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The photo shown is some artwork I created to print some decals and letter some undecorated baggage cars.  It did not work with laser printing nor ink jet printing...the yellow color is not saturated enough to show up against a Pullman green background.  What I need is "Extended Railroad Roman" lettering.  It can be dry transfers or decals possessing the quality and saturation of MicroScale.  (I like and use K4 decals, but they are mucho pixelated, and allow the underlying color to bleed through).

FriscoBag_RPO

  I have truly searched for such products and cannot find them.  Reaching out to see if someone has a source I have not discovered.

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Last edited by Rob Leese
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Pennsynut; Microscale Decals has O scale PRR passenger decals on page 9 of their O scale offerings. (Link pasted in.) I’ll forewarn they have a $20 order minimum.

http://www.microscale.com/Merc...de=MD&Offset=112

Rob; I’m guessing you’ve already looked as Microscale has Railroad Roman gold, unfortunately not in the extended font you’re looking for.

Curt

Last edited by juniata guy
@Rob Leese posted:

(I like and use K4 decals, but they are mucho pixelated, and allow the underlying color to bleed through).



Rob, your line here grabbed my attention. I have been considering the K4 decals. Are all the K4 decals like that? To me, pixelated means they aren't sharp... that you can see the dot pattern. Is it just yellow and white allowing underlying color to bleed through, or is it all colors on their line up. They have a very nice line up of decals and the multiple scale choice is a bonus too.

Being more on the "toy" side, I do like my decals to be solid color and not allow bleed through. Though it's added work (and more problematic over uneven surfaces), I've also done what @JohnA suggested with the double layering of decals.

I also like the white to be nice and white and not subdued in intensity. I have purchased decals in the past from other companies where the white color is more subdued, which I do suppose would appeal to a scale enthusiast seeking more visual realism maybe without the added process of weathering.

Just curious as to your thoughts.

Rob,

The word you are looking for is "opaque". There has been an ongoing discussion on making decals on the N&W HS modeling lists and from what understand, if your artwork is done in "Corel Draw" format, Highball Graphics is the place to have them done. That way the decal will be opaque and you will not have fiddle with double decals.

Rob, your line here grabbed my attention. I have been considering the K4 decals. Are all the K4 decals like that? To me, pixelated means they aren't sharp... that you can see the dot pattern. Is it just yellow and white allowing underlying color to bleed through, or is it all colors on their line up. They have a very nice line up of decals and the multiple scale choice is a bonus too.

Being more on the "toy" side, I do like my decals to be solid color and not allow bleed through. Though it's added work (and more problematic over uneven surfaces), I've also done what @JohnA suggested with the double layering of decals.

I also like the white to be nice and white and not subdued in intensity. I have purchased decals in the past from other companies where the white color is more subdued, which I do suppose would appeal to a scale enthusiast seeking more visual realism maybe without the added process of weathering.

Just curious as to your thoughts.

I have purchased and applied multiple sets of K4 decals for Frisco and QA&P GP7's.  The lettering, stripes, and safety hashes are all yellow.  When I put on magnifying glasses to do touchup work I can see the individual dots that form the decal image...this is what I meant in saying the decals are pixelated.  I actually don't find this as a problem because it gives a weathered look to the locomotive.  Frisco geeps were usually weather beaten and dirty in appearance.  There are closeup photos of these projects on this forum and on the Frisco.org O gauge forum.  Presently I am re-lettering Lionel double sheathed boxcars with QA&P decals printed by K4.  In addition to all white lettering these sets include a black and white coonskin logo which is very opaque.  A closeup photo of one of these projects can be seen on the forum thread dealing with modified Lionel products.

Microscale makes a wonderful set of locomotive decals for Frisco black and yellow cab units. I have also used these multiple times, and enjoy the results.

Last edited by Rob Leese
@Big Jim posted:

Rob,

The word you are looking for is "opaque". There has been an ongoing discussion on making decals on the N&W HS modeling lists and from what understand, if your artwork is done in "Corel Draw" format, Highball Graphics is the place to have them done. That way the decal will be opaque and you will not have fiddle with double decals.

