vinyl sticker sheets as letter templates?

[NYSW F45]

After nodding off and then snapping back into it here at work i had a thought. When you've finished painting a model, baggage car lets say. And you want to have your fictional railroads name at the top like pullman, acl, etc could you use those vinyl stickers as templates? The vinyl stickers i mean like you see on cars sides or windshields. It jus got me thinking if you wanted to have the name painted on, have a shop custom make the logo or name in the font you want. Then after you've painted (not finished with dull/gloss cote) put the stencil where you want it, mask what you dont want ruined, and then paint over the stencil. Wahhh lahh, stencil leaves a nice uniform name or i'de hope so. Or I even thought why not just use the letters cut out from the stencils and put those down first after leaving a small section of the color of paint you want, then paint the entire car the color of you choice.

But, here is my concern. If you painted the entire car first and are using the vinyl sticker as a stencil, will the sticky side of the sticker when pulled off the model leave any nasty residue marks or take up the paint?

 

[CanuckMark]

I played with that stuff years back when doing 1/25 stock car models. The problem I faced was size - the machines couldn't accurately cut the decals down small enough. And the stuff is fairly thick too. (Unless you're thinking of a different material I experimented with.)

Mark

 

[kenw]

for just lettering, the rub-on lettering is a lot easier to use and comes in more varieties/fonts/sizes. I used them in years past in ways similar if not exactly as you state.

Alas, computer usage has made them a bit harder to find but they are still out there. The supplier of mine no longer makes dry transfer sheets at all.

a large office supply should have some if anyone does. My sheets are almost 20 years old. a google or ask search of "Dry Transfer Lettering" and variations will give you some help.

Woodland Scenics has some smaller dry transfer sheets, some with just lettering, some with various forms of artwork.

 

[UP2CSX]

I agree with Ken. Dry transfers would be much easier to use and you can get the right size and color with no additional masking or painting. Woodland Scenics still makes a wide variety of typical types of railroad alphabets and numbers. It's a little tricky getting the spacing right but you can do it pretty good once you've screwed up a few cars.

 

[kenw]

.....but you can do it pretty good once you've screwed up a few cars.

been there done that!

For colors other than white, you can use them as a mask (revealing the color under the DT after the overcoat color), or just use them as is if white lettering is ok.

iirc, some paints tended to attack the DT, so some practice on scrap is warranted.