Strategy for lettering these 'Dimensional Data' hoppers?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I got a great deal on 10 of these Bowser #43200 RTR “Dimensional Data” hoppers. $11 each from TrainWorld where they are normally about $24-$25/per.

I would like to letter them to basically match these other Bowser #55104 Union Pacific kit hoppers (I got 20 unique road number kits from Trainz.com for $10/each).

I contacted Bowser to find out if they offered decal kits, but they don’t. They suggested checking Microscale (and Tichy Train Group) to see if they have the appropriate decal kits. I had already checked and no they don’t.

Looking for suggestions to get these 10 hoppers lettered appropriately with the minimal bloodshed/aggravation. :slight_smile:

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2 Likes
2

Nice buy.

I looked at K4 decals and they don’t carry Union Pacific decals at all. Probably because U.P. charges royalties.

Rich

3

Possibly this decal set if you can find it:

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Thanks, I will give them a try.

5

I did a quick look (UP not being my road). You might find an 87-222 from Microscale. That is the set for bathtub gondolas.

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Onewolf42

1h

Thanks, I will give them a try.

Note that the set will only do one car. Gets expensive for 10.

Also, I looked at the MicroScale set referenced above. I think the lettering had a red border.

7

my solution isn’t going to help you with putting Union Pacific on the cars but I took a lettering stencil and wrote CPLX (Chambersburg Power and Light) with a car number under the CPLX. Then I cut them into white squares and glued them to the cars. None have fallen off in 20 years.

8

I thought UP recently stopped charging royalties in favor of a long-term license. Did something change? It’s been a while since I’ve touched model trains.

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Don’t know. I was simply speculating as a reason why K4 wouldn’t carry decals for U.P.

Rich

10

For times like this I would recommend getting an Alps MicroDry printer which can print “WHITE.” They are still available second hand (e.g. on eBay). I have two. Also the Union Pacific typeface is “Cityof”. You should be able to download it from the site “FontYukle.”

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11

Thanks for all the replies.

I purchased 2 each of the Harold King and Microscale decal sets. Each Harold King set will do one car. Each Microscale kit will do 5 cars, so hopefully I can get them installed without many issues. Historically speaking, applying decals in an orderly fashion has not been my forte.

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https://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=87-222