Yep, BN7150 is correct, the Turtle Creek Central railroad is a fictitious line created for a Model Railroader magazine project railroad from January through April 2003. The decals came with one of the issues. Microscale made decals for this fictional line which can still be purchased (MC-5001). I added data from Microscale (87-1). I picked this railroad as my first decal test project because my wife and I occasionally rent a cabin in the Hocking Hills of Ohio called Turtle Creek cabin. My wife got a kick out of seeing the name on the box car.
OK, I decided to completely redo this box car. I stripped the paint and decals using QCS Model Safe. I then repainted it using Micro-Mark air box car red. I spayed the car with Tamiya Clear after the paint had dried for a day. I applied the same decal sets from Microscale using Micro Set. This time I let the decals dry completely overnight. I applied several Micro Sol coats over three days. I then followed wjstixâs suggestion and took a razer down the lines of the wood panels across the decals followed by more Mirco Sol. I let that cure overnight and in the morning applied a coat of Tamiya Clear Flat.
All in all, I think the results are much better than my first attempt. The photograph from my cell phone does not do the car justice. It looks a lot better on the layout then in the photograph.
Now I am working on doing decals for a Copper Range railroad box car.
I have also been applying number and name decals to my Union Pacific and Milwaukee Road Walthers passenger cars. I did not spray them with gloss or flat but just applied the decals and used some Micro Sol the next day. Basically, following the Walthers instructions. These came out OK. If you get real close you can see the decals compared to the factory lettering, but from six inches away it is very difficult to see the difference.
I think I have overcome my fear of decals. Thanks for all the advice and support.
Hey Brian, Iâve used 3 or 4 different sources for graffiti decals, but the company that stands out for the best quality is Fusion Scale Graphics in Tennessee. Let me explain why I think they have the best stuff. For starters, their decals are printed in a manner that allows you to use them on light and dark colored rolling stock, and the colors arenât distorted. Other decal companies use a system that distorts the colors. Secondly, if you use very warm water to soak your decals in, theyâll easily come off the backing paper in about 7-8 seconds. Iâve actually had to wait for 10 minutes with some other competitor decal company. Youâd think I work there will this glowing review, but please believe me that Iâm just a modeler like you thatâs found a great company to get decals from. The last thing is their pricing is very competitive, plus you can have custom decals made. Hereâs a custom decal that I had them make for me. Check it out!
Contact them and say you want decals in O scale reduced to 17/64ths as a custom job, and that you wonât mind if they decide to âpublishâ the remastered set as a new S scale productâŚ
Hmmm⌠yes, HO scale decals would be too small and O scale would be too big. Iâd reach out and ask if they can print their graffiti sheets in 1/64th scale. That way itâs not a custom job, but maybe more people modeling âsâ scale would buy them.
JPD, I was very surprised to read that you restarted over from the painting, because it was possible to make it look good from the first state. I thought I was giving you careful advice after analyzing your previous comments, but itâs not easy. There are other forum participants besides me.
So, Iâll give you five tips for future reference.
(1) Use Micro-Set only if the adhesive of the decal film has come off.
(2) When removing a decal, first put Scotch tape or masking tape over it. Then remove the tape and the decal will come off.
(3) If silvering occurs, poke the area with a sewing needle. Then apply Micro Sol. Use a razor blade as a last resort, as it will cut the lettering and create gaps.
(4) I recommend water-based acrylic paints to fix lettering. I like Vallejo products.
(5) The reporting mark on the top of the end of the boxcar should be attached in a position that can be seen from the roof walk.
Hey BN7150, yes I did. It wasnât necessary to do that but I commend your good eye in spotting that. The only reason I did that is because I wanted a smooth surface to work with. Since it was a custom ordered decal I didnât want to use Micro-Sol on it. Iâve messed up some decals using that solvent before. But in retrospect I really didnât need to do that because the rivets were small anyway.
The problem was that I had sprayed the model with a coat of clear gloss and then clear flat. I tried using Micro-Sol, but it could not get through the layers of clear gloss and flat.
It was no problem removing the paint and decals using QCS Model Safe which I was curious to try. (By the way, mixed results with this product. It worked fine on this box car and another one that had been painted with acrylics, but when I tried it on a factory painted tender it basically melted it. And yes, I followed the limited directions. So, use it with caution.)
Thanks for the additional tips though. The Copper Range car I am working on now I did install the end reporting marks higher so it would be visible from the roof walk. I think it is too late to try the Scotch tape trick on the Turtle Creek car because it is already sealed with clear flat.
Thanks for the detailed explanation, JPD.
If Micro-Sol doesnât work on the clear coat, poking it with a sewing needle will do the trick. Also, Scotch tape works even if you have a clear coat. Keep that in mind.
It was HO right up until Brian_Best said he wanted Fusion decals in S scale⌠or seemed to. I suggested how he could get that company to make them, and perhaps stock them. Other suggestions followed up on that.
The advice in most of the original thread was, and remains, HO-specific in context, and it might be advisable to break the S-scale part of the discussion into its own new thread (as it seems to have little if any relevance to a âmortal fear of decalingâ).
