Custom Locomotives

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I hope to buy some undecorated proto locos, spray paint them, and add decals. So my question is which READILY AVAILABLE spray paints and decals should I use. I want to spell out Salmon Lake Railway so should I use a decal alphabet, dry transfer alphabet, or have custom decals made (if this option how do I go about making these)?

[Fergmiester]

Testors sells decal paper for your printer. I haven't tried it yet but others have had success.

[ndbprr]

I don't know if you can find a service but I had my own decals made. Mine were done many years ago by Virnex and I still have most of them. all you really need to find is someone who will do the silk screening for you and supply them with the decal film. The price is a heck of lot easier to bear than individual letters.

[Anonymous]

I dont have a colour printer and silk screening would be WAY too much

[Noah Hofrichter]

www.scalerailgraphics.com made custom decals before and hopefully will begin to again soon. You can email them with what you want for a quote.

Hope this helps, Noah[:P][8D][:)]

[Anonymous]

For best results I suggest you have decal sets professionally made to order. Several decal/transfer makers offer this service for a modest ( relatively ) fee. If what you want is standard lettering evenly spaced it isn't necessary to send them finished artwork. I prefer dry transfers which have the drawback of a steeper learning curve to apply well.

As to painting; if you don't have an air brush many makers of modeling paints offer a line of spray can colors. Major drawback from my view is the inability to custom mix colors to your individual color scheme or to thin colors for weathering effects.

You might consider buying an "El Cheapo" air brush from Harbor Freight ( www.harborfreight.com ) or some other source. It should do the job for you.

All this may seem considerable extra work for a single project but you will eventually have to do all the steps in any event.

Good Luck

Randy

[Jetrock]

You can get an inexpensive color inkjet printer for about $50, which will of course be usable for all sorts of things besides a single set of decals--signs, printing out photos for backdrops, and of course more decals!

An airbrush is also a worthwhile investment for painting engines--spray cans are a bit rough a tool for such a job. Again, a starter one costs $50 (or less), but you can use it for lots of projects--think of it as an investment.

Trying to label a loco with individual letters or dry transfers is a pain in the neck (and other portions of the anatomy) that I recommend trying to avoid if at all possible.

[novacoach]

For good results using spray cans warm the can in a jug of water for a short while -not too hot of course - the spray is a lot finer. Using this technique I have matched car spray colours to various B&M maroon CP red , MRL Blue and other colours and got good results -finish is good for decals followed by dulcote. Their blacks, primers including red ( for brick work as well), metallics and whites are all good value too.