Full size for HO scale
Devoid of its label and contents, the 50ml plastic bottle (left) was just the right size this HO project. The author’s artwork (above) was copied onto decal paper and applied to the reworked bottle (right). Note that the screw threads on the neck and the curved bottom have been cut off and the rivets and grab irons added. The finished beer bottle water tank is installed on its tower (below).
what size you make the image, it will always be sharp. Raster files, such as JPEG files, become pixilated when re- sized. This is because a raster file con- sists of individual pixels, each defined by a numerical value for its color. The larger you make a raster file, the more pixilated it becomes. A vector file, how- ever, is not made up of pixels. Instead, it is a file consisting of connected points. When you make the image larg- er, the space between the points grows, but the defined relationship of curves and angles that join the points remains unchanged, keeping the image sharp. I imported the JPEG Stegmaier la- bel into Inkscape. I converted the gold medals in the label to vector images in Inkscape using one of its utilities. I found fonts similar to the fonts used in the label and I drew the curved rectan- gle freehand by tracing over the im- ported image. I also re-created the miniature red Stegmaier shields that are in the label’s background. When I was finished with the image, I deleted the embedded JPEG image I had origi- nally imported in the Inkscape image. For printing purposes, I used Inkscape to create an EPS vector file. But, even though I used a vector im-
age, getting sharp images from my inkjet printer was a problem. So,
I
bartered with my model railroading friend, Gerry Leone, to print some de- cals. Gerry used his Alps printer to print decals for me in exchange for my assistance with a future model railroad project. The size of the image that I had Gerry print was 1¹⁄₂″ wide by 1¹⁄₃″ high. I used two of them on the bottle, one on each side.
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN The bottle
Before painting and applying the de- cals to the bottle, I needed to make some modifications to it. The bottle I used had some raised lettering on it. I sanded these letters off until I had a smooth surface. The bottle also has threads to hold the twist top in place. Using a razor saw, I cut the threads off using the lip at the base of the threads as a guide. The lip was retained on the bottle, re- moving only the threads. I also cut off the curved base of the
bottle. Since there wasn’t a guide to cut the bottom off, as with the threads, I wrapped masking tape around the bot- tle just above the curve at the bottom of the bottle. Using the edge of the tape as a guide, I scored the entire circumfer- ence of the bottle with a razor saw. I continued sawing around the circumfer- ence until the bottom was removed. Us- ing a sanding disk, I sanded the top and bottom of the bottle to finish them. The final step was to drill the holes for the grab irons. The bottle has a barely visible seam where the two halves of the bottle are joined. I decid- ed to use this seam as the centerline for the grab irons. I cut a strip of mask- ing tape 18″ wide, marking the center- line on the tape. I aligned the center- line with the seam on the bottle. The edges of the tape marked the lines where the holes will be drilled. To get even spacing between each grab iron, I used a grab iron drilling jig from BLMA Models. Before moving to the next step of finishing the bottle, I test fit all of the grab irons. Once satisfied with their fit, I removed them.
65
Before painting and applying the la- bel decals, I wanted to add a subtle de- tail to the bottle: rivets. Micro Mark has a line of decals with raised three- dimensional rivets. I decided to give these a try for this project. As with any decals I apply, I start by washing and drying the model before giving it an
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100