Poll: Do you use decals?

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Do you use decals?

  • Yes, I use decals.

    Votes: 61 85.9%

  • No, I don't use decals.

    Votes: 2 2.8%

  • Other - please comment (and thanks!)

    Votes: 8 11.3%
  • Total voters
    71
Welcome to our little corner of the world! I've not been around nearly as long as a lot of the folks here, but I sure do enjoy it!

Sounds like you've come up with a very viable solution to "custom made" decals. Someday, I'd love to see some pictures of your works!

Regards,
Tom Stockton
 
tomstockton said:
Welcome to our little corner of the world! I've not been around nearly as long as a lot of the folks here, but I sure do enjoy it!

Sounds like you've come up with a very viable solution to "custom made" decals. Someday, I'd love to see some pictures of your works!

Regards,
Tom Stockton
Click to expand...

Will do for sure.

This is what I came up with first. I had the print shop run off the decals on a color printer. The stripes on the nose were printed on white paper and the rest was done on clear.

I was disappointed with the results and I pretty much abandoned the paint scheme. I hate the way the stripes turned out, and I couldn't get the brown the correct shade, so every time I mixed up a batch it was a little different than before.

I decided that from these mistakes I would choose a paint scheme that was easy to apply, and used factory colors. Since close up the stripes were pixelated I decided to ditch them. As a kid growing up in the 70's I always loved the rock island red and yellow, and I also really liked the "Bankruptcy Blue" of The Rock.

The Phase 7 red and yellow will be easy to apply and its my favorite. I might paint the trucks silver.

This was my first attempt. I did this about 2 years ago. I haven't been active since then but the itch is back. I figured they were good practice. I have 6 front range GP9 shells and 6 Atlas SD24 low nose shells. I have removed the low nose and cabs from the SD24's and they fit perfectly on the Front range GP9's. That way I can get rid of the Walther's "Fat Body" GP9M shells. (sorry, getting off topic here)

The decal stripes and heralds in the pic were made in paint then pasted in a word document. The lettering was all done in word. This way the print shop could open it and print it with no hassles.

PICT2024.png
 
my2010ram,

From the pictures, the decals look pretty good -- but I understand we're looking at pictures on a computer monitor at an equivalent resolution of 72 dpi... whereas (if I understand correctly) film comes out to about 2800 dpi -- quite a difference. Do you know what the resolution was on your printed decals? I'm not sure if 300 dpi would be "sharp enough", 600 dpi would be better, 1200 dpi even better if the printer would handle it.

Were you happy with the logo, "Grain Belt" lettering and numbers? Again, from the picture they look pretty good.

I also understand about the brown color, and not being able to match it in another mix. I suppose you could say if the brown came out lighter, it'd been out in the sun longer and faded... :D

Thanks for posting -- and I look forward to seeing more of your works!

Regards,
Tom Stockton
 


tomstockton said:
my2010ram,

From the pictures, the decals look pretty good -- but I understand we're looking at pictures on a computer monitor at an equivalent resolution of 72 dpi... whereas (if I understand correctly) film comes out to about 2800 dpi -- quite a difference. Do you know what the resolution was on your printed decals? I'm not sure if 300 dpi would be "sharp enough", 600 dpi would be better, 1200 dpi even better if the printer would handle it.

Were you happy with the logo, "Grain Belt" lettering and numbers? Again, from the picture they look pretty good.

I also understand about the brown color, and not being able to match it in another mix. I suppose you could say if the brown came out lighter, it'd been out in the sun longer and faded... :D

Thanks for posting -- and I look forward to seeing more of your works!

Regards,
Tom Stockton
Click to expand...

The numbering and lettering came out absolutely beautiful. It was the images created in paint that were pixelated.

Paint cant draw a perfect diagonal line. The diagonal lines end up looking like microscopic stair steps and this is visible to the naked eye if one studies it pretty close. I think I could have been happy with it if I had covered the whole nose with it instead of trying to make it peak to the top of the nose.

So basically, any font printed off in word will look awesome. I have found some symbols in "Wingdings Font" that will look great (in black) on the yellow nose (CRIP Phase 7 paint). Since they are a "Font" they will print off very crisp and sharp.

When I finally get a day off next weekend I will print some off and paint up one of the Geeps then post a pic in the pics forum.
 
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Corel DRAW does diagonal lines just fine. Here's a 8.5 X 11 sheet full of orange stripes. It took me about half an hour to do these. Next time would be faster.
]
SafetyStripes-Orange.jpg
 
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Dear Decal,

After coming into the hobby after a 40 year hiatus, I couldn't remember how to do decals. The young man at the hobby store was very helpful and steered me to something called setting solution.

Earlier, he sold me a neat kit for a gondola car, which I filed, painted, and glued together. It turned out really cool so I was nervous about ruining it with a sloppy decal job. I think it turned out pretty good, there is a picture of it on about page 7 of the photo gallery.

Sincerely, Logandsawman
 
IowaFarmBoy said:
Corel DRAW does diagonal lines just fine because it uses vectors instead of pixels. Here's a sheet full of orange stripes.

SafetyStripes-Orange.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! And the sheet of stripes! I might be able to make this paint scheme work after all. I will have to choose another color over the brown, I am thinking of the green that was used on NYC box cars instead of the brown. I'll have to get a copy of Corel... actually I think I may already have a copy of it somewhere.
 


You're welcome, my2010ram. And if the stripes are the wrong color that is easy for me to change. And that sheet is sized for 0.5" margins on 8.5X11 paper.
 
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Ask the print shop. I can certainly send you the Corel file. The format for it is CorelDRAW X4. I can save as other formats.
 
Re: Corel

Is there any certain version I would want to look for?
Click to expand...

I purchased version 3 years and years ago... then bought upgrades to version 5 and version 8. I am more than happy enough with 8, so I quit buying the upgrades, since I can do what I want with it.

What version are they up to now? I think it was 14, the last time I looked... Probably got a lot of cool stuff that I don't have, but I'm happy with what I got.

BTW -- I thought the learning curve was rather steep, but I'm not a graphics artist or anything, just a hobbyist. But once you get to know the program, I think you'll like it.

Adobe Illustrator is also a vector-based program -- if I recall correctly, it's rather more expensive but has more features...

Folks, feel free to correct me on any of this stuff if I'm wrong! (Won't be the first time... won't be the last! ;) )

Regards,
Tom Stockton
 
I have a good friend who makes me custom decals for my CEE Line RR. I have several sheets if I can find them if not he will make me some more. I had planned when I started to paint all of my loco for my line but decided that was to much work for me. So now I just get my locos and paint out the reporting marks and put my decals and numbers myownself.
 
my2010ram said:
Cool. I am looking at buying a copy of Corel off evil-bay. Is there any certain version I would want to look for?
Click to expand...

I have CorelDRAW X4 which is version 14. Version 8 would not run in Windows Vista and I did not wish the hassle of trying to get it to. I bought mine for $50 on ebay.
 
Larry,

That sounds reasonable. I'm still using Windows XP, which runs my Corel Draw 8 just fine. But at $50, I'd say you made a good choice!

Regards,
Tom
 


I'm in the other category. I was HO scale, but two years ago sold my HO stuff and started N scale. budgeting caused delays, so I have one engine and one car. I'm about to start decal'ing and detailing, because the lines I use there are no or little in the way of available RTR. Besides, unless manufacturers start making 150 varieties of numbers for each road in 40-foot boxcars - decal'ing will always be around! I think just in the "print them yourself" scheme
 
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