I would like to put a road name on an unlettered Mantua tender. I'm guessing I would use some decals from somewhere? What vendors would provide these? Also, any advice on stringing the letters together so that they are "level", in a straight line and how to apply appreciated. Does anyone sell letters or RR names as decals and also Railroad insignia that would be appropriate for this?Thanks
LastspikemikeTake your time positioning the wet decal. The point of a #11 exacto knife works very well.
This is bad advice.
Absolutely DO NOT use a sharp knife to position a decal... period.
The small slits in the decal can cause the decal to split, and let air underneath the decal as the setting solution dries.
I use a bamboo barbeque skewer or a chopstick.
Maybe Mike will share picture of all his successful decal applications...
-Kevin
Living the dream.
ChrisVAI'm guessing I would use some decals from somewhere? What vendors would provide these?
Microscale is my go-to choice for alphabet decals. If you want custom decals made there are still a couple of companies that can do this, but all the ones I used are no longer around.
ChrisVAAlso, any advice on stringing the letters together so that they are "level", in a straight line.
I use a straight-edge as I go along. When lettering one letter at a time I tend to start in the center and work my way out.
I have also made curved templates for arched lettering.
Don't sweat small mistakes too badly. I got the lettering on the left side of this boxcar a little wonky, but when finished and in a train, it is barely noticeable.
ChrisVAHow to apply appreciated.
Doctor Wayne has shared a good write-up of how to apply decals. If you want me to write one up, just ask. I have lettered hundreds of freight cars with decals, and they look OK.
ChrisVADoes anyone sell letters or RR names as decals and also Railroad insignia that would be appropriate for this?
I did not see what road name you intend to use.
I use a paint brush to move decals around. As the water dries they become "stickier" and are less willing to move. This can be a plus--you do your major lining up first, then you keep playing with things as the water dries. If all goes well, the two points converge nicely.
Usually, I like to keep all the decals in a name wet, as I apply them one by one. When wet, they can be moved. When dry: nope.
I found a really good aid for aligning decals:
It's a C-Thru ruler--VERY handy for lining things up.
Ed
Microscale is one manufacture of very nice model railroad decals.http://www.microscale.com/Cruse the Microscale site for materials for applying decals.There are a lot of YouTube videos explaining how to.Kevin is our decal guru and his work is one of the very best out there.Mel Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California Aging is not for wimps.
Great Northern
Microscale offers THIS DECAL SET which might have what you need.
ChrisVA...Also, any advice on stringing the letters together so that they are "level", in a straight line and how to apply appreciated....
At the risk of again boring everybody, here's my procedure for doing decal work:
First, I would suggest that you wash the car (or locomotive, structure, etc.), using warm water and dish detergent, then rinse it thoroughly with water and let it air-dry.Once it’s dry, airbrush it in an appropriate colour(s), then set it aside to let the paint dry/cure/harden, depending on the type of paint you use.Once that is done, airbrush the entire areas which will be decalled with Glosscote (or your preferred clear gloss) then let it fully dry until there’s no odour of solvent present on the car. Don’t apply the gloss only where the decals will be applied - for rolling stock and locomotives, those areas are usually the sides and ends - cover them completely with the gloss, even if the amount of decal work will be very minimal. Allow the clear coat to fully cure/harden - there should be no noticeable odour to it, (this minimises the chance of the setting solutions reacting with the clear coat).Next, use a sharp blade to cut the needed decals from the sheet, keeping as far away from the lettering as possible. Once you have all of the required lettering free of the main sheet, use a sharp blade (re-sharpen or replace as necessary) and working on a hard surface (I use a sheet of glass on my work desk for this), to trim away as much of the blank paper from as close as you can maneuver the blade to the lettering, using a straight down chopping motion, rather than slicing it away. If necessary, do this work under magnification (eyeglasses, Optivisor, or loupe).The reason for the two-part cutting is that slicing the image, even with a sharp blade, raises the edges along the cut line, and when you apply that decal to the model, the setting solution is often insufficient to make those edges settle completely flat onto the surface. Using a chopping motion has a couple of advantages, first that it allows you to position the tip of the blade as close as possible to the lettering, and second, that when you bring the blade down to make the cut, the chopping movement pushes the edge of the decal downward, which will allow better and easier setting of the lettering when it is time to apply that solution. Another tip to decrease the chances that your lettering job will look obvious as decals, is to trim the excess clear film from rounded letters or numerals such as B, C, O, P, 2, 3, 8, 0, etc. which are at the beginning