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Decals Application Guide

Private Owner Mineral Wagons

This page provides additional details for how to apply my decals for private owner mineral wagons to your models. It is assumed that you are familiar with the general instructions for applying my decals, as described here, and supplied in printed form with your first order. so if you haven't already done so, please read that information first.

Terminology

To help wih the terms used in the descriptions below, the following diagram identifies the major components of a typical open or mineral wagon, with wooden body and underframe.

I draw a distinction between open wagons and mineral wagons, although both types as private owner wagons were used to carry minerals such as coal and coke:

• An open wagon is one with drop-down side doors that extend the full height of the body sides, and does not have end or bottom doors. It is thus identical to the wagons used to carry general merchandise.
• A mineral wagon is one with side doors for which the drop-down part stops short of the top of the body sides. It may have additional door(s) above the drop-down part that could be hinged at the sides or open vertically. Otherwise the topmost planks continue uninterrupted across the door opening. Mineral wagons may also have a door at one end, opening the full width and height of the wagon body and hinged at the top, and/or doors in the floor of the wagon. Such wagons were generally only used for mineral traffic.

The Decals

A set of decals for a private owner mineral (or open) wagon will consist of a number of individual decals, each type of which are illustrated in the following image (click on the image to open a larger version in a new browser tab or window):

• A decal for each side of the body of the wagon. Note that for a wagon with an end door, the sides are different, one having the door on the right (as shown), the other on the left. The other livery elements are adjusted accordingly.
• A plain decal for each end of the wagon.
• A decal for each solebar, excluding the headstocks.
• A decal for the face and ends of each headstock.

The functions of the various cutting guides are also indicated in the image above, and described further below.

It is up to you whether you apply the decals in one piece, as designed, or cut them into smaller sections. One piece applicatiopn is probably practical in the smaller scales, where raised surface detail on your model is sufficiently shallow to not cause problems with the sit or distortion of the decals. In the larger scales such detail is likely to be high/thick enough to significanly "shorten" a one piece decal because of the extra length needed to wrap it around the projections. It is therefore likely to be better to cut the decals into sections along the edges of such details. Where lettering or other livery elements crosses a projection, you will need to fill the resulting gap between decal sections with appropriate paint to link the livery elements on either side.

Small projections such as bolt heads can usually be allowed to pierce through the decal during application. Once the decal is in position, press down firmly on the projections using your finger or a soft pad (such as kitchen paper folded on itself several times). Be sure to apply only vertical pressure; sideways pressure will cause the decal to slide out of position. Piercing of the decal can be assisted, if necessary, by using the tip of a sharp knife: either a single small "prick", or a small cross. Larger, but still small, projections can likewise be accommodated by small cuts during application. Cuts of significant length are best achieved by rocking the blade of a small round knife along the cut, rather than dragging the point of a straight knife.

Please also note the following:

• The overall size of each decal is slightly enlarged, with cutting guides provided to mark the actual size. This reduces the risk of any slight misalignment of your cut resulting in the inclusion of white background.
• The body side decals usually include the corner plate(s) at one or both ends. in all but the smallest scales it is probably better to cut the corner plates from the rest of the side and apply them separately, if at all. The same is true of the vertical strap at the end door end.
• Plank edge detail, as seen in the livery and wagon type illustrations, is not present in the decals, unless you select certain weathering options. This is in case the plank detail on your model doesn't exactly match that in the design. Cutting guides are provided instead, in case you wish to cut the decals into sections horizontally to aid application; it minimises the appearance of decal edges if they coincide with surface detail.
• Ironwork edge detail is similarly omitted, again unless you select certain weathering options. Ironwork is therefore normally only included if it is picked out in a different colour in the design. Ironwork on the solebar decals is omitted altogether, even if a different colour, in case the positions don't match your model. Such details also often have significant height from the solebar surface, sufficient to cause problems if the decal were appplied in one piece, even in the smaller scales.
• Cutting guides are again provided to mark the positions of the ironwork in case you wish to cut the decals into sections vertically; the appearance of the decal edges is minimised if they coincide with the physical surface detail. The guides for each ironwork strip are linked together to indicate the width of the strip. If you do cut the decals in this way, it is up to you whether you make your cuts along the centre of the strip, or along one or both edges.
• The solebar decals for wooden underframed wagons are extended up to floor height. The curb rail usually significantly overlaps and is separated from the top of the solebar in such wagons. Additional cutting guides are provided at curb rail level, in case your model doesn't include this recess behind the curb rail.
• The solebar decals for steel underframed wagons are design to fit neatly inside the solebar channel section, typically 9 inches high, less the thicknes of the top and bottom ribs.
• Where plates (such as registration and builder's plates) are included in the solebar decals, vertical cutting guides are provided either side of each plate and spaced a small distance away to provide a border for subsequent touching up of the decals edges. Because of the all of the ironwork likely to be present on the solebar, it will probably be better to just cut out and apply separate decals for each plate, discarding the rest of the solebar decal, but the choice is yours.
• In some cases the registration plates were tucked under the semi-circular washer plates for the W-irons, and were a tight fit. The vertical plate guides cannot be used in this case, so instead a dark dotted line is marked on the solebar decal to indicate where the edge of the washer plate should be.
• The end decals will need to be cut vertically into sections to fit between the end stanchions of the fixed end, or for the door end, vertically to fit between the vertical strapping and horizontally to fit around the end door fastening bar. The overall width of the end is set according to the type of wagon you select: 7 ft 6 in. was common for earlier wagons, later wagons were 8 ft wide. It is up to you to work out where such cuts need to be made, to match your wagon, but cutting guides are provided for the corner plates and typical stanchion positions for a fixed end, and at typical positions for the end door ironwork.
• For the end headstock decals you will need to cut the headstock decals into sections to accommodate any end stanchions and the buffers and couplings; cutting guides are provided to mark these features at typical positions and sizes.

Important: The cutting guides for all ironwork and other features, including the overall lengths, widths and heights of the sides and ends, are set at typical positions for the wagon design you select. Before cutting the decals be sure to check that the corresponding features of your model match the marked positions, and adjust if necessary, especially where you intend to cut the decal.