Dry Transfer Lettering

[krondor123]

Does anyone know of a supplier of letters or numbers for lettering and numbering cars. I have bought woodland scenics dry lettering and use only the 1/16 size letters. Right now the other size letters don't help me. Lettering my hopper cars could prove to be very expensive. I need  a full page of dry transfers. I have to pay about seven dollars or so per car right now. Being on fixed income, at this rate my fleet will take apx 2 yrs to letter. I prefer not to use decals.

[DSchmitt]

Chartpak might have something you can use. 

http://www.pcbsupplies.com/dry-transfer/

 

[doctorwayne]

I'm a longtime fan of dry transfer lettering, starting with Letraset Alphabet and Numeral sheets.  I had assumed them to no longer be around, but a quick google search inspired by your query yielded THIS, and I'm sure that you will find more.  
I still have a 133 page Letraset catalogue which lists over 250 typefaces in multiple sizes.  While they offered mini-sheets, the ones which I used were 10"x15".  Depending on the fonts you wished to use, the typeface could run from 6pt to at least 288pt.  Most lettering was available in black or white.

Eventually, I decided to get custom lettering made, and since I had been using dry transfer lettering sets from C-D-S, I went to them for the custom lettering.  C-D-S ceased operations several years ago, but their inventory and equipment was purchased by OZARK MINIATURES.  (You'll need to scroll down the page a bit to get the the listings for C-D-S.)

I contacted them yesterday via e-mail, looking for alphabet sets to letter a locomotive, but have not yet heard back from them.  I'm trying to match locomotives done previously, so am looking for sets of a particular font, in two different sizes.  
They mention alphabet sets as "Letters and Stripes" in the list, but that particular item is not a clickable link like those listings for lettering sets to do particular freight or passenger cars.  By all means, contact them regarding alphabet sets - the more of us making a noise, the more likely they'll reply. 

This is one of the locomotives like the one for which I need similar lettering...

Here's a boxcar lettered using Letraset for the reporting marks and car number, C-D-S for the dimensional data, and custom lettering from C-D-S for the herald and slogan...

...and a modified Accurail car lettered with a C-D-S set from their catalogue...

My second batch of custom lettering included the large reporting marks and numbers (Letraset was getting difficult to find locally), but I later backdated my layout to the late '30s, and ordered a third custom version with smaller lettering and heralds, and no slogan, as seen on this much-modified Athearn boxcar...

That lettering has been pretty-well used-up, and I recently ordered a similar version, in decal-form, from Rail Graphics.  
I know that you're not a fan of decals, but they do a very nice job and you could have sets made to your specifications or choose from several options which can be customised to suit your needs.
For the ones which I had made, each of the 25 sheets will letter up to five cars.  
If you do decide to check them out, the owner is retiring at the end of the year, so don't wait too long if you decide to place an order.

Wayne

[gmpullman]

I have had good luck with Clover House dry transfers.

http://cloverhouse.com/Store/

Here is the dry transfer menu page:

http://cloverhouse.com/Store/index.php?cPath=64

 

Hope that helps,

Ed

[BigDaddy]

I found this site with a Google search.  It doesn't say they do custom work, but they have alphabets and freight car data.  http://greenwayproducts.com/greenway-products/train-customizing/campbell-dry-transfer-decals/

DIY dry transfers looks like it's more involved than DIY decals.  There are custom DT places, their sites aren't as MR oriented or user friendly as a Rail Graphics site. http://customrubontransfers.com/ However that doesn't mean they can't make what you need.  A single color 4x11 sheet is $20.

Graphic design has exploded since the days of my apple 2 computer.  Most of what we need as model railroaders is letters.  Font, font size and colors are the only variables.  Maybe you require a custom logo that would take a iittle design thought, but most of what we would want is pretty simple.

[SeeYou190]

Is there a reason you would not consider custom made screen printed water slide decals?

.

-Kevin

.

[krondor123]

Who does the custom decals? What would be the price range?

 

[willy6]

Dave's Decals has some great decals and he will make custom decals. The details for custom decals are on his web site. His website is davart.net or google Daves Decals.

[Medina1128]

Wayne, I noticed that your pictures are stored on Photobucket. Did you pay to upgrade to allow you to post to 3rd party sites?

[doctorwayne]

Medina1128

Wayne, I noticed that your pictures are stored on Photobucket. Did you pay to upgrade to allow you to post to 3rd party sites?

