Making of: New road numbers to M300 trains

Some supplies

Time to do some road numbers to the metro trains. The need for new road numbers for model trains is always apparent, especially with commercial models that already have the numbers applied to the model. Some companies like Halling include many different numbers that the customer can add to the model himself but such is not the case with Mabar, that has manufactured the M300 model. They are all numbered M301 from the box, which is naturally the first unit of train from the new series and naturally makes for a good unit to model (especially since the M300 model was originally only given to employees of the system as a gift).

Applying the color on top of the original number

I had three main problems to overcome before I could add the new trains to my fleet.

1) The original road numbers were not made with decals, so they couldn't just be scruffed off easily

2) I had no idea about the orange paint used on the model so I had to figure out a way to overpaint the original markings

3) Since the numbers are white, they can't be printed out by a conventional printer.

Outcome after one treatment

The solution for the third issue was a company called Black Lion Decals - I can highly recommend them! No need to fiddle with printing issues yourself.

Final outcome after three consecutive treatments

I started with preparing the surface first. I made sure it's clean and has no dust or anything whatsoever. I bought three different permanent markers, which I tested out on an acrylic sheet and the Berry Red one most closely resembled the exact tone of the M300's orange color. What I did was add the color on top of the original road number a bit excessively and then immediately wipe off the excess with a piece of paper. Then I repeated the process a few times and finally wiped the whole area adding just a tiny bit of water to spread the color around so that one can't notice the slight difference in tone so well. I'm quite happy with the result especially since this was a much easier way than painting over with a brush etc.

When everything was all dried out, I treated the surface with a small amount of Mr. Metal Primer-R. The decals were of normal waterside quality and after being exposed to water for about 20-30 seconds, the glue activates and then the decal is ready to be applied. I had some problems with the instructions that told to slide the decals away from the blue paper background since they just wouldn't slide away as smoothly due to the paper being thicker than normal. I had better results just carefully tearing the decal away with small pliers and then quickly applying it to the surface.

After application I smoothed the area a bit with a dry paintbrush and let it dry for a while. Finished!

The end result

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