I have a Bowser 100 Ton triple hopper data only, that I would like to add railroad name decals too. It is a large hearld decal with the name of the road. The car has external vertical posts on the side. How do I put the decal over the posts? Do I measure and cut it fit inbetween the posts?
Thanks.
I decaled an undecorated PS-2 covered hopper. I simply applied the decals over the posts and put on the setting solution, and it turned out all right. Just be aware that the microscale letters REALLY did not like me…[:-^]
After all, the 1:1 railroads would paint the letters over the posts, right?
sfb
You can use Solvaset to get decals to snug down over the ribs but I tried that on a gondola years ago and the decal didn’t look right. IMO, you need a decal that is made to fit over ribs or cut the decal so that each piece fits between the ribs. It depends on how deep the ribs though. If they are tall, it will cause the decal to pull together and not look right. That happened to me on the gondola. Of course if you cut the decal, there won’t be any lettering over the tops of the ribs.
I did this a couple of times with the great big GN goat herald–the last “modernized” one. I did it with a black decal placed on a yellow side (reefer) and a white decal placed on a blue side (covered hopper). I slit the decals vertically with a razor blade. There were three kinds of pieces: the ones that went on top of the ribs, the ones that went on the flat field, and the “leftover” ones that accounted for the horizontal distance of the vertical rise of the rib. I tried it first without making the leftovers, and the round herald came out not-round–hence the leftover concept.
Once the leftovers were tossed and the other pieces applied, the vertical parts of the ribs needed attention. I brush painted these. The black was easy; but for the white, I found I had to add a bit of blue to the paint or it wouldn’t match the applied decal color.
It really was no big deal to do–you might want to try it. It looks great.
Ed
I am not sure if this was what 7j43k is talking about, but years ago (a decade or more?), I believe Microscale made a UPFE reefer set for the then ubiquitious Athearn 57ft Mech Reefer. The decals (especially the UP shield, but I thnk some of the lettering was too) was made slightly distorted (enlongated), so that you could simply lay the decals over the ‘outside posts’ (with the usual Solvaset/Microsol application) and they would look perfect (the distortion of the decal printing compensated for the thickness of the posts). I would guess other decal set came like this, but remember that decal was designed for a very specific model, so they knew how they could compensate)
I’ve seen decals like that, and they look like they’d be great. But they’ll only fit on the one model they’re designed for. Actually, I did mine WAY more than a decade ago–back when Athearn came out with these cars and hadn’t yet done the modern-goat GN version yet. Those came out so well that I then did one of Athearn’s old P-S 54’ covered hoppers in the GN Big Sky scheme. And, since I used a “basic” decal, it would fit on any model. And I wouldn’t have to wait for someone to do the specific one I needed.
Ed
I think the question is whether or not you want the name to be distorted. If it doesn’t bother you that much, then put the decal over the posts, otherwise, you will have to cut the decal to fit between the posts, and then paint the posts to make it look like it’s one decal. That may be a little more than you plan to do, as it requires more work. Why not try and put the decal over the posts at first just to see what it looks like.
Thanks, it is a deep post so I think I will try cutting the decal. It would probably look very distored if I apply it over the posts.
I agree you should cut the decal if is a deep post. I usually line up the decal over the post and then use a razor knife to slice alongside the post on both sides. Solvaset will work well over rivets alone. Here is an Athearn bluebox 40’ boxcar that I custom painted and decaled yesterday. You can see how well the Solvaset worked on the PRR herald. -Stan 