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A present

Project "Geert" (2009)

2009

I chose a photo of Geert I had taken in September as a starting point	Geert is a son of friends of ours. A very agreeable youngster. At the occasion of his fifth birthday his parents gave him a Märklin starterset on a circus theme. I wanted to add to that with a very personal gift: a circus car with his identity
I "photoshopped" the background away and added the texts "circus" and "Geert".
I printed this on decal film for inkjetprinter, sealed the print with a dull coating, and cut them to sizeThe car I used was a food car, from which I carefully removed the brand name with a glass fiber pen.

The original Märklin product
After some careful work with a glass fiber pen
Next I applied the decals to the car in the usual process, described in detail in Project Shay (menu items Decals and Lettering), but in short: 1. Soak the decal in water 2. Lift and transfer it with brushes 3. Position it with brushes 4. Drain the water with tissue, and let it dry 5. Soak the decal with softener (Microscale's SOL) and let it dry, repeat if necessary 6. Fix it (with Micoscale's SET) and let it dry, repeat if necessary 7. Airbrush the car's sides with a dull coat to protect the decals

The end result. Nice, I'd say. There are some minor flaws to nag about. The two decals were printed on two different printers, consequently they differ a little in color. The decals were a litte worn off on the highest ridges of the doors. The former can hardly be seen because the decals are on different sides, the latter somehow adds to the realism. And hey, nobody is perfect (so why do I have to be nobody??). I just hope he likes it. He did!! Addition 2010 A year later I added a car. As he was growing fast and changing quickly as children do I did not reuse his photo but sufficed with just the text