Cement tanker

GreatGordonFan

Just quickly wanted to ask if anyone knows where this tanker is from. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this (or my memory is deteriorating). Is it a custom?

MuddyPoppins

GreatGordonFan

Super

Hello GG-Fan
I am not much help since my knowledge of the Thomas line isn’t very good. You probably already searched in the ways I can and I don’t see that particular set isn’t on the sellers listings any more but I see they have another set with a Cement Tanker but with Henry as the engine thats available.
I also see that Muddy may have already answered above but on my computer I don’t see any text from him which is not that uncommon for me.

GreatGordonFan

I don’t see Muddy’s response either.

Super

I would think if anyone knows it would be the Muddy Man

GreatGordonFan

Super Couldn’t agree more Super

MuddyPoppins

I think that it’s a custom, as I cannot seem to find anything about it… this is the only cement car that I know of:

GreatGordonFan

My guts thought so too. Very professional custom though, looks almost too real.

Super

A custom it may be so I tried to look much closer. First I thought the Font was too perfect was installed level and I thought it was painted which would be hard to custom it.. That font would be hard to replicate. Now zooming in closely (see image) to check if it was indeed paint or not, I could see the faint lines and sheen that would indicate too be a clear label and possibly a home printer was used for the lettering…however… regular home printers don’t print the color white, I think that would take a much more expensive (I think) thermal printer to print white on a clear label. Maybe there is another type I am unaware of but with this knowledge I can’t decide either way now. And to add , is there a tanker out there that matches this color of plastic?

MuddyPoppins

Super yes, it’s definitely a custom. You can see that the white lettering has been printed on a very large clear plastic sticker.
You can faintly see the edges through the glare.
AND the color of the tanker is exactly standard 3D printer grey brown plastic.
It’s likely a resin cast mold because it’s factory smooth and looks professional.

Destination Realization

Super it could be a standard grey tanker if plarail made one, if not it’s probably a 3D printed one like Muddy mentioned. either way, I don’t think it’s a sticker, there are these machines called UV printers, they can print any design into plastic, like the tanker here! that’s probably why it looks so factory made.

Super

I hadn’t known about UV Printers and the info I saw was that they do indeed create white on clear UV material stickers but wow…the price. thanks D-Real I didn’t even look at whatever material or print medium one would have to purchase to create art and how much that would run. The cheapest UV Printer I glanced at was in the neighborhood of $1600 but most were from about $2000 to $5000. It would be nice if one knew someone that already had one that could do a small print job like this.

And I had looked to see if there was a Plarail tanker in that same gray color and indeed there is and with the removal of a couple of existing stickers one could make some Cement Tankers I guess,.

Destination Realization

Super true! I had wanted to get one a while back but I ended up finding shops that do it for you, the price they charge you really just depends on the size of the object.

chrisjo

You can buy a white toner cartridge to use in a standard laser printer on clear decal film. You just make your design in black, then swap out the black cartridge for the white one before you press ‘print’. Here’s an example.

The same thing used to be available for ink-jet printers (maybe 15 / 20 years ago?), when I was making decals for model helicopters, and the results were ‘OK’.

Now (I believe) some hobbyists use the Epson Eco-Tank and fill one of the tanks with white textile ink.

Super

I see from the video that this Laser ‘Toner’ is water proof which makes it much better for creating waterslide Decals on an InkJet printer as you have to sprat a clear coat on the decal sheet after printing otherwise the ink will smear. The clearcoat spray makes the decals thicker and because of that its hard to hide the edges of the decal. These laser decal without the need for the spray coat is much better. However the cost of the printer plus all the different color Toner Cartridges including the white toner one is cost prohibitive for me.

MuddyPoppins

@"Destination Realization”

Destination Realization

MuddyPoppins I see it, but I still doubt it’s a sticker, I could be wrong though, it could just be a protector adhesive.

Therealblack64YT

there’s this one which is likely the one used for the custom