Okay, guys, I’ve read many of the archived posts regarding the issue of printing white lettering- as in, unless you have an ALPS printer (about as common as an 8 track audio machine) or want to monkey around with dry transfer lettering, you are out of luck. While the option of dry transfer lettering may be feasible for relatively smooth surfaces, such as box car or tank car sides, it proves far less adaptable to diesel hoods, where doors, hinges and ventilation corrugation offers a very uneven surface. So- here is my thought experiment: If you compromise by using black outline white lettering ( various fonts ), then print on clear decal paper and seal with gloss, as is the usual procedure, the only remaining “problem areas” would be the openings in characters such as O-P-R-D-B-Q-A-4-6-8-9-0 (capitals), as the black outlining of a letter such as E, would allow the background car color to show around the letter. If working with a generic model railroad color such as mineral red or flat black, minor paint touch up would the fill th voids of the characters listed above. Before I waste decal paper, I would appreciate any input on this concept. Cedarwoodron
Faster, cheaper and easier than making your own or finding an ALPS printer - call Rail Graphics and have them made:
Top quality and good service.
Sheldon
I fail to see how that will give you white lettering.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you would apply the decal with outline black lettering over a small white-painted area, after which touch up of the white voids would be done. Cedarwoodron
Railgraphics uses a silkscreen process, so no special printer is required. I had some white decals made up that were primarily company names. It was not that expensive to do, but it would be cost prohibitive if one only needed one set of something.
Getting back to the original question, I’m not sure I understand the process. Was the idea to use white decal paper with only the letter outline in black? I think that outline would show and not be prototypical, unless the prototype happened to have outlined lettering. And how would this translate when the lettering gets down to dimensional data size?
Maxman:
My post was addressing the original question and your reply was posted while I was composing mine. Sorry.
As the Terminator says, “no problemo”!
While I no longer have an 8-track player, I do still have my Alps printer. However, I recognize that the Alps printer will one day go the way of all things. When that mournful day arrives, I plan to follow the suggestion of Tom. at my LHS, Doc’s Caboose in Kansas City. He uses dry transfers as regular water-slide decals, by burnishing an entire sheet of dry transfers onto standard clear decal paper, then cuts them out and applies them as though they were normal decals. I’ve seen his work and I can definitely verify that the process works, and works well. Tom is a first-class modeller, and his decals look painted on.
Seems like plans to apply white paint and then apply clear outline decals, filling in background colors as needed, would be tedious in the extreme, and very problematic when it comes to dealing with capacity and dimensional data.
OP: Gary, that’s an idea I could use- dry transfer white lettering on a clear decal sheet and then applying. Question- does your hobby shop friend clear coat (with gloss) the dry transfer decal sheet, as I normally do after printing decal setups? I use Bel clear decal paper and then clear coat with Krylon gloss clear. Are the dry transfer letters/ characters flexible under the clear coat, as are the inkjet-printed ones? Please let me know… See- that’s why this was a thought experiment, to save the time, trouble and waste of materials experimenting for real, when there may well be a better method. Besides, thinking is free; the decal paper is not! Cedarwoodron
Why wouldn’t you just print very thin letters in a color very close to your hull color and then trim them as close as possible?
Here is an RS-1 I painted and lettered for my work train…when I did this I was waiting for decals to arrive…so I used an older set of woodland scenics dry transfer lettering I applied to clear decal sheet…then applied just like a decal…although I did use 5 or 6 applications of solv-a-set to make them snuggle down.
I have used dry transfers on clear decal paper in the past, but why not buy water slide decal sets from Microscale or other decal manufacturers? The Microscale site has 8 pages of alphabet and number decal sets in various fonts and colors
http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ALPHA
That is exactly what I did for my GP30`s.
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