Pioneer Rail GP20

[XDriver]

Now wait a minute! What do you mean hard to paint? Who did the Pacific Harbor Line repaint? How much fun do you think that was?
Buzz is doin a fantastic job!

[harryadkins]

I wish someone would do a tutorial on creating transparent panels for models like this.

[buzz456]

I wish someone would do a tutorial on creating transparent panels for models like this.

Let me see if I can cobble something together.

[Boss1]

Great job Buzz. Hope to see more Gp20 repaints.

[slick204]

I'm considering making a repaint for the GP20, from the conversation here I take it that there is no template available. More of a challenge I guess!

Also, when you say "transparent panel", is that the same thing as a decal? Did you find the time to "cobble something together" Buzz?

Thanks.

[buzz456]

I can go into some more detail but basically what I do is in Paint.net. If I ever really get my act together with Photoshop I'm sure you can do it there also but still learning it a bit at a time. I know you can do this in Gimp also.
Anyway what I did in this case was found a nice size logo with Google and opened it in Paint.net got it the size I wanted it and then saved it as a bmp. Most of the time the images are going to be the same size in the two different pages so you don't have to do the following. For the Reppo model I copied and pasted the thing on the cabinets. Then I went to copy and paste it on the long hood and quickly discovered it was the wrong size. It took a couple of tries to figure the ratio was about 1.2 to 1. I should have taken a note in case I ever do that again.

In any event if you are doing letters you do the same thing just make a template that you know will be the right size for your lettering put the name on there and follow the same copy and paste routine. One of the things I like about working with Paint.net on this procedure is that by paying close attention to the numbers on the bottom of the location is after you get it close you can say to yourself OK I need to move it 4 left and 6 up. I find the quickest way is to get it right vertically first and then move it right or left to get the final placement.

Another tip is to make your mouse less sensitive or zoom in 3 or 4 clicks which also makes the mouse less sensitive because a little bit makes a big difference when lining this stuff up. I want to thank DTG for adding that restart button back whenever they did it because I must have restarted the scenario to see what I was doing about a hundred times when I was painting the Wabash F7.

I know this all sounds very fiddly but with a little practice it gets a lot easier. Any questions just holler.