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+---- Thread: Well that'll teach me to test first... (/showthread.php?tid=3692)
Well that'll teach me to test first... - rrinker - 01-23-2011
SO I want to get my test track thingy all set for two weeks from now for the show in Timonium. It's a piece of Rubbermade laminated shelving with some track, Kadee coupler guages at each end, and a PR3 for decoder programming. All I really needed to do was mark off NMRA weights from the end (actual recommended weights rather than inches, no need for a lookup table then). So I marked it off and lettered it as neatly as I could with a sharpie (which isn;t all that neat because my writing is horrible, good thing there are typrewriters and computers), not the greatest lettering but serviceable, I thinkj other peopel would be able to read it. But the sharpie seemed to smudge easily, so I wanted to spray a protective coat on it so it wouldn;t get smudged away. Well I tried some Dullcote and - all the ink ran, the first 4 inches were absolutely useless so was able to wipe it clean down tot he plain white of the shelf before the Dullcote dried. The rest might still be acceptable, but now that it's dry, no, it's not. It's a mess.
So - what should I use to clean it off back down to the plain white finish? Some laquer thinner? In the meantime, I experimented with my label maker and darn if I didn't get it to print an 8 inch section perfectly spaced (largest it can do in one shot), So once I get the test board cleaned off, my plan is to make two pieces of label in my label maker, stick it on, and cover over with a thin coat of Modge Podge, which won't hurt the paper of the label, and the lettering is thermal transfer so there's no ink to affect. I want to seal the label down because verywhere else I've put them, on my plastic drawers and my train show tub, they have a tendency to peel off. I figure sticking it down with Modge Podge will seal it to the surface.
Next time - no DullCote without testing on some scrap first. Never had a problem using it for toning down painted plastic, but it does sem to react with the ink in a sharpie.
--Randy
Re: Well that'll teach me to test first... - P5se Camelback - 01-23-2011
So sorry to read about your mishap, Randy! That Sharpie ink is a bugger!
We used to use artist's fixative (spray on stuff to keep chalks and pastels from smearing,) until we started using Pilot Fineliners intead of black ball point ink for our "heavy-up lines" on renderings ... you wanna see angry? How 'bout after spending 7 1/2 hrs bustin' hump to get a color marker rendering drawn, colored with markers, pastels and colored pencils, and all "bird sh*tted up" (*) with white gouache, copied on the mega-buck color copier on showcard stock, to then get packed up to fly off the next morning at O'dark-thirty with the Department VP (my boss) East Japip to some client presentation!
Do you know what a Charrette is ... it's when you stay up all night getting work done to meet a deadline that is cast in stone and can't be missed, even if you die trying to get it done ... get it done first, then die!! I had to meet the boss at the airport at 05:15 with the completed package, go home shower and then go back to work. (Ah, the easy life of us salaried guys!)My suggestion (sight unseen) is to mask off what must remain "as is" and spray the offending area with an appropriate color paint. When dry, lay down the labelling and "shoot" thinned Modge Podge on top to protect.
That's my best guess at a solution.
Good luck!
["Bird sh*t" is what we use to call those little "sparkles" of white on a marker rendering that really made it "sing" with "virtual reality"]
Re: Well that'll teach me to test first... - rrinker - 01-23-2011
None of it HAS to remain as-is (other than the track - if I paint over the track it won't work so good as a program track
). It's an idea - I can take off the PR3 and the double sided tape and paint the hole stinkign thing, although to make it look nice I'd have to paint all sides. It's one of those Rubbermain shelves that is covered on all 6 edges with a white laminate that is incredibly smooth - that would be the other problem, getting paint to adhere properly to it. It's too cold to work outside so all I could use is latex paint, and the only thing I actually have is the brown I'm using as the basic earth color over my foam. Lots of sanding might rough it up enough for paint to stick. Of course I don;t have any laquer thinner on hand either to try that so whatever I do I have to run otu and get it. Unless the Scalecoat II thinner will strip DullCote. I don't think any of it will hurt the surface. And the idea of artist's fixative over top - that might be a better option than the Modge Podge - I was trying to be economical since I picked up the jar of Modge Podge at Walmart and I could SWEAR I grabbed a jar of the FLAT but when I got home it was GLOSS. Probably not a good choice for ballasting. I have two of the large craft stores near me, I can probably get fixative spray at one of those.Best part, it probably would have been OK to not coat the Sharpie markings, it probably wouldn't smudge off unless I deliberately tried to smear it. And note to self, if I ever use Sharpies to do anything on a structure, no DullCote.
