My Delton was Lettered for Santa Fe I realy didn"t like it and only used it around the Christmas Tree pulling an unlettered pullman green coach,
Picture # 1
I removed the lettering with Denatured alcohol, I started out with coton swab’s then went to a old tooth brush, and when the lettering was removed I wiped it down with dampened paper towel to remove the leftover haze.
Picture # 2
Both side’s took about half an hour total.
I plan lettering with dry transfers, once the DNRR has a realalistic RR sounding name. It will be numbered M1 and be lettered Fire crew car
This one only has about 2 hours ( for Me ) of run time on it, I picked it up on the Queen in 94 durring a show. It need’s a lot of extra work done like adding detail’s, fixing lights that kind of stuff. It run’s on My ridge line with a Aristo auto-reverse setup and for now a toy power power pack.
You can get a small compressor and air brush or get a can of sandable grey primer and get your red paint can to. Would say both get at automotive store and if you don’t see a red you like then check out home depot or other hardware store.
What the grey does is hide the deep green and you will be able to tell where you missed a spot.
Quick correction - Stan does decals, not dry transfers. Decals need to be soaked briefly in water to be applied, and prefer a glossy (or at least satin) surface. Dry transfers are simply rubbed in place on the model, and don’t care about what they’re being put over.
If you’d like to make your own dry transfers, there’s an outfit that makes a “do-it-yourself” dry transfer kit that uses a laser printer. Vance Bass reviewed it for GR a few years back: http://www.trains.com/grw/default.aspx?c=a&id=269
Finding someone to make commercial dry transfers in the US is increasingly difficult and very expensive (on the order of $75/sheet!), so this system is definitely worth looking at if you want to go the dry transfer route instead of decals. I’ve not used it myself, so I can’t personally vouch for it.
An alternative to both systems would be vinyl lettering, offered by both G-Scale Graphics and Shawmut Car Shops. I think both advertise in GR. Like dry transfers, you just stick them on where you need them. I’ve used both companies’ products, and can recommend them. Shawmut Car Shops also does custom painting, if you’re reluctant to take paint to your model yourself.
Here is a tip about signage and markings. For billboards, station name signs, advertising on the side of buildings and stained glass windows and such, I use “Vue Graf” sheets and a color laser printer. The primary drawback is not printed in white. Design the sign in whatever graphics package you’ve got in the computer. I print it in reverse image on the “Vue Graf” slide, remember that large “overhead projector” the teachers used in the 50’s & 60’s. They are still available at Staples. For hanging signs, I cut two pieces of Plexiglas the size of my finished sign. One piece is painted with white spray paint, just before it completely dries I put the printed sign printed side down into the sticky paint. An alternative would be to use Elmer’s spray adhesive; it will not cause the colors to run. I’ve been doing this far a couple of years now and have not had any problems with fading yet.
I know, someone is going to say, “that’s an expensive printer”, check around at your favorite office supply store when they put things on clearance. I was able to find an HP LaserJet 1600 for $95, OK, so it was the display model scratched up, but it works just fine and they gave me a full set of cartridges to offset the used cartridges in the machine. Look for a bargain.
Here a couple of pics of a few of the stained glass windows. Sorry but at the moment I don’t have a good pic of signs on buildings. It takes a bit of effort to hide the sides of the sign when putting it on an engine or car. Then put a bit of dull coat to kill the shine.
