Marx Flyer Copper Cannonball

I'm not into tin, but THAT is cool.

Rusty

That's a beauty Andy! Great combination - it looks like old Louis M. came out with a high-end set once upon a time. What's your process for making the graphics?

great job Andy! I really like those.

Looks great, nice job.

Super job, I love it!

Andy,

You did a beautiful job on the train! I love Marx trains and have a set from my 1950s childhood.

Ron

When God gave out looks I thought he said books and went to the library!

Nice graphics.  I, too, and curious about them....were printed as decals, or....?

I recently began work on my own version of a Marx train, it has a 495 at the head (with a silver boiler, and maroon sidetrim), and will have red Ives 70 series cars behind it, with black roofs. Still looking for ones with decent bodies, poorly painted roofs, and missing couplers I can do this to beyond my 70 baggage. 

Thanks guys. The graphics were done up in Microsoft PowerPoint. There are a lot of cool drawing and text functions in PowerPoint. I find it much more useful than for making boring corporate slide shows!  LOL

I was going to order decal paper to print the graphics on, but since I had the time this past weekend I looked for an alternative. Remembering how so many old toy trains used separately applied metal tags or inserts for names and such, and inspired by the fellow who is doing custom boxcars using paper graphics, I printed out my designs on cardstock. To produce a durable, glossy finish I cut the sheet into sections that could be covered with pieces of 2" clear packing tape. Once the tape was fully burnished to the cardstock I then cut out the individual elements. Since everything had a black border I used a black Sharpie marker to color the edges of the cardstock pieces, then I glued them in place on the engine and cars. The cardstock has just enough thickness to cast a bit of shadow when looking at an angle to make it look like a piece of lithographed tin mounted on the car. Only under closer examination you don't see where the tabs are to hold the piece to the car body.

So the observation deck is all card stock?

Jim O'C posted:

So the observation deck is all card stock?

No, It's real steel and some styrene. I cut off one end of the coach and reattached it at an angle and filled in the gaps with styrene. Then a little Bondo to smooth things up and fill in the coupler opening at the bottom.

you're pretty handy there Andy......

That is absolutely beautiful! Great job!