Custom Decal Letters

[Dick Friedman]

Right in the middle of upgrading Bachmann J&S cars.  I've put metal wheels on, removed painted detail and repainted the bodies, painted the roofs flat black and the inside ceiling white.  I repainted the frames and the stoves.

 I needed to letter them for my own railroad.  My wife has a Cricut machine for scrapbooking.  By putting white decal paper in it, I was able to cut ten sets of letters for the Denver and Pacific Falls, and the car numbers for Nos 71, 73, 74, 78, and 79.

 I had to put the letters on one at a time, but the work was simple by the end.  It had been 30 years since I'd done so much decaling, but they look fine.

[kstrong]

Next time, use vinyl adhesive paper instead of decal paper. Far easier to apply, and the Cricut loves to cut vinyl.That, and you can get it in myriad colors, instead of just white.

Which cartridge did you use? My wife's got too many to count, but finding a simple font seems to be somewhat elusive. I haven't gotten around to buying the "Sure Cuts-a-lot" software (I think that's what it's called) yet, but it lets you design custom artwork, then send it to the Cricut for cutting. My plan is to use it to cut masks for painting, etc, then try using my airbrush to letter my equipment instead of relying on decals or dry transfers. 

Later,

K

[ttrigg]

Gentlemen: This sounds like a very interesting option. I would like to hear more of this process, a few pix of finished projects (in progress for masking). This sounds like it could be a valuable option for "NON-painters" like me.

[lownote]

 That Cricut machine sounds interesting--I'd love to find an alternative to ordering decals. As I understand it, the software uses true type fonts?

How small can the Cricut manage?

[mrdeere]

My wife and I use the Cricut to make our own lettering and have found it works very well. Yet you are limited by the font styles and size. Font’s sizes are ¼, ½, ¾, 1, and larger. And like in a previous response the font styles are not really right for railroading. I have written to the manufacture and have expressed my thoughts of how they could open a whole new market if they were to cater to the G-scale model railroader. Yet I received no response from them. However I would recommend this product because it has opened up for us the capability of making a complete set of cars, for a small local line, that no rolling stock manufacture is ever going to consider. The roughly $200 we have invested has paid for itself very quickly when consider having decals or vinyl letters made. The verity of colored vinyl rolls is good also. We found a sale at Big Lots for the machine itself for about $100. Then a cartage for $60 that was about as close to a simple font as you could get. Then some odd lot supplies brought us in the $200 range. Being new to this forum I have not found how to insert pictures of our project, other wise I would have.

[lownote]

Apparently the software kevin mentioned lets you use whatever tru-type fonts you like. It's very tempting--It would quickly pay for itself, as you mentoned

[kstrong]

 

It's very tempting--It would quickly pay for itself,

Unless your wife gets into scrapbooking. On the flip side, she doesn't complain about me spending $15 for a bell casting anymore.

Later,

K

[Dick Friedman]

With the new improved website, I didn't realize that there was any response to this thread, and I was locked out for a while before I could get in again.

The Cricut font I'm using is Plantin Schoolbook set for "roly poly."  It's a slightly extended, serif font related to Times Roman.  I use .25 inch for the letters, .5 inch for the numbers. I cut decal paper because I needed white letters, and we all know what a hassle printing white letters is.  The decal paper is very thin, but Cricut cuts it well.

 Sure Cuts-a-Lot is a non Cricut software that is supposed to allow use of any Tru Type Font.  It takes the newest version of Cricut firmware to operate according to SCAL, but Cricut says it won't work on their machines.  I've held off since this works OK for me.

Cricut fonts are too cartoony for me (great for my wife's scrapbooking)  I wish they would offer Helvetica, and RR Roman or Wide Latin.

Don't know how to put pictures on these pages, so drop me a line if you'd like to see how the lettering looks.

[lownote]

I bought  Cricut machine on closeout, and bought the "SureCutsaLot" software. It took me a while, but I got some reasonable, not great results

 

 

Like any vinyl lettering, it's tough over rivets. It's not good at really thin detail.  But with different lettering, and shapes, it'd be excellent