Hi all,
I was just wondering how to make posters and signs and apply them to my buildings.
Thanks, Happy Warrior
When I visited the Franklin & South Manchester Railroad 15 years ago, George Sellios explained to a group of us how he would get the signs from old magazines, cut them out, sand the back of the page until it was as thin as tissue paper, and then apply it to the building.
Of course, with the internet today, you can download or make your own posters and then apply them to your building.
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Mike Kieran
Port Able Railway
I just do what the majority of the voices in my head vote on.
Warrior,
A quick search of this site probably would have shown you hundreds of related posts.
The short answer to your question -- assuming you don't want to buy them pre-made -- is to create them using some form of graphics software, PowerPoint, Draw, Paint, etc.) and print them on your printer. You can use either regular paper (use the higher grade, smoother finish paper) or on special decal paper. Spray them with a color fixing spray and add to layout or rolling stock as required. You can glue them straight on using white glue or tacky glue, or apply them to a styrene backing and apply them.
You can also buy commercial software for making signs, or check some of the threads here.
Perhaps you can give us a little more detail on what you're trying to do, and we can give more specific advice.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Ctvalley,
I am trying to create a sign With the Cement Australia logo on it to replace the Medusa Cement sign on the ho scale walthers kit.
if you have a color printer I have that logo
I have a color printer thats inkjet, do i need laser, and what do u mean by i have that
HappyWarrior Ctvalley, I am trying to create a sign With the Cement Australia logo on it to replace the Medusa Cement sign on the ho scale walthers kit.
I looked at the model on the Walther's website. That one would be fairly simple to do. I assume there's a piece in the kit which the sign mounts to. The kit probably includes a decal with the Medusa Cement logo, but you can do this one with a simple piece of paper.
Create the sign on your computer. Graphics software is easier, but you could use a word processor. Size it appropriately (always use 100% scale, and use the rulers provided with the software to get the size correct). Print several copies on piece of plain paper. Backgrounds other than white are possible, but they use a lot of ink, or you can buy appropriately colored paper from a printing company or office supply store.
If you're using an ink-jet -- and most of us do -- let the printout dry for about 15 minutes to make sure it's good and dry, then spray it with a color-fixer (you can use sprays designed for decals, or the ones sold in art supply stores for fixing and stabilizing chalk drawings and watercolor paintings. Let this dry for 24 hours, to be safe.
Your other option is to create a print file and have a commercial printer actually create the printout for you (although a lot of these folks use water soluble inks now, too). You can also send them to a commercial company to have decals made, although the minimum production run may be an issue here. Obviously, these options are more expensive.
For your purposes, you can probably just cut out the sign with a hobby knife and glue it on with tacky glue (I use Aleene's Tacky Glue, widely available at art supply stores -- basically, just standard white glue from which some of the water has been removed, so you get a lot of initial "grab"). Glue your sign to the backing piece and apply to your model. If the sigh thus created is too thick, use a piece of very fine sandpaper (600 grit) to thin it out before you cut it out.
You can also use essentially the same process to create your own decal. Inkjet decal paper is available from hobby supply companies (Microscale, Testors, and Evan Design and probably other brands, and comes in both clear and white backgrounds. Just substitute the decal paper for the plain paper in the process above.
Good luck.