Lasers The laser earned its stripes this weekend

Working on an N Scale Little Joe (3D printed) for my dad, thought I'd paint and decal over the weekend. I've done inkjet decals before, never had a problem until this weekend:


Gross! No way that's working. I tried three different print settings hoping that maybe it was draft mode or photo mode or whatever mode doing something wrong but they all came out like garbage. This Joe is for my dad's birthday so it's not like I had all the time in the world to order some custom decals from Circus City or elsewhere. I have a deadline... so thinking... and thinking... what can I do?

I hatched a harebrained idea - could I use what's left of the decal sheet to approach this in a different way? What if I airbrushed a solid block of Milwaukee Road Maroon and... use the laser to cut out this stripe? Bonus points if the burn left a pinstripe effect around the perimeter. Ok that's asking too much.

First challenge, I don't have Milwaukee Road Maroon. I have Rail Brown and Santa Fe Red though... let's go:


Close enough for me. Now try my best to do an even spray of this stuff on the decal sheet (I'm very amateur with the airbrush):


Transfer my stripe artwork (stripe shape outline) into the laser software and let 'er rip on the decal sheet:


Cuts look clean, very excited so far but I can't really tell if the edges of the decal film are clean or "melty." The backing sheet is obviously fine, but I'll need to sacrifice a stripe and apply it to a trash shell to see how the paint will react, how the decal film will react, and how it looks in general:



Ok, super excited at this point. Edges are crisp, the decal survived handling, it's super super thin, thinner than a regular decal so it conformed over every small bump on my junky shell. I didn't even bother trying to snug it down over harsh surfaces like the number boards because I knew it was good to go on to the real model:



This worked out so much better than I had imagined. I may just do a full sheet of these stripes for any other Joes that I build. The Milwaukee Road placards are from a Microscale decal set and really give the paint job a finished look. I'm working on the 3D printed detail parts now - should be able to wrap this guy up by the weekend!!

So, big win for the laser this weekend. Hope you enjoyed the journey with me.


Cheers -Mike

 

Yes - good question. I did apply a clear gloss to the sheet before cutting with the laser. However the result wasn't really gloss, more of a cross between matte and satin. This was my first time using the airbrush for that instead of rattle can and I don't think I have the pressure and thinner mixture right, and probably technique is wrong. I'll eventually have to figure that out although I do like the overall finish on the locomotive as it looks more like something you'd get from Atlas or Kato.

-Mike