Can someone direct me to a good source & selection for Decals and Detail parts.
I’m customizing an old desiel engine but I don’t know exactly how I will decorate it yet.
The engine is a FP-40, I think? It is by Williams and probaly 8yrs old.
Any ideas are wellcome.
Thanks
Pat Zak
Walthers is the best place I can think of. A copy of their catalog for O scale should last a couple of years as there aren’t that many changes to the kind of things you’re looking for.
www.walthers.com and you could do a little searching.
Speaking of searching Pat, good news and bad news. I got to the bottom of the pile in the garage, but it wasn’t there. I’m still looking though. [swg] I WILL find it!!!
Are you looking to custom make them on an inkjet printer?
Alan
eZak, with making my own decals I haven’t had much luck with anything but black. Could be just the printer I was using, but the colored ones don’t come out as well.
I like Microscale Decals the best of all. Good quality and thin film base. Go to microscale.com and you can search their online catalog. Not everything available has a picture, but many items do. Now the Williams unit you want to redo is pretty close to scale, so you can use 0 scale decals. I find myself having to mix and match decal sets from various scales to do some of what I want to do. Microscale also makes sheets of clear decal stock for printing your own decals.
There’s another company called Rail Graphics that makes decal sets with capacity info for doing rolling stock… they make sets for various periods in various colors. They will also custom print decals for you. Their website is www.railgraphicsdecals.com. Reasonable prices too.
Be forewarned, I don’t know if you’ve ever done any custom painting work yourself, but decals need a glossy paint surface to adhere well to. So use glossy paint or if you use flat or satin finish, add a couple coats of clear gloss before you set about doing decals.
Microscale makes a couple different strengths of decal solution. Get both. Also keep a bottle of the Walthers solution on hand, and see if you can get a bottle of the Champ solution too. The Champ solution is strong and is real helpful when doing decaling over a highly uneven surface.
Precision Scale and Detail Associates both make a variety of little do-dads and such to make an otherwise simple engine look much better. You may even be able to order some detail kinds of parts from Lionel or K-Line depending on what they have available.
Checking the Walthers Catalog is probably a good idea for other companies.
Good luck with your project.
Oh PS, Microscale list prices went up quite a bit it seems to me. Check their webiste for what you want, then try giving
Hey Pat, I found some addresses for you for companies that make detail parts:
Grandt Line Products: www.grandtline.com
Precision Scale: www.precisionscaleco.com
Thanks Guys!
I see I have alot of info to go over. And a few questions.
AlanHN and others,
‘IF’ I were to do my own how would I go about it?
Would small type be readable?
How much detail can I expect?
I have a Epson CX6400.
brianel027 and others,
What is decal solution and why do I need it?
What is the best way to install decals?
What about over a detailed surfaces?
Should the decals be top coated?
It is easy with WORD
I use CorelDraw to create the decal then print on the decal paper.
You have two types; one with a clear backing and one with white backing since you can’t print white with an inkjet
You print on the decal sheet then fix it with the fixative that they send
the stuff is called SUPERCAL BY MICROFORMAT see www.paper-paper.com
paper(hyphen)paper.com
Alan
If you don’t know who makes a specific part you are looking for, Caboose Hobbies has a searchable database that allows you to search for that part and will return all of the ones made by manufacturers that they carry which is very extensive. I find it more specific if not as extensive as the Walther’s search engine.
http://www.caboosehobbies.com
Pete