An article from Hornby, about new technology And loco livery printing

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/news/the-engine-shed/the-class-800-test-train-as-complex-as-it-gets?utm_campaign=1729621_Hornby%20-%20Engine%20Shed%20-%20week%2049%202017&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Hornby%20PLC&utm_content=Enginge%20Shed&_%24ja=tsid%3A71284&dm_i=2DJZ,112L1,2AOU44,30RWT,1

Interesting info.

Pity about the (protoype) livery though, looks like someone attacked the side of the loco with a dayglo marker...

Rather generous of Hornby to provide on that page a graphic that could, with a bit of Photoshop magic and a sheet of Crafty Paper, be used for DIY transfers.

Interesting they're replacing tampo printing with the humble inkjet. Do you reckon they find that one cartridge always runs out first, and they have to clean the nozzles each time they turn it on?!

Quote from: njee20 on March 10, 2017, 01:37:34 PM
Interesting they're replacing tampo printing with the humble inkjet. Do you reckon they find that one cartridge always runs out first, and they have to clean the nozzles each time they turn it on?!

Bachmann used an inkjet style print on the 4mm LT Museum Ltd Edition 66s (in the black and white liveries).

Cheers, Mike

Pity they can't use a laser print, mind you a pass through the fuser wouldn't do it much good!

Quote from: njee20 on March 10, 2017, 01:37:34 PM
Interesting they're replacing tampo printing with the humble inkjet. Do you reckon they find that one cartridge always runs out first, and they have to clean the nozzles each time they turn it on?!

By the look of their pictures either the magenta cartridge is on its way out or the print head needs cleaning too

I suppose that the inkjet printer allows more precision than can be achieved with a tampo tool where the mechanical strength and rigidity of the tiny tampo tool elements are limiting factors. The Firstbus Barbie bus livery had a swath of graduated pink starting very dense at the bottom and ending very faint at the top. Tampo printing on commercial models struggled to get the graduation to look convincing, but my humble inkjet printer could reproduce it 100%. Not sure whether some of the pictorial liveries on Dapol modern DMUs were printed or from decals.