Small test print

Hurrow!

Prior to the Winter Holiday (..that's how my brother-in-laws American wife refers to Christmas) I had to revert to doing a nozzle clean due to faint lines in a print out, no doubt due to irregular or insufficient use. I watched my ink levels drop from 1/2 to 1/4 full and at 3 times the price of Chanel No.5 perfume, that hurt.

I resolved to run a test print every Sunday and before printing texture sheets whether or not I had used the printer in the previous week, and touch wood, it seems to be working. Herewith my own test sheet, I can get 4 prints on one piece of A4 paper before using it to line the budgerigar cage, and Joey seems quite taken with his new carpets.

To remind me I have set a diary reminder on my 'phone [Ain't I the little technophile?]



NB It should be on a white background, not sure what went wrong there.

Douglas

Good idea Doug.

I used to have terrible problems with ink drying out until I bought my current HP Envy All in One printer.  This seems to be much better than my previous Lexmark printers although, when printing Scalescenes brick prints, it's quite a thirsty beast.

I use the XL size black ink cartridge but, until this week, have used the standard colour cartridge, which seemed to be the only one on offer at my local suppliers.  This week I found a colour XL size so hopefully, I won't have to buy new cartridges for at least 3 days ………………………………

I've often toyed with the idea of a colour laser printer but I'm not totally convinced I could justify the cost at my level of printing ……………

This week though, having had to replace both my black and colour cartridges, I did wonder what the actual cost of a Scalescenes kit is when finished. The download is cheap but, by the time one has bought ink, paper, card, knife  blades and glue, the costs have mounted significantly.  If only they weren't such great models, we could save a small fortune ………………………..

My solution is to use "Officeworks" custom printing. No hardware woes, no consumables, no calibration, high quality reliable printing on the stock of your choice for $A0.69 per A4 sheet 100gsm.

I pay the extra ($A0.15) to use 200gsm paper and find this is better to glue down and when you apply the matt protective coat  I have always found it to give excellent results as seen on my houses and the barn on W-H.

We don't have that choice here Colin - such facilities simply don't exist.   We're not quite "in the sticks" but France is a strange country in that whilst the big cities are well provided for in terms of "modern living", once you move a few miles away, life becomes very rural indeed. 

Additionally, south-west France had little benefit from the post-war rebuilding of Europe and was, for many years, a sort of "backwater". A political decision by General de Gaulle who saw this region as a communist heartland. In the first post-war elections, France came within a cat's whisker of electing a communist government.   "Modernisation" down here only really began around 40 odd years ago.

Out of interest, what do you use to seal your Scalescenes type prints ?

Hi Peter,

What I use is a water based brush on Acrylic Polymer Matt Varnish from a local supplier so the name won't be any use to you. Similar products (available at much higher prices here) are from the likes of Winsor & Newton or Liquitex.

The beauty of protecting the printed surface is it is harder wearing, easier to apply weathering effects and you can easily wipe off dust. If you're worried about the effects of UV some have UV stabilisers incorporated. I'm sure I read somewhere here of a post about changing colours on installed printed paper models. 

One modest downside of your idyllic rural lifestyle I guess is a lack of some resources found in cities. TBH I was thinking more of the UK when you're never far from a decent sized town where you'd surely find commercial printing services?

Colin

Thanks Colin.

I did buy some acrylic matt varnish the other day to try having previously used a clear spray-on waterproofer for leather but without much success.

Sunlight can indeed be a problem through the fading of inks but my main reason for waterproofing is to protect the kits against damp from future scenic work, particularly laying ballast.  I ruined an excellent, very long platform when I laid the ballast so am keen to avoid any repetition.

You are correct about having almost everything at one's fingertips in UK - here, our nearest city is 70 miles away and none of the more local towns have a model shop as such.  Most of my modelling supplies have thus far, come from UK but, since Brexit on 31st December, that, in many cases, is no longer possible and where it is, one risks additional import costs.  I suppose, indeed I "hope" the dust will settle and we'll be able to trade sensibly again but at present, it's all a bit of a turmoil.

No problems with jets blocking in a laser printer, a set of toner cartridges lasts for ages, cost per A4 print runs around 3 - 5 p a copy.  Mine will print on up to 220 gsm card and banner paper up to 4' long, great for back scenes; as a further plus no need to varnish as toner doesn't run if/when it gets damp.

I know Mike - you'd told me about your printer some time ago - a "Brother" I think you said it was………….. :roll:

 I have looked at laser printers but as I said, I'm not convinced I could really justify the cost.  I don't do much printing unless I'm in "Scalescenes kit" mode ………………

 Once I'm ready for scenics, that "Scalescenes kit" mode could feature far more than it currently does ………………
 

You should include the standard phrase "The Quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" in there! Then you can make it official :P

[user=2057]TeaselBay[/user] wrote:

You should include the standard phrase "The Quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" in there! Then you can make it official :P

 

My printer is an OKI,, my third one in about 20 years. I repaired printers for a few years, that put me off ink jets for life. My first printer was a Seikosha 80 column dot matrix, then an NEC, again 80 clumn dot matrix, then I got lucky, the company I worked for was selling off a NEC wide carriage COLOUR dot matrix. I had a Xerox ink jet in the early 2000s,  a good friend was a Xerox rep, I got it trade price. That gave way to my first OKI laser.