 

I originally, since 2004, had a free account at photobucket, but several years ago, I found that my monthly allotment of bandwidth was being used-up in less than two weeks, with the result that the pictures posted on-line disappeared until the bandwidth was restored.  
I didn't have a clue what bandwidth was, but when I contacted photobucket, it was explained that people viewing the photos was what used the bandwidth.  It seemed unusual that this had changed so suddenly, and after I pestered them enough, they sent me a transcript of my bandwidth useage.
Much of it was for this site and for Big Blue, another forum on which I'm fairly active.  However, the bulk of it was from sites such as Google, which send out "bots" to search for photos to use when folks like us do searches for pictures of trains.  If you type "boxcar photos" into google, chances are you'll see hundreds of photos, some of which are mine.

It was suggested by photobucket that I open a paid account, and their cheapest option at that time was Plus 20, at around thirty bucks a year:  upgraded storage capacity and unlimited bandwidth.  That sounded reasonable enough to me, although I didn't really need more storage capacity (with about 5500 photos stored there, I had used only 11% of the capacity - my photos don't have a very large file size, as they're mainly intended for on-line use).

When photobucket sprung their new policy, I was told that as long as I kept my account up-to-date, I would be afforded third-party hosting until Dec. 31st, 2018.
My renewal date was August 1st, but when I attempted to do so, I learned that my credit card had been compromised.  I contacted the card provider, explaining to them the urgency of the situation, and the representative agreed to temporarily re-activate the card to allow that one transaction - he remained on the 'phone while I completed it.
I continued to carry on posting photos without issue for a week or so, then received a message from tech support at photobucket inquirying why I hadn't renewed my subscription in time.  I explained about the credit card issue, so I was given another chance to renew, without penalty, and did so using another card.  Things carried on as usual, until I got another message from the same tech person, noting that they saw my latest attempt to renew, but that it had failed due to technical difficulties at photobucket.  Photo posting on-line  during that time had continued without difficulties.
I was then offered an opportunity to again re-new (and had, by this time, my replacement credit card), but the Plus 20 account no longer existed, and I would have to upgrade to their Plus 50.  However, I was offered a discount code, so the price was only a few bucks more than before, and my third-party hosting privileges were "grandfathered" until the end of 2018.

 

While I thought photobucket's change in policy to be poorly executed, leaving many high & dry, with little notice of the changes, I cannot say enough good things about the tech support there:  I've had excellent response from them, whether with the free account or the paid ones.
When my privileges expire, I'll simply remove all of my photos from their site.
I don't think that I'll bother looking for another site, though, as I think that most are likely to follow photobucket's route.  
I will continue posting photos on Big Blue, though, as that site allows attachments, as long as they're re-sized to their specifications.  
I'll likely still check in here, too, but simply without the pictures.

 

Wayne

[DSchmitt]

gmpullman

I have had good luck with Clover House dry transfers.

http://cloverhouse.com/Store/

Here is the dry transfer menu page:

http://cloverhouse.com/Store/index.php?cPath=64

 

Hope that helps,

Ed

 

Darn, how could I forget Clover House.

I visited Russ at his home, several times before he retired and sold the business.

[BigDaddy]

Wayne wouldn't getting your own website be more cost effective and reliable?

[doctorwayne]

BigDaddy

Wayne wouldn't getting your own website be more cost effective and reliable?

 

I dunno....never thought about it, really.  I doubt that I could keep it interesting for very long, and I certainly wouldn't even attempt it on this old computer.

 

Wayne

[BigDaddy]

I wasn't thinking of it as a destination site for How To Model, just a depository for pictures.

[doctorwayne]

BigDaddy

I wasn't thinking of it as a destination site for How To Model, just a depository for pictures.

 

That's interesting, as I wasn't aware of that capability.  It may be worth investigating.  Thanks for that suggestion.

 

Wayne

[dknelson]

One thing I never could do to my satisfaction (well OK there are dozens of such things, but here is one in particular) and that is use dry transfers on scribed wood siding.  The act of burnishing also damaged or changed the wood.  For that matter decals on scribed wood siding don't work all that well for me either.

Dave Nelson

[SeeYou190]

dknelson

dry transfers on scribed wood siding

.

I was never happy with any results I had with dry transfers. My biggest problem was holding the transfer paper still while I burnished the image. All my stripes ended up crooked, and arched lettering was a nightmare. If you had a letter out of place, you were cooked.

.

Decals allow you the ability to reposition the image until you are happy.

.

-Kevin

.