archer's N treadplate transfers

[DKS]

On the homemade decals were those laser printed or inkjet?

Inkjet, printed at the highest resolution in grayscale. The tread plate areas on the model were first painted silver plus hints of worn-off yellow paint; then decals were applied, followed by rust effects and weathering.

[jimmo]

Inkjet, printed at the highest resolution in grayscale. The tread plate areas on the model were first painted silver plus hints of worn-off yellow paint; then decals were applied, followed by rust effects and weathering.

Excellent. Thanks David.

[peteski]

LOL - Peteski strikes again!  You got me DKS!  But I do like jimmo's interpretation of threadplate.

Compared to Lee's (which does look good), DKS' tread plate seems to have closer (IMO, more realistic) spacing of the bumps (treads?).

[scaro]

In N scale, properly scaled threadplate will be almost invisible and will have very fine texture (easily obscured by a layer of non-scale paint we use on out models.  I don't get this quest for modeling N scale (toyish and oversized) thredplate. I rather see the surface smooth than having grossly oversize texture.  Funny thing is that most of the N scale photoetched roofwalks and such do not bother me as much as the threadplate (and the holes in them are large enough for a N scale foot to fall through). 

i'd be using them in 1:120 so 'oversized' is what i'm hoping for. N has been very kind to me that way. 

i'm reluctant with etched brass as it can't see it sticking too well if the Plastruct sheet it would be glued to warps or expands and contracts with heat. But we shall see. I may just go for the Archers's transfers on the basis that they can be applied after the shell's built and satisfy the 'lots of small dots that aren't entirely flat and might be treadplate, or indeed anything else.' test. 

thanks, gentlemen

ben s.

[wm3798]

While I appreciate the effort that goes into striving for true scale, my approach is more of a "Theater Set" approach.  To the guy sitting in the front row as well as in the back row, it has to be apparent what the thing is.  There are a thousand compromises in that model.  The plate doesn't have a functional hinge.  The wheels are old MT pizza cutters that were turned down, but still the tread and the flange are bloated.  The truck itself is plump compared to the real thing.  The cable stay is supposed to be a chain.  The acrylic paint I used is probably thicker than the steel would be in scale.

To the casual viewer in the layout room, the treadplate is apparent, not overwhelming, and realistic enough to trick the brain into thinking "Whoa, that's treadplate!"

It's more realistic than painting a smooth surface and saying it has scale treadplate that's so fine you can't see it.

I've seen cast-on  details weathered and painted to look more realistic than add-on parts, simply because the add on parts end up being bigger and clunkier than they appear on the prototype.  This has gotten better as molding technology has improved, but in my view, making something purely to scale can be at the cost of an overall more realistic  visual effect.

Lee

[scaro]

I accept this, but the plain running board on my TT scale SW1200 is hardly ideal either.  remembering TT is a bit bigger.  so something that suggests that there is a tread pattern sounds right. 

I am doing one now using a reduced piece of graph paper as the pattern.  you use a sharp hobby blade to indent on the line for the cross strokes, and on the cross for the lengthways strokes.  madness, but the result looks nice.  can be laminated onto styrene. however, i'll only do it once ... the next unit can have the archers transfers. life's too short.

but I am surprised no one offers a decent plastic product that allows tread to be suggested, whether to scale or not. 

it's a common surface on bits of machinery, after all.
 
ben s.

[peteski]

but I am surprised no one offers a decent plastic product that allows tread to be suggested, whether to scale or not. 

it's a common surface on bits of machinery, after all.
 
ben s.

Actually, you can find some tread plate for larger scales (like 1:25) when it can be really made close-to-scale.  It is often used by truck modelers.

[scaro]

the so called "1:100" treadplate slaters do would be bang on for S scale, and would look OK in 00.

slaters are legendary for producing .025" strip that actually turns out to be anything from .035" to .045" so it's true to form and I can't say I wasn't warned.

the plastruct 'N scale' one doesn't look like any tread plate I've ever seen, which would not matter so much if it was not so oversized.  each diamond is about an N scale foot long.

at least my paper one is free ... just takes a bit of time. 

the process is an inspiration ... for modelling very short hood locomotives. or full carbody ones ...

ben s.