--Randy
Re: Well that'll teach me to test first... - P5se Camelback - 01-23-2011
No, No, NO! The fixative will not do it for your job! As usual, my verboseness muddied up the water. The fixative just holds chalk and pastel in place and keeps it from smearing ... in NO WAY is it a sealer!!!!!
The Modge Podge should seal your labels up water-tight -- we sold it in the hobby shop I managed in Plymouth Meeting Mall -- it's a craft product intended to seal up collage and decoupage stuff.
As far as the edges go, why not mask them off and have them remain white? It'll give the thing a nice professional finished appearance.
Re: Well that'll teach me to test first... - rrinker - 01-24-2011
All fixed up, some laquer thinner cleaned off most of it, what little was left a few swipes of sandpaper cleaned up. I was then able to stick on my printed labels, and covered it all up with modge podge. I may have to put a second coat of modge podge on after this dries, but I'm most concerned that the edges are sealed so the labels don;t peel up. Close enough - actually each number is a decimal ounce value 2.0, 2.5 etc. and the decimal points are all exactly 1 inch apart, the label maker uses fixed spacing fonts and with the size I used it takes exactly 9 blanks between the end of one number and the start of the next.
--Randy
Re: Well that'll teach me to test first... - P5se Camelback - 01-24-2011
My daughter, who now that she is a parent to one of her own feels she is my parent as well sometimes, I think. She thought I was being condescending in that last post of mine. No ... I wanted to stop you before you could do what you thought I was saying instaed of what I was really trying to say ... now that is convoluted, if I do say so myself!
I'm glad it all worked out for you, that lacquer thinner wiped it all clean, and that you went with the Modge Podge instead of the fixative ... that would have been a error in choice of materials ... you chose the correct one.
BTW ... I had to call my child last night while writing the post that started, "No, no, NO!" as I could remember the word "decoupage," I could remember what it was, but not the word
... that's why she got involved, and since she was in a strong "parenting mode" with her 11-month-old when I called, I got the same treatment!
Re: Well that'll teach me to test first... - rrinker - 01-25-2011
I didn't find it condescending at all. Problem with kids these days, somewhere along the line some educator got this idea that everything has to be framed in a positive many so you don't hurt anyone's feelings. Then they hit the real world and find out that life is seldom 'fair' or 'nice'. Bah! You saved me from going ot the store and buying something I didn't need, that wouldn't have worked, and may in fact led to me having to do it all over again for a third time. This candy-coating everything is for the birds. No need to pull a drill-sergeant act on a 5 year old, but if they're doing wrong, they're doing wrong, not "trying hard to be good"
--Randy
Re: Well that'll teach me to test first... - tetters - 01-25-2011
rrinker Wrote:This candy-coating everything is for the birds. No need to pull a drill-sergeant act on a 5 year old, but if they're doing wrong, they're doing wrong, not "trying hard to be good"
--Randy
Tell me about it! I had to drag my six year old out of the mall this past weekend because she was in hysterics over the simple fact we wouldn't buy her a toy. I don't hit my kids... ever. However, I have no compuncion putting her over my shoulder and double timing it out to our van while listening to her scream the whole way. If my kid is having an "episode" in a public area, I'll remove her. Needless to say Dad needed a serious time out after that fun filled day...
Re: Well that'll teach me to test first... - rrinker - 01-25-2011
Love it. I did that to my youngest when he was hmm, maybe 3 or 4, we were out to eat and he was acting up, sliding off his chair and crawling under the table, etc. So I took him outside and gave him a talking to, and when we came back inside I made him apologize to the others eating there for his behavior. No problem from then on out.
And somewhere around the same time, I had him along to the grocery store. In the checkout lien he wanted some gum, I said no. About three times, each one more firmly, and he finally gave up. Or so I thought. I put him in his car seat, and loaded the groceries in, and when I got in the car I saw he had something in his hand - a pack of gum. Well, I think he thought he was about to be put up before a firing squad as I marched him back into the store and to the very checkout line we used and made him hand the gum back and apologize for taking it. But, he never grabbed anything like that every again.
--Randy