Best Of The Overland/Wiseman brass Western Maryland Shay thread

[chessie system fan]

Water-Slide Decals (minimums of 250 sheets on custom print orders)
* Decal sheets can vary in size based on your order. A decal sheet can be as small as 2" x 2" and up. Our standard sheet size is 4.75" x 7.75".

Relevant information if you want screen-printed Microscale decals.

https://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=Custom

[u18b]

Here's all the decals I need ....

IN SERVICE Version






CASS version








BOTH versions

[u18b]

Sorry I didn't clarify things....

I don't expect artwork for free.  Compensation would be in order.

vector file would be preferred if possible

[mmagliaro]

Microscale might not be as out of the question as you might think, and their quality is excellent.  I had them do SP&S decals for me (it's around 10 years ago now), and even with the 250 sheet minimum, I found enough people who wanted them that I could sell off some of the sheets to make back the money it cost me to have Microscale do the work.   

You could expand what's on your sheet so includes what you need for the Shay, and ALSO includes other useful Western Maryland steam decals that nobody else makes right now.  That would make it attractive to other modelers so you could sell them.
For example, I had them put HO versions of the decals on my sheet so both N and HO modelers could use them.

MS were really great people to work with.  They improved and redrew the lettering and artwork I sent them, and were very good about exchanging emails with mock-ups of the sheets to make absolutely sure I got the sizing of everything exactly how I wanted it. 
(and no... ha ha.. I'm not getting a kick-back from Microscale)

[u18b]

Max,
Thank you.   I checked their web listing and they have zero WM steam decals.
Maybe they might want to add some.

[u18b]

I also am checking with some WM groups.

[u18b]

Well, warm weather has come to Florida.
Had the day off and did some work.

Been a while, but I stopped at painting.
I’ve owned five Shays and rebuilt at least two for others (so I’ve worked on 7) but I’ve never painted one.   This will be the first.

So this is how the Shay sat for months- disassembled and ready.





I got my sand blasting booth out, and went to work.

Degreasing was first.    Then after a little prep work, I started sandblasting.









It took a long time and used a good bit of material, but this loco is very complex,    There’s lots of nooks and crannies.



I also had to take extra care.    I did not want to sandblast the top min drive gear (that I call the cylinder gear).  A little spray hit it, but not much.



I also prepped by inserting screw into many of the screw holes to keep the threads fresh and also not allow powder down into the hole and threads.








I also went a little bit more lightly on the main drive shaft.   This area will get black Neolube later.




On the underside, screws cover the holes for the truck mounting screws, and I tried to avoid too much sandblasting around the cylinder worm and the driveshaft gear.




I also took great care with the sideframes.    This is the insulated side.   Note the screws filling the holes.     This is important since the frame carried part of the electricity to the decoder.   So I don’t want any paint in those screw hole.




When I was finished, I thoroughly washed each piece with lacquer thinner and a tooth brush.
Any moving part with a shaft or gear in it was moved and spun  as I cleaned it because the goal was to wash out as much of the abrasive material as possible.

When dry, I was ready for some masking and painting.

[peteski]

Good to see more of your efforts.

If you want to protect things like that gear, you can slip a piece of heat shrink tubing over it, or even use some liquid mask.

[u18b]

Good to see more of your efforts.

If you want to protect things like that gear, you can slip a piece of heat shrink tubing over it, or even use some liquid mask.

Not sure how a tube would work.
I did think about mask.  But my concern in this application is the liquid mask running down into crevices and being unable to remove all of it.

Good suggestions though.

This raises a very important issue with these expensive and rare locomotives.

A fellow modeler had a disaster happen.   He paid a guy to paint his.  The guy was pretty professional- but mostly worked in HO and did not have experience with these.
His opinion was that lineshafts should be removed from Shays before painting.  And then you install them back after painting.    That keeps paint out of the gears.
That may work in other scales, but I just don't see it in this delicate locomotive.

Here is a truck.   It is VERY finicky and takes a lot of effort to tune it.



But if you were going to remove that driveshaft, you would have to heat and unsolder the journals (bearing caps).   The hold the shaft in place.    If you remove them and then paint.... how will you get the back in place?    Heating would burn the paint.



This painter did just that.  And I'm not sure how he got it back together again (solder?  superglue?).
However, the finicky truck had all kinds of problems with the gears cogging.   His solution was to try to heat the bevel gear and make an adjustment- which melted and deformed the gear, ruining it.
 
I can sympathize because I did the same thing and learned my lesson- that brass gear is VERY soft.   But I had an extra gear, he didn't.

Consequently, it is a sad example that once you get these tuned, you do NOT want to mess with it any more than necessary.
Leave things as-is if you can.

I say all of this to point out........ I will NOT be removing the lineshafts and will simply try to not sand blast them much and not get too much paint on them.

[u18b]

Well, here are some of my truck parts.

I've masked parts of them.   Masking is for places the need to conduct electricity.

So I masked the center screw (bolster) pad and the inside of the bearing surface.

Trucks have obviously been disassembled in order to get the wheels out.




Here is a finished sideframe.   Notice that I prevented paint from getting onto the bearing surface or into it's axle hole.     
I also got a little paint on the bevel gears- but not too much.

I'll run the Shay after painting and reassembly and oil it a good bit.    The paint should come off of the gears.

[u18b]

I finished the paint and then reassembled (no small task).

The trucks once again needed some tuning.
But I got it all back together again.
And this Shay has sound and all works.

Turned out well.  (iPhone photos not so great.  Looks better than in photos)

[u18b]

Next step will be to finish research and drawing of the decals.
And then paying someone to make them.

Paint touch up will come after decals are installed.

That will all take a while, but I have another Shay to paint anyway.

[PiperguyUMD]

Beautiful work! You may have mentioned already, but what paint did you use?

What is the size of the lettering on the tender? I'm wondering if it's close to the right size for diesel switchers and RS units for the fireball era. If thats the case, I'd be up for a few sets if it helps offset costs. I know someone is working with the WMHS to come up with a new steam set, I can put you in contact with them if you're interested.

[peteski]

Not sure how a tube would work.
I did think about mask.  But my concern in this application is the liquid mask running down into crevices and being unable to remove all of it.

Good suggestions though.

I thought some thin plastic tubing (like heat shrink) would simply fit over the gear. If too tight to remove, just slice it off with a sharp knife. But you can also use plain masking tape to shield whatever parts of the model you do nto want blasted.  Just like you mask for painting, you can mask for blasting.

[u18b]

I thought some thin plastic tubing (like heat shrink) would simply fit over the gear. If too tight to remove, just slice it off with a sharp knife. But you can also use plain masking tape to shield whatever parts of the model you do nto want blasted.  Just like you mask for painting, you can mask for blasting.

I think what I had in mind was....



You could only get heat shrink on one side (right), but not the other (left).   And the side you can reach... the orbital u-joint is pretty big vs gear much smaller.

At any rate, it worked out well I think.
Thanks.