. I know there are some 3D printed ones out there but they are big $$$!