I submitted my file to Highball Graphics and received a fast reply saying they could work with it (with a bit of touchup on their side).  The cost of getting this printed is notable, but when a modeler wants something bad enough...you know the rest.

A few years ago when I did a couple of posts titled "Are you a switchman?", I learned that you are top-drawer at kicking out a list, and that is when I started following you on the forum.  Now I will say that your modeling advice is impressive, too. 

Thank you to harmonyards, Dave C, and Big Jim for pointing me to Highball Graphics.  Maybe later this year I will have some photos of Frisco headend cars to post.

Rob, thank you for the reply. I was able to find some photos. The Michigan Central reefer looks fine to me. And yes, I see your Frisco engine project. And yes, ultimately Microscale really does make good screen printed decals. Problem is, as many must know, you can't always find what it is you're looking for. That would be a +1 for K4 Supply.

And for anyone else other than me, who is curious about photos being here as Rob mentioned: Some have commented over time, that the search function on this forum is a little difficult at times to use. I've found Google to work rather well. Just replace the words before "site" etc. Make sure you leave a space between the last letter of your search query and the first letter of "site."

Like this below. Click on it, a new window will open and notice the words in the Google address.

https://www.google.com/search?...imgrc=80bOgFQOYScJ7M

Last edited by brianel_k-lineguy

I did a repaint and lettered a set of Williams heavyweights in Frisco Firefly scheme along with using the Doric steam engine and tender trim on a Lionel Frisco Mikado. I got what was the last of these from that old decal company that went out of business.  The one with the little envelopes.  The name escapes me.. The lettering is gold in Railroad Roman font.  I may have some remnants if you are interested. I am sure your work is much better than mine, I made the set to remind me of my experiences with the Frisco1522 and the memory of my brother in law who was on the 1522 crew. 

Best of wishes on your project.

@Ahitpy posted:

I did a repaint and lettered a set of Williams heavyweights in Frisco Firefly scheme along with using the Doric steam engine and tender trim on a Lionel Frisco Mikado. I got what was the last of these from that old decal company that went out of business.  The one with the little envelopes.  The name escapes me.. The lettering is gold in Railroad Roman font.  I may have some remnants if you are interested. I am sure your work is much better than mine, I made the set to remind me of my experiences with the Frisco1522 and the memory of my brother in law who was on the 1522 crew.

Best of wishes on your project.

Champ Decals may be the supplier you are referencing. 

I am purchasing the decals made by Highball Graphics, and will post the results as projects get finished.

Q:  have you ever posted photos of your Firefly?  I would like to see that.

Rob--

I would like some of those Frisco delux gold decals also and willing to participate financially to help with up front costs, etc.  My email is cimriver@aol.com

Thanks,

Tony Marchiando

The decals I used on the Harriman baggage car pictured above were printed by Highball Graphics. Highball was able to modify a .pdf file I submitted...the photo at the beginning of this thread is an image made from the .pdf.
The car numbers and lettering are accurate to the Frisco roster.  
Read this entire thread for details regarding Highball Graphics, and watch for an email from me which will include an Adobe Acrobat attachment containing the artwork.

2514F65F-8132-4A99-8D2C-7C8C232C95FF3E8E5655-EF2D-48BD-BCA8-F075019EEB2DCC354D5F-4A54-481F-892C-B13ED95302B95734977B-48B6-4B0D-BC84-E30AC78BA265Applied decals to #380 today.  #360 got Micro Sol today.  Dullcoat and slight weathering will follow.  I experienced a slight amount of breakage in lettering 360, and included close up photos.  This may have occured while straightening the decal while in still floats on the Micro Set.  I like these decals and do not want to disparage them, yet they do seem less forgiving than other brands.

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  • 5734977B-48B6-4B0D-BC84-E30AC78BA265

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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