I have affinity designer, a grahics design program that is a very good alternative to adobe illiustrator. I realize that with enough time, self teaching, discipline, a willingness to learn, enough online tutorials, I could learn how to make, design and print out my own decals without the need to hire to make custom ones.
However, there is a problem I realize now. How could I make sure the decals will fit accuralty on a locomotive I intend to apply them on?
I undnerstand that Trainiax is a site that as very good and accurate drawings of various locomotives you can colour and add details yourself via photoshop, as I intend to use these for reference. However the drawer of these drawings didnt include the front or rear of most of his locomotive drawings, only the sides which could pose a problem.
Prehaps just use field and online measurments then?
What’s always worked best for me is to have the model that I intend to letter in front of me, then take measurements from it using a caliper. Since the idea is to fit a specific model, drawings published online or in other publications may be problematic as they may not reflect the actual dimensions or the details of the model you’re working with.
When I was making sets to sell, I’d make a drawing of the sides (and ends, if it made sense) of the piece of equipment, in the actual size of the model. I’d only include major features, but enough to show the things that the lettering and heralds had to line up with.
Once that was done and saved, I’d create my decal artwork lettering and heralds on a new layer on top of the equipment diagram. When that was complete, I’d save it, then copy the lettering and heralds to a new file, laid out to use the least amount of decal paper. That would be my printing copy.
Finally, I’d make a copy of that drawing of the lettering and decal artwork on top of the equipment diagram and save it as a third file. I’d scale down the drawings in that file and use them in the instruction sheet that I shipped with the decals.
For sets where I’m the only one who will ever use them, especially one-offs, I’ll often just measure the model and figure out how tall and wide the lettering and/or heralds need to be. Then, I draw rectangles to those dimensions and create the lettering or heralds to fill them. Once those fit, I delete the rectangles and rearrange the lettering and heralds for printing so they don’t waste decal paper.
A couple of tips:
While designing a decal set, I’ve found it useful to print the artwork-in-progress onto regular paper, cut out the heralds and lettering, and lay them on the sides of the model to see if they look right. I do this regularly as I complete each major bit of lettering.
Think of lettering as graphics, not words. I use Corel
Me. I would print out a copy of the decals, on cheap copy paper, and check them for proper size, either with calipers, or by fitting them to the model, or both. Once the size is right, then load up the printer with decal paper. While you are at it, check the color, assuming you have a good color picture of the original.
If you are talking about custom striping (especially for an F unit), not just lettering and heralds, it is always easiest, and looks appropiate, to use decals made for a real railroad desingned for the locomotive in question.
You would probably not want to use an ATSF warbonnet, or L&N wings, but striping for ERIE, NEW HAVEN, etc. can all look good on a private roadname. You will want to use different paint colors.
Regardless of what decals I’m printing, I always print plain paper copies until I get it right. If necessary, I can cut those out and physically try them on the model for size. The decal size will be exactly the same as the paper copies, so it’s pretty easy.
Most editing software also comes with both horizontal and vertical on-screen rulers for precise sizing as well.
I join you guys in the process of printing on ordinary paper, cutting what would be the decal out and placing it on the model for fitting judgements.
One additional step I sometimes take is to copy and paste several size versions of the decal with each one incrementally different in size so I have some choices to work from. It seem a faster approach to me than constantly going back to the computer to make a slightly different size.
What makes this work really well is that a lot of paint schemes for F units and E units were designed by EMD’s art department. EMD reused a lot of elements in different railroads’ schemes.
A good example would be the three rows of parallel stripes above a lower one along the lower side panels of an F unit or E unit, coming to a point on either side of the nose door. Early paint schemes for F units owned by the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, the Lehigh Valley and the Denver & Rio Grande Western (green and yellow scheme) used this. It is a variation on the paint scheme EMD used on FT demonstrator #103, which had a solid yellow band in place of the three higher stripes.
You could create the image, then import then into a word processor program. Most of them have rulers along the vertical and horizontal sides of the document. If you know what size they would occupy on your car, you can shrink them to that size.
While we are here discussing decals. What program do you all use. I am looking to make some signs and am trying to figure this all out. I am using an imac desktop and using neo office but it will not let me draw a border and write inside the border.
For instance I have a business that I want a blue border with the business name inside.
For best results making decals, you want a “drawing” program dealing in vector graphics, rather than a “paint” program. I’ve been using CorelDRAW for well over 20 years, and it is an excellent program for making decals. It is also quite expensive, though. Adobe Illustrator and Affinity Designer (which the original poster uses) are two other such packages. CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator are not inexpensive. Both are available in subscription plans for $25-50/month, now. Affinity Designer, though, appears to have a $50(!) purchase list price.
There’s a free open-source program called Inkscape (https://inkscape.org) that might be suitable, as it handles vector graphics, but I haven’t really taken a look at it, since I’m already settled in with CorelDRAW.
Here’s an overly-broad and simplified comparison of vector-graphics packages vs. paint packages:
A vector graphics package stores your drawings as a series of lines, shapes and other objects that you can go back in and change as lines, shapes and objects later. It generally doesn’t care about the the resolution you’re going to use when you print the drawing since, for example, a 1" square is stored as a 1" square. Such packages also let you modify basic shapes into more useful things. In a drawing program, most railroad heralds are made up by combining circles, lines and rectangles merged together, usually re-shaped with additional corners and curves. Enlarging or reducing vector graphics drawings is generally trouble-free.
A paint package stores your drawing as one or more layers of pixels. In its most typical usage, changing anything in a paint program is akin to the way photographers retouched photos before computers- you pretty much go in and hand-paint in the changes, more-or-less a dot (or group of dots) at a time.
Hi, sorry I hadnt reply yet as I am learning to use the forum.
I have download and have Affinity designer, which is a one time purchase now and I even got it for a good sale price and am experimenting with it getting started. I will lookmore into the things you said such as pixel scaling. I will look into it and test some letters by printing out some.
I have a scanner and scan an image of the car I’m working on. I scan it at 600dpi then design my lettering on a second layer on top of the scan. When it’s done, I dimply copy the layer then move the various parts around to save some decal paper space.
One other thing that I do, especially if I’m doing white lettering is that I outline major segments of the decal in a color very close to the car’s final color. This makes it MUCH EASIER to cut out those white letters on almost white decal paper.