Hey Guys, Hiddy!
Need some custom freight car decals – will have to make them myself — done in HO.
Now for the questions:
What type font (style) for pre 1930?
What size (point) for reporting marks?
" " " " size, weight, build date, etc.?
This is for a freelanced short line. Not to worry about white lettering, will use vvvverrry light grey or pale blue. Under floresent light will pass for dirty white.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks! John T.
Depends on the railroad. Generally a serif font is used.
Depends on the railroad. Measure an off-the-shelf boxcar’s reporting marks.
Ditto.
Keep in mind that printer ink comes only in cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Printers simulate very light grey or pale blue by using small amounts of cyan or black ink on a white background (pieces of paper) so printing such colors on a clear decal sheet will result in a decal that looks like a grayish smudge on the side of a Boxcar Red boxcar. Unless you have one of the uber-rare printers that can print in white ink, your plan of light gray or pale blue won’t work. What many do is print decals on white decal paper using the car’s background color–creating a “negative decal” that they can blend into the surface of the car.
Jetrock answered most of the questions for you and I will back up what he said about the color selection ou are planning. All colors, accept for black, when printed on an inkjet printer, require the white background of the paper to show the true color. To see how this works, take a piece of colored paper the same color as the car you want to decal and print the light blue/grey on it. You won’t be able to see it. This is exactly how it will look when printed onto clear decal paper and applied to the car.
As for fonts, you can use what ever suits your tastes.
I use 4 point size for most of my reporting marks. I have seen smaller as well as larger used as well.
Dan Pikulski
www.DansResinCasting.com
Thanks Guys!
Will try printing in reverse. I do most things backwards anyway[:I]— I’m left-handed.
John T.