Number board problem

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I decided to prepare an HO UP E8A-B set in advance of the Walthers City engines instead of waiting out the 14-18 months for all the cars to arrive. BLI and Lifelike both made UP E8A-B sets around 2005, but I couldn’t find any, so I bought a new set of LL Rock Islands because they have the same body and stripe colors. Successfully removed the RI logos and numbers, and put on the Microscale UP decals with no problem. Except:

The decals Microscale provides for lighted number boards are not high or wide enough to cover the LL boards properly, leaving it necessary to paint (?) around the numbers. Not being expert with decals in the first place, I have not been able to assemble three separate water decals and make decent looking boards (104 for the City of Los Angeles trains) this way.

I’d be happy either to find anyone who can do a clean job making these boards for me, or failing that, a source for better decals and some hints on using them.

Thanks

Hal

2

Shellscale Decals may have something that would fit http://www.shellscale.com/ They are for some modern prototypes, but check the fonts and sizes

3

Hello Hal,

The Shellscale Decals are nice, but the white on black number boards are labeled as not suitable for illumination. If you want the numbers to light up, I suggest that you try Champ set X-59, diesel “bugboard” numbers. These have the white numerals reversed out of a black top layer, and light can shine through the white. Look for Champ Decals at www.minot.com/champ.

Have a great weekend,

Andy

4

You should be able to paint the borders of the numberboards (which I assume are clear plastic). if you have a steady hand. You can either paint around the decal (ignore the clear edges when you apply the decals), or paint first, and then decal. I prefer the former. It requires a fairly steady hand, but it’s do-able.

I have found that even with decals which have backgrounds big enough to cover the entire numberboard surface, you will have a problem trimming them to the curved corners of the numberboard without leaving a bit of distracting light around the edges here and there. Better to start out smaller that the numberboard, and paint to the edge with a #000 or #0000 brush.

5

You could make your own as an alternative. There’s a great tutorial here - http://home.comcast.net/~atsf_arizona_2/Easy_N_Scale_Locomotive_Numberboards.html

I recently purchased a HO scale Canadian Pacific FM Train Master with no number and tried this method out. The results look pretty good.

6

Thanks for your responses. I’ll check out the two companies, and if necessary make some, as suggested. Andy, hope to see you in January at Cocoa Beach.

Hal

7

I’ve found a way to make my own “white” lettering on a black back ground.

I took clear labels, & printed the number boards on them via Microsoft Office word, or was it powerpoint?

I used “white” for the print & black to highlight the lettering. With this, I got a “weathered” readable number board that can be illuminated from behind

You have to experiment with the size of the numbers, but it worked for me.

As soon as I get to my other computer, I can post pics of what I have done.

Gordon