Does anyone know the history of Champ Decals? I am using a set of red stripes that were made when they were in Cleveland, 2 Ohio. That dates it back to pre-zip codes. The stripes, 1/16", have not fallen apart as other old decals have and this set goes back to the early 60s.
Dick
Replies sorted oldest to newest
I believe Max Gray was the original owner of Champ or was at least tied in to them somehow. Some of his brass cars came with Champ decals included. One of the other old guys may correct me on that. I started using Champ decals in about 1955. Rich Meyer of Minot, ND was the last owner. His widow sold off the remaining decals after his passing.
I inquired about PRR Congressional decals, and even though Champ had stopped printing decals, they said they would print them as long as I ordered something like a dozen sets. That was somewhere ca 2000. The Champ catalog cover of 2001 stated "the end of an era."
I have been using Champ decals for 50 years. They still work no mater how old they are and work like they were new. They by far are the best I have ever used. You can still find them for sale on eBay and train meets.
Other than the decal film being a bit on the thick side, I have always loved Champ decals over Microscale. Microscale being so thin is less forgiving of trembly hands when applying. I need to find a set of Champ decals for GN F units in the simplified Empire Builder scheme. Mike
Yes, Max owned Champ back in the early '50s. He was located on Belmont Ave. in Fresno, California. I have one of his first catalogs noting the date and location. He sold them to Meyer (Mayer) shortly after that. He then concentrated on his imports and moved to Santa Clara.
Jay
As others have stated, Champ produced some of the highest quality decals ever made. Apparently they were printed with a precision high definition letterpress using special paper and ink imported from Britain. I have a relatively large collection of their alphabets and they hold their colors and still work perfectly 30+ years after they were printed. Microscale supposedly uses the same techniques, but I don't feel their products (which don't cover nearly as extensive a range of roadnames as Champion did) are of quite the same caliber as those Champion produced.
Connie Meyer, widow of Richard Meyer,
back in 2004 when she was selling off the
remaining inventory at Champion.
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
