Decals for number boards?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Went to the Microscale website, and looked through page after page of decals without any luck so far. Is there an EASY way to determine the correct decals for the number boards of the Rivarossi Cab Forward? Thanks for any suggestions.

Jeff

2

What? No one has ever decalled number boards before?

3

I can’t comment on the Rivarossi, but I just did some F units with Accu Cal decals.They came with the proper size #'s for the number boards. Clear back ground with white #'s.
Woodland Scenic makes sheets of dry transfer #'s in all different sizes and fonts.

4

Here’s the best collection of numberboard decals I know of;
http://www.shellscale.com/numberboard%20page.htm
Don’t know about steam engines, guess you’ll have to compare to photographs.

Good luck,
Todd Templeton

5

Thanks Todd. I didn’t know any body made anything like that.Thats WAY easier than what I’ve been doing.

6

Decal paper and an inkjet printer, works really well. Or I have even done just straight prints from a B/W laser printer (on regular paper) then glued them right on the surface with elmer’s (dries clear).

Here is one straight from the B/W laser printer

In this one 5833’s boards are printed on decal paper from an ink jet printer, then sprayed with CLEAR krylon.

Hope this helps or at least gives you some options
cheers, and happy railroading!

7

Thanks to all for the suggestions/help! I may just have to give the printer idea a try (it’ll be fun to experiment).[:D]

Jeff

8

There was an article a few months back in one of the train magazines (N-Scale, I think). They used Microsoft Excel and recommended 4 point for N-scale, with 4.5 point being okay. If you are in HO, experiment with 6-7 point and see what it looks like. If you want black numbers on a white board, no problem. If you want white on black, Excel will do it but make sure the printer you are using will do very black black. In the article, they took the file to a professional print shop and had them make a proof on a commercial quality laser printer, then ran photocopies of that using decal paper.

Excel is good because it uses cells that can be adjusted, allowing you to get as many on the page as you want very easily.

9

dano99a
Nice job.