I am putting Champs decals on a 100T 3 bay hopper. The hopper has vertical beams on the exterior. I am having some difficulty cutting the decal to go around the posts and therefore lining them up so they are even. Does anyone have suggestions on the best techniques to apply a decal to fright cars with external posts?
If your decals are text, it’s pretty easy - just cut the decal apart where it runs into the post/rib, and apply the halves one side at a time, lining the second half up with the first, by eye. The ol’ Mark I eyeball is the correct tool for this type of project. For instance, the capacity data is often split in this type of situation, with the CAPY, LD LMT and LT WT text on one side, and the actual numbers on the other side of a post. If a herald is to be applied, it would usually be between the posts. The real railroads had the same issues you have with trying to wrap a herald around a post.
A couple of useful tools for aligning lettering (decals or dry transfers) is a set of dividers and a roll of masking tape. Lay out a strip of masking tape, sticky side down, on a sheet of clean glass. Keep the tape as straight as possible. Using a straightedge and a sharp blade, remove both edges of the tape - they get dinged, collect fuzz and dirt, and the adhesive near the edges sometimes is dried out if the tape has been around for a while.
Next, set the dividers to a width slightly less than the distance between either the top or bottom of the place on the carside where the lettering will be placed and the corresponding top or bottom edge of the car. You can also use rivets, hinges, and other details as reference points - the idea is to use a known straight line on the car, then cut a strip of tape, one edge of which will align with that known straight line, and the other, parallel, edge which will lie just slightly below (or above) the location of the lettering you’re going to apply. Use the dividers to transfer the measurements from the carside to the tape, then cut the tape using your sharp blade and straightedge.
Depending on the amount of clear decal film around your lettering (or the flexibility of the carrier paper on dry transfers) that “width slightly less than…” will vary. The idea is to provide a straight and level line as close as possible to where the lettering will be applied, as it’s a great aid to the ol’ Mark I eyeball.
Dry tranfers:
Decals:
The tape is not only useful for maintaining vertical alignment, but also for spacing multiple word lettering on such things as passenger car letterboards, locomotive tenders, or diesel carbodies. After you’ve cut the tape to the pr