or end of a block of lettering. F’rinstance, on a CANADIAN NATIONAL car, I would use a simple diagonal chop to remove the clear film from the top and bottom left side of the “C”, and the clear film from the “L” at the end of NATIONAL - this latter chop could be a simple diagonal from the top to the right edge of the foot, but an L-shaped cut would give even better results.The same trimming can be applied to dimensional data, too, even if you apply it in the blocks in which it’s printed. For example....CAPY 100000LD LMT 120000LT WT 49000....trim the top left corner of the “C”, the top right corner of the last “0” in the top line, and the bottom right corner of the last “0” in the bottom line with a simple diagonal chop. You will be surprised by how much difference it can make in the finished appearance.Use distilled water for soaking the decal - it's available in gallon jugs at any supermarket, and not at all expensive. This eliminates any dissolved minerals which might otherwise be present in tap water, and a gallon will do a lot of decals. Do not rush the soaking process for the decal, but allow it to release from the backing paper on its own. If it's big enough to handle with tweezers (not something small, such as a single digit for dimensional data), dip the released film into water, submerging it completely, then, as you withdraw it from the water, drag the back-side of it over the lip of the container holding the water - this helps to remove any residue left from the backing paper. Depending on the particular decal, you may want to repeat this a couple of times. Smaller decals, like blocks of dimensional data or single numerals, can be simply dipped into the water, then set on your work surface while the water frees them from the backing paper. Most decals applied using only water can be re-wet and moved an almost infinite number of times. For very small pieces of decal (a single letter or numeral, or even a period or comma, I place the dry decal near its intended place, then wet it with a drop of water on my fingertip or the end of a knife or tweezers. It can usually be slid off the backing paper easily, then maneuvered into place. Use references on the model (rivet lines, panel lines, doors, ladders, and other details) as guides to position the lettering correctly and level. Where those details aren't available, I like to cut strips of masking tape as guidelines, and when lettering with individual letters or numerals, often use a pencil to denote, on the tape, the beginning and end of each word, so that the spacing is correct. Likewise, individual letter spacing is not usually uniform, but rather depends on the particular letters and their sequence within the words. Google "kerning" for more info. Once the decals have been applied on the gloss surface and have been blotted using a clean cloth, I use a small brush to apply a fairly weak setting solution around the perimeter of each individual pieces of decal, and also on the decals’s surface - Microscale’s Microset works well for this step. Let the decals dry fully - it usually takes 10 or 15 minutes at most.Next, I use the brush-in-cap from the Solvaset bottle to apply this stronger decal setting solution, in the same manner as the previous operation. I let this dry completely (a couple hours at least, although I often leave them overnight) then use a clean cloth over my fingertip, dipped in the distilled water to wet it, then gently rub the wet cloth over each piece of the applied and set decals - this should remove any marks left by the action of the Solvaset. Use a dry portion of the same cloth to remove any remaining water from the model’s surface.After the decals have been cleaned and have fully-dried, I overspray them with another coat of clear gloss. This step may seem unnecessary, but the gloss of the decal seldom matches exactly the gloss of the surface on which it has been applied. This overspray ensures that the entire surface has a uniform finish. If you're using an airbrush for applying the clear finish, it will dry (to-the-touch, at least) very rapidly, and you can then apply the flat (or semi-gloss, if you're modelling a fairly new car) almost immediately. After this step, the decal work is completed, and the car set aside, usually at least overnight or for a day-or-so to let the clear coats fully harden. Airbrushing gives you the option of mixing that final clear coat to whatever sheen or flatness you wish for that particular model. The car can then be weathered as you wish, but unless you're weathering using oils or chalk, I'd recommend no flat overspray over the weathering, as it usually makes the weathering effects too uniform.
Wayne
Thanks everyone for all of the advice! I will be trying some microscale decals!
LastspikemikeTrust me using the point of a knife works just fine
Like saying "trust me, you don't need to wear a seat belt, just drive carefully.
Please share pictures of your work.
LastspikemikeI just successfully used that technique yesterday on a very tricky bit of pinstriping on my Trainmaster.
That sounds like a neat project.
Please share some pictures of your success.
I love to share pictures of my trainmaster.
Note that Microscale makes decals for dozens (hundreds?) of railroads, with full lettering, heralds (logo) etc. You only need an alphabet set if you're lettering it for a free-lance (pretend) railroad...and then you can buy custom decals from several makers if you wish.
Deleted