Happy Birthday Locomotive and the Finished Layout

Since Micro-Trains bailed out on production of the Happy Birthday locomotive in Z scale , I decided to create my own.

The picture to the left shows the Micro-Trains "undecorated" GP-35 locomotive which I obtained via eBay from "GATCO."  I purchased the undecorated locomotive on line, thinking that it was some sort of closeout.   However, I have since learned that undecorated locomotives, cars and cabooses are also available from
Z Scale Monster Trains.

Below the undecorated GP-35 is the "naked" engine with all of the plastic removed for painting. It's pulling the Happy Birthday boxcars and caboose across the bridge at the southeast corner of the layout, near some of the deer and bears.

The engine was to have a white and blue color scheme, so I painted the hood, shown at the right, with white acrylic paint.  The cab and the catwalk were supposed to be blue, but I decided to paint the left half of each light blue and the right half pink.  Please excuse me if I haven't used the proper names for these three parts of the locomotive.  I e-mailed Micro-Trains to find out the correct names, but never received a reply - another example of how important they think their customers are.

I used Adobe PhotoShop to add text to some balloons that I found on the Internet.  The image was then reduced to three-quarters inch wide, duplicate images were placed side to side, and then printed out in color on HobbyCal Inkjet Water-slide Decal Paper.

The decals were then cut to size, soaked in water for about a minute, and slid onto each side of the GP-35 hood. While still wet, I brushed on some Solvaset Decal Setting Solution as suggested.  That's supposed to help soften the decal so that you can press it down firmly and it will conform to anything like rivet heads or other uneven parts of the train.  I'm not sure how necessary this is, and if you do it, be very careful.  After I was almost finished with the locomotive I noticed that one of the decals seemed to have had a lot of the image worn away.  So I painted over it and installed a second decal.

In order to prevent the decal from the above type of problem, and to prevent the decal from peeling off, it should be protected with a clear coating of some sort.  Testor's Dulcote is what's recommended, but there was none available here in El Dorado.  I wanted the decal to have a matte finish, like the rest of the locomotive and cars, so I got a spray can of Plaid brand Clear Acrylic Sealer, matte finish. I painted a pink region on a plastic box and applied a piece of blank decal paper.  I sprayed a little of the Sealer onto a piece of waxed paper, then painted over the right half of the decal.  As you can see from the picture, the Sealer left a glossy coating, not matte.

I found some Model Master Flat Clear Lacquer Finish at the HobbyTown USA in Monroe, LA.  The guy there said it was even better than Dulcote.  I tested this on the left half of the blank decal and, as you can see from the picture, it worked fine.

Both the Plaid Sealer and Model Master Lacquer had one feature which I think is an advantage - they turn the white background of the decal transparent.  The directions for the decal said they needed to be applied to a white background, but if they become transparent then the decal could be applied to any color background desired.

In case you're wondering about the white strip below my matte tests, I tried painting over a blank decal with Woodland Scenics Scenic Glue.  It dries transparent and matte finished, but doesn't turn the decal transparent, so it could be used in a pinch if the decal is applied to a white surface.

After the decals were protected with the matte lacquer I glued the railings to the locomotive with HobbyTown USA Extra Thick Maxi-Cure (a house-brand Super Glue).  The extra thick glue doesn't run and worked great.

The picture to the right shows the completed Happy Birthday GP-35 locomotive coming 'round the bend.

That pretty much wraps it up!  Click on the image of the completed layout to the right to see a larger image if you want. You'll probably need to scroll around to see everything - the image is 1280 x 811 pixels.