I’m new at Dry transfer & want to do the number boards. The two engines that I would be doing are Athearn’ s for some reference. Would I need to file them smooth to get the decal to stick or for ease of use? Can you cut apart the Dry transfers to get the right engine number like you can wet decals? Thanks all , this forum has helped me alot.
Has anyone ever done this?
I am not sure that dry transfers would be good for this application. As you must “burnish” the paint letter or number onto the model surface from the back side of the clear plastic backing sheet it really works best with a fair sized flat area to work on. You must keep the sheet firmly in place while burnishing so cutting into small pieces doesn’t work very well although I suppose you could try to hold the small cut piece steady with a pair of tweezers. I assume the surface you wi***o apply the number to is recessed below the surrounding area like a lamp housing or body surface. The dry transfer backing sheet is fairly stiff and would not be easy to bend down into a confined space.
This is not to say it can’t be done. Anything is possible if you want to work at it that hard. I think decals would be the way to go. With dry tranfers you only get one shot at placement and if you miss you then have to remove the error which can be a pain. Also very small print dry transfers sometimes are prone to “blocking up” or not “releasing” completely leaving a somewhat blurred letter or number.
Hope this helps. I use dry transfers often and like them very much but I’m not sure I would try to use them the way you want to. If you have any questions about my observations send me an email.
Ben
Wolf:
I’m a big fan of try transfers for their advantages over decals in most uses. In this case however I agree with Ben that you would likely be better served using water slide decals.
Whichever you decide I wish you good luck with them.
Randy
[#ditto]to Ben and Randy, my experience is exactley the same as thev’e had, so thats three votes for decals! [^][:)][:)]
One way to use the dry transfers might be to apply them to a clear styrene sheet (or whatever clear material you like), then cut that out to fit into the number board recess. You might need a gloss coat over top in order to set the numerals “behind the glass”. Doing it this way, you have minimal interference with positioning the numbers, and you can place something with guidlines behind the clear sheet as an aid.