All,
I am looking to renumber a set of hopper cars (club cars from my club that all have the same road number) and I was hoping I could find a set of decals that would make this job simple. I found the accurail renumbering decal sets and thought I was in business, but I did not pay close enough attention to the description and when they got here and I went to put the first one on I found out they are not on clear backing but colored to match the original accurail car.
I have not had any sucess in finding any other sets so I thought I would ask the community and see if you all have any sources. I do not care what road numbers they are but hoping to get the right size (HO 7-8"), black, and a reasonably close font to what is on the car as I am keeping all the other markings in tact.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Rick
We would like to help you but, with no idea as to the road name and font on the cars, it is impossible. Please help us help you. :)
You can use them like a 'patch out'...
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
MicroScale has alphabet sets in several fonts.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
I will suggest a rather generic solution. Consider looking for a matching font size on a decal sheet for doing locomotive numbering. Then use 3M automotive scratch remover on a wooden Q-tip to remove the last one or two numbers. This is technique sensitive but you can remove only the printed on number leaving a glossy base color to apply your new numbers. Follow up with a coat of Dull-Cote. Have used this process to re-number numerous locomotives from different manufacturers with very good results. Good Luck.....
Thank you for the replies and my apologies for not being clearer in my initial post. I am aware of the alphabet sets but I am looking for is a decal set that has multiple road numbers that can each be applied as a single decal (an example of what Accurail offers can be seen here - just four decals, two larger and two smaller, for each of twelve road numbers http://www.accurail.com/accurail/art/decals/demo.jpg). These would have been perfect if they were on clear film.
I thought about the patching idea but since I am putting together a (albeit short) unit train of ten cars I did not think having all ten of them be patched would meet my goals. I do not know what the font is but at this point I am not too concerned with that, and I am not applying any decals other than the road numbers (I was planning to leave the roadname reporting mark on the cars if I can find a reasonably similar font or I can remove them and create them from an alphabet decal set.
Thanks again for the responses, much appreciate the feedback.
Rather than cutting and pasting from a commercial "number jungle" decal sheet, this is a great time to print your own decals in the exact reporting marks and car numbers you want. They you're applying two decals per car instead of futzing around cutting out individual digits.
Having done this before, I found it looks quite realistic to just use a generic number sticker sheet. Look at real pictures of freight car numbers and it apepars that there's a larger number painted over. The new number is sometimes in a different shade of white.
That is where I am going - ordered some laserjet waterslide decal sheets and I am going to print my own and see how it goes!
There used to be a guy who had kits for the old Milwaukee rib-side boxcars. I bought a few and was very happy with them.
They came un-numbered but included decal sheets and lists of the road numbers appropriate for each car type. The decals were complete multi-digit numbers so you only had one decal for each side of the car.
These are now made by Accurail. You might contact them to see if they have any of the old decal sheets.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
rstoneking That is where I am going - ordered some laserjet waterslide decal sheets and I am going to print my own and see how it goes!
Remember, you can't print white. You might be able to get by with a printed black background surrounding blank lettering, and then paint a white rectangle on the car. When the decal is applied to the white surface, only the blank parts will show through as letters.
rstonekingThank you for the replies and my apologies for not being clearer in my initial post. I am aware of the alphabet sets but I am looking for is a decal set that has multiple road numbers that can each be applied as a single decal (an example of what Accurail offers can be seen here - just four decals, two larger and two smaller, for each of twelve road numbers http://www.accurail.com/accurail/art/decals/demo.jpg). These would have been perfect if they were on clear film.
Walthers passenger cars come with a set just like the link you show for Accurail.
They are all 5 digit numbers, all start with 2. The sheet of decals is about 3" x4".
There must be at least 60 different groups of numbers, 5 digits each.
Mike.
My You Tube
Mike,
Are you saying that currently offered Walterhs passenger cars come with decal sheets? I took a quick look at the Walthers web site and did not see any indidcation of that, beyond the description of thier WalthersProto passenger cars that say 'with decals' in the description (but provide no additional information than that) and those cars are $85+, and not even available.
Thanks for the reply,
Well I don't know if the current run has this, but what I have was bought off Ebay, still in the older style Walthers box (not sure how to describe the box) and there were no road numbers on the car, just this small sheet of numbers you could put on the car yourself, along with names of the car.
These were Amtrak decorated cars, and some big sky blue GN cars.
Tomorrow, when I light up the train room again, I will take pictures of the decal sheets, post them, and if you can use them, I'll send them to you, as I don't need them.
The numbers are smaller than your typical freight car numbers.
Here's the sheets I have left over. These came with Walthers cars, decorated for Amtrak. The cars were not numbered, as they supplied the decal sheet, and you numbered them the way you wanted to.
The numbers are about 3/32" high. There are 2 sheets, the one you see, and a smaller one.
If you can use them, send me a PM with your address, and I'll drop them in an envelope and mail today.