Smurftastic Hopper

[John]

I guess we are technology limited then .. screen printing anyone .

[Nato]

 Two Bay Hoppers are used alot in Cement Service, that what I use them for on my layout to serve a combination gravel load out and cement plant.                                                                               Nate Goodman (Nato).

[John]

Two Bay Hoppers are used alot in Cement Service, that what I use them for on my layout to serve a combination gravel load out and cement plant.                                                                               Nate Goodman (Nato).

Maryland Midland runs them almost exclusively for their cement service .. I have seen 3 bay at the local aggregate dealer (TARMAC) in the past .. could it be that cement is a dense, heavy load?

[cv_acr]

could it be that cement is a dense, heavy load?

Compare a cement block to a similarly sized bag of flour. (Keep in mind the huge holes through the centre of the block, so its actual volume is much less than a full flour bag with the same outside dimensions. But go ahead, compare them anyway - the flour bag should still be lighter  ).

For something a little more quantitative, I found this:

http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_materials.htm

(divide by 16.02 to get lbs/cu.ft.)

Alfalfa: 256 kg/m3
Bran: 256
Brewer's Grain: 432
Soy beans: 721
Buckwheat: 657
Wheat flour: 593
Grain - Maize 760
Grain - Barley 600
Grain - Millet 760- 800
Grain - Wheat 780- 800

Portland cement: 1506
Morter cement: 2162

Gravel, loose, dry 1522
Gravel, with sand, natural 1922

Pure water: 1000



So for example, for portland cement:

1506 / 16.02 = 94.00 lbs/cuft

200,000 / 94.00 = 2128 cuft maximum load   (200,000 = 2000lbs x 100 tons capacity)

[POVC]

The most popular car on RailcarPhotos is this graffiti'ed up hopper:

http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=19034

I sized the artwork to fit an IM ACF car, and printed the decal on an HP2605 Laser printer.  Wheels are FVM, of course.

I think we need to get the "Tom Mann Special" on the BANTRAK layout at the next Timonium show with all these realistic looking cars.  I can see it now, a Smarftastic hopper pulled by a GT locomotive...

Tim Nixon

[sirenwerks]

Tom,

I've been thinking about making some home decals and, not to offend your excellent work, am not keen on the dot pattern you're getting. So I have questions... What DPI is the image saved at and what's your printers finest capacity? I assume it's an ink jet printer? When you edit your images for printing, have you considered slightly stretching the image vertically where you anticipate the joint line (where the top of the sill and the car's wall meet) to overcome the  cut in the decal? I understand a cut may still need to be made to get over that extreme bend in the joint, but this would allow for some overlap and (might) produce a more seamless image. Do you print your images oversize (beyond the cars sides, and hand trim them or print them exactly to the size needed?

[tom mann]

Tom,

I've been thinking about making some home decals and, not to offend your excellent work, am not keen on the dot pattern you're getting. So I have questions... What DPI is the image saved at and what's your printers finest capacity? I assume it's an ink jet printer? When you edit your images for printing, have you considered slightly stretching the image vertically where you anticipate the joint line (where the top of the sill and the car's wall meet) to overcome the  cut in the decal? I understand a cut may still need to be made to get over that extreme bend in the joint, but this would allow for some overlap and (might) produce a more seamless image. Do you print your images oversize (beyond the cars sides, and hand trim them or print them exactly to the size needed?

The artwork is at 1200dpi, and my laser printer is 1200 dpi. The dots aren't noticeable at 1:1.  They are there because the colors in the decal are not possible with a CMYK printer, and the printer needs to space the dots to allow the assumed white background to come through to give the illusion of a lighter color (in this case, blue).  The darker the color, the less space between the dots, and the less noticeable the dot pattern is.  Only black or any color that exactly matches the color of the toner cartridges would be applied with no dots (or rather dots at the optimal 1200dpi, so the spacing wouldn't be noticed).   I could have done a better job with microsol bend the decal around the sill, but I goofed and ended up cutting it.  I'm pretty sure I stretched the artwork, too.  Depending on the shape of the decal, I either make it oversize or not.

Now, if I wanted to improve on the quality, I would print out the decal without the sky and make the lettering "smurftastic"  a separate decal.  I would paint the sky on the side of the car, and apply the decal over top of that.  I would then paint white over top of "smurftastic" and use the separate "smurftastic" to cover that.  That would minimize the amount of visible dots.  Either that or play with the colors so the dots are closer together.

[sirenwerks]

Thanks Tom. As usual, your work is enlightening. Please keep it coming.

BTW Nate, I'm all for the Cowboy Bebop car!

[Mark5]

Nice job .. but the decal still looks like it is made out of dots .. would a different type of printer help>

I agree. Reminds me of the "funnies" in the Sunday paper. Nice effort.

[ljudice]

Nice job .. but the decal still looks like it is made out of dots .. would a different type of printer help>

Perhaps this particular tagger was a student of Pointillism?

Cool car Tom!

[3rdrail]

Here is yet another example of the "N scale as G scale effect" made possible by the digital camera. As Tom pointed out, the dots are not readily visible to the naked eye, it is only when the car is blown up to many times its actual size that they are visible.

I have found that what looks passable under my work magnifier looks great on the layout, yet looks crude and unacceptable when photographed and blown up to fill a 19 inch monitor! 

[Mark5]

I've found that I see things that other's claim to be invisible to the naked eye.

Dunno what this means but it's probably another "eye of the beholder" type thing.

On the other hand, I probably wouldn't notice it if it was rolling by in a train on a model railroad.

[eja]

What colour does a smurf turn if he holds his breath ??

[FrankCampagna]

I've found that I see things that other's claim to be invisible to the naked eye.

Don't you have to go see a doctor when that happens? Or start writing for a UFO magazine? Frank

[RockGp40]

Tom, this one going on the 'bay or into your stash?



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