Repainting a GP38. Pics.

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
I have a Proto 2000 GP38-2 that I'm repainting.

This is what it looked like before.
2027.jpg


This is what I'm trying to achieve.
4099.jpg


And this is the point I'm at right now.
decal1-1.jpg


Would you believe the decals are just printed on white air mail paper? Here's a close-up of one of them.
4099-1-3.jpg
 

UP SD40-2

Senior Member
Jeff:wav: , WOW!!:eeki: thats looking GREAT!!!:thumb::thumb::thumb: though I WOULDN'T have changed it from UP:toug::mrgreen: , you are REALLY doing a GREAT JOB!:winki: WELL DONE!:thumb:
:deano: -Deano
 

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
Rob:The GWWR is the roadname lettering for the Gateway Western Railway. The Gateway Western Railway began operations in January, 1990 after purchasing the Kansas City to St. Louis right-of-way from the Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway. Originally the Kansas City, St. Louis & Chicago, the line came under Chicago & Alton control in 1878, but never had much success under several operators of its line over the years, which included the Alton Railroad, Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad from 1947 to 1972, and Illinois Central Gulf Railroad from 1972 to 1987. On April 28, 1987, Illinois Central Gulf, divesting itself of surplus lines to get itself down to a core system, sold the Kansas City line, and the Chicago to East St. Louis mainline, to a new 633 mile regional, Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway. The Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway entered bankruptcy in 1989. The Santa Fe had always wanted an access to St. Louis. Seeing an opportunity, Santa Fe arranged for a New York investment firm to purchase the Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway's Kansas City to St. Louis line, thus creating the Gateway Western Railway. Santa Fe routed quite a bit of intermodal traffic via this routing during this period. However, by 1995, the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) and the Santa Fe merged to form Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. With the BN already owning a St. Louis line via a couple of routes already, less and less ATSF traffic was routed this way.
In 1997, the GWWR and its Illinois subsidiary Gateway Eastern Railway, were purchased by Kansas City Southern (KCS). The KCS operated the GWWR as a subsidiary until 2002 when it transferred its controlling interest to its own parent company and officially merged the GWWR into the KCS. The Gateway Eastern remained a KCS subsidiary.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Rob:The GWWR is the roadname lettering for the Gateway Western Railway ... The KCS operated the GWWR as a subsidiary until 2002 when it transferred its controlling interest to its own parent company and officially merged the GWWR into the KCS. The Gateway Eastern remained a KCS subsidiary.
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Thanks, Jeffrey -- that's interesting background and history. Cheers, Rob
 

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
Looks great! Tell me a little about white air mail paper.
Thanks!
Ralph
Air mail paper is extremely light and thin, about 5# weight. Regular paper is 20# weight. The air mail paper isn't what I would call real cheap. I get it for 5 cents a sheet. I bought 5 bucks worth so I'll be able to print a lot of decals. The trick to using it with an inkjet printer is to have just the sheet that you're going to print on in the tray. Otherwise the printer will snatch several sheets and jam.
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
I've gotta experiement with this idea! I assume the hard part is color matching the background to go with the loco body. I've done that with Testor's white backed decal paper so that's not a problem. Thanks for the idea Jeffrey!
Ralph
 

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
Color matching is not hard if you can scan in a paint chip of the same exact color. Just getting it close can help too. You can always adjust the color slightly in the palette settings. However, I wouldn't recommend using this for decals for glossy surfaces, as they have a tendancy for coming out flat on the air mail paper. The glossy ones can be replicated on gloss paper, but that paper is much thicker and wouldn't look good on the model.
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
One last question. Where does one buy air mail paper...the Post Office?
Office supply stores? I'm really intrigued by this method.
Ralph
 

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
I get mine at an office supply store for 5 cents a sheet. I bought 20 bucks worth. You gotta be careful with it though. You can rip it by breathing hard on it. It makes typing paper look like poster board.
 
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