Revell Global Van Lines Decals

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I recently purchased an old HO 1950s Revell Global Van Lines tractor & trailer kit.

As expected, the old decals are basically fused to the backing paper. No manner of soaking will release the decal from the backing paper.

Is there any way to salvage these. There aren’t any new versions out there that I could find. Without the decals the truck looks naked.

Any ideas?

Thanks

npsixtynine

2

I hate to suggest something that I myself have not tried (and likely could not do if I did try!) but I wonder if a high resolution digital scan, touch up work in Photoshop or somesuch (to freshen the colors and correct any distortion or breakup your efforts at soaking have caused), and then using the result to print out a new decal on blank decal paper would work.

I myself am one of the worst at decaling and can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have applied decals without some disaster or another needing to be corrected or hidden by weathering - so take my advice with that in mind.

Dave Nelson

3

In order to ‘restore’ any white lettering on the decal, you should print on white decal paper instead of clear. Dave’s suggestion seems to me to be the only reasonable way to go other than seeking truck decals from a decal manufacturer - they will not be Global, but at least you will have somethng. Check out Microscale, they may have something that will fit.

At least they are intact. At Boothbay earlier this year, we had a donation of a Summer Stock Theater kit from the same timeframe. The decals were faded, cracked and falling off the paper.

4

I would first scan the decal sheet. You can then print it out on decal paper. You can either use white paper and cut around the edges, or print on clear paper and paint the model surface white.

Once you’ve got the decals scanned, though, you could try re-coating the surface with Microscale Liquid Decal Film or a clear Krylon spray. There are no guarantees, here. You may have to revert to the scanned copy.

5

Our OP indicated he had tried and tried to soal the decals which suggests to me that the traditional ways of reviving a seemingly hopeless decal might not be available - but your idea of scanning first and THEN giving it one last try has merit.

I note other internet chatter about guys who have the unbuilt kit but can see that the decals are no longer going to work. This is not really a surprise. My oldest decals are less old than that and are pretty much flaking to bits.

For those who wonder why all the fuss over a 55+ year old kit, the Revell truck was and remains a very nice truck model. You can see it on these pages from the HO Seeker website

http://hoseeker.net/revellinformation/revellcatalog1962pg01.jpg

http://hoseeker.net/revellinformation/Revell1959infopage10.jpg

The moving van and the Ford Auto Transport models are good enough to warrant revival and I wonder who has the tooling - ConCor (they have the Revell freight cars)? With some of the truck detail parts now available those Revell trucks could really be spiffed up and would fill a need for the late 1950s - 1960s modeler.

It is worth pointing out that there are many other truck decals available if it is not essential that the truck be detailed for Global Van Lines. For example, this guy has what looks like a nice selection (I have never dealt with him):

http://www.greatdecals.com/Halfield.htm

And there ARE Global Van Lines decals available in HO from Graphics on Demand, but they are not exactly what the Revell kit contained. They might “do” however

http://store.graphicsdemand.com/global-van-lines.html

Dave Nelson

&

6

The Graphics on Demand that Dave Nelson referred to is a good choice. Should you be interested in another site who makes them for different scales, mostly truck related, some 1/25 scale decals have smaller decals on the sheet that can be used for 1/87. Have done that before. The site I belong to Model Freightways, has to do with nothing but trucks, but also Model Railroad related, fantastic scratch building of trucks, most people have never heard of.

http://www.stsmodeltrucks.com/store/agora.cgi?product=decals

Here’s a pic, with a H Model 50’s Mack pulling the trailer, instead of a Ford Tilt cab:

Frank

BTW: Npsixtynine, [#welcome] To The Forums.

7

Thanks for the info. I checked out the “great decals” site and ordered a set. They look like they should work fairly well and are a heck of a lot better then the alternative, which is nothing.

Thanks again.

Larry Bischoff