I was thinking of putting the road name and # on my Loco’s, and was considering the rub on letters and numbers.
Has anyone used this method and the pro’s and con’s of using them.
I see Woodland Scenics has Model Graphics Model Quality Dry Transfer Decals for about 5 bucks.
That should be enough to do both my Loco’s. and have some left over.
I don’t know I can’t afford the decals right now.
The price I got curled my hair. 
David,
I didn’t like the dry transfers. Really had no success trying to make them look good.
I had several packages of the Woodland Scenics Dry Transfer Decals I gave to Mik.
He didn’t like them either.
But for the price, maybe you should give them a try. Your results may be better than mine 
Ralph
I really really like dry transfers. However they are harder to work with when compared to decals. Once the transfer is down, it’s down. No positioning like you can with a decal. But there is no decal film, a big plus. I used CDS dry transfers on the cars pictured below. CDS is retiring from dry transfers so most are sold out. A shame since they made great transfers.
(http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/5084/pipetrain1.jpg)
(http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/5665/cabooselayout1bl8.jpg)
I love dry transfers, but I’m not a fan of the Woodland Scenics line. For starters, if you’re going to be spelling out your railroad’s name, you’ll likely have to buy multiple sets just to get enough letters, because invariably you’ll need 6 of a letter and the set only has 5. What you do with the 20 leftover Qs, Zz, and Xs, I’m not sure. Also, the Woodland Scenics dry transfers have a very limited shelf life. If you don’t use them within a year of buying them, forget about them sticking anymore. I wasted plenty of sheets over the years. I’ve had dry transfers from other manufacturers (custom orders from print shops) last 10, 15 years and still be good.
Also, positioning dry transfers letter by individual letter is tedious, especially if you’re doing a lot of “little” writing like car data or “Drain Daily” lettering on air tanks, that kind of thing. Not my idea of fun. In the “time/headache vs. money” debate, I think you’ll find custom decals–though a bit more–to be well worth the added expense. And really, if you can get a sheet of custom decals for around $25, as opposed to spending $15 for three sheets of the Woodland Scenics stuff just to get enough letters and numbers, you’re really coming out ahead with the decals.
BTW, if you really want sticker shock, price a sheet of custom dry transfers. It’s definitely not something you do for a one-off model. If you’re going to do custom dry transfers, you do it for an entire fleet to bring your per-car price down to reasonable.
In terms of working with them, I find dry transfers to be far, far easier to work with than decals. There’s no worry about the finish beneath the decals to try to get a good seat, “silvering,” or having to seal the decals with any kind of finish. Also, dry transfers are easier to distress when weathering if you wanted a faded/peeled paint look. They also seat down over rivets and scribed siding much easier. There’s a bit of extra care to make sure they’re where you want them when you apply them, but you’ll get good at that with time.
Later,
K
This is where I bought Water Slide Decal Paper. They have it for both laser and inkjet printers. Your only limiting factor is fonts as usual. http://www.decalpaper.com I have been making my own for both rolling stock for my brother John and all the signs for the buildings that I build. All you need is a computer and a printer. Runs a little less than $2 for an 8-1/2X 11 sheet. On one sheet I can get all the lettering for a box/reefer car ( both sides and both ends plus air tank on the under carriage).
Mike
I have a black and gray loco that I would like to put numbers on and road names on red cars, so I need to do it in white.
Can I do that on an inkjet?
David
David, what we use for “white” is the lightest gray that PowerPoint Color Pallet has. On darker colors you would put money on the fact it was white. John and I decided that with the 3 foot rule in effect, you can’t ell…I use MS Power Point because of the hundred’s of fonts I have downloaded. The only railroad font I found for free was railroad roman. only problem is the proportional spacing when using it stretches it out way to long to use. John is getting ready to finish three reefer cars that were have painted a custom color with the logo for the AA Citrus Association Packing House that I build. If you want, go to "what are you modeling forum and scroll down to the AA Plant. The logo is on the building and the truck trailer parked at the loading dock. When he is done I think he is going to post pictures and that will show the light gray on black for the reefer car end lettering.
Here is a quick sample.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/jtmsmike/_forumfiles/white-Decal.JPG)
The only way to get white lettering with an inkjet printer is to print on white decal paper. That’s great if you’re printing signs or logos that have a definite border around them which you can cut out. Simple lettering for the side of a car is a bit more difficult. You can do it, but you’ve got to match the color of the background (the black in Mike’s example above) to the color of the surface to which you’re applying the decal. Black is usually fairly simple, but when you get into any other colors, it’s experimentation time. My suggestion there would be to draw a bunch of small rectangles on a page, and color each one near what you think the color on the car is. Pick a starting point color, then make it a bit redder, bluer, greener, lighter, and darker in each of the other rectangles. Print on glossy photo paper (the closest finish to decal paper) because different papers absorb the inks differently, and can result in different tones. Compare what’s printed to the side of the car. Tweak from there until you find one that’s a match. When you go to apply the decal, cut the decal so the cuts aren’t straight lines, but kind of follow the shape of the lettering. That will help blend the decal into the car. Once the decal sets and you put a finish coat over it (maybe with a little weathering), it will blend in fairly well. Again, in the “time/frustration vs. money” equation, I think you’re better off just having the decals printed by Stan or one of the other custom decal guys. They can print white, gold, and silver for you, and take all the fuss out of the printing process.
When you build your artwork for the car, cram as many cars onto an 8.5" x 11" sheet as you can. I got lettering for 6 hopper car on one sheet. That brings your cost per car down to around $4 - $5–about the same (or less) as any one detail part you may have added to it. I know you’re looking for ways to save a little money by doing things yourself, but there are things that are worth spending the money on. You’re going to be looking at these locos for a long time. It’s worth it to spend a few extra pennies and get a good and proper finish on them. I’ve cut those (and similar) corners in the past on my models, and invariably end up going back and changing them later. Modeling isn’t a race, so if it means you don’t finish the model for a few extra months while you scrape together a few extra dimes, it’ll well be worth it in the end.
Later,
K
I agree with Kevin. When in HO I did a lot of “save some money on the decals/dry transfers”. Almost always ended up re-doing them with either custom or bought items. So in Large scale I have a lot of Anonymous RR cars and locos at the moment until I decide on road name and logo, then I will go to Stan or others and have them done correctly the first time.
Trying to spread the karma around, I gave a gentleman here in yUK the job of making the data details for my passenger car conversions. The request was for white lettering and numbers 3/32nds of an inch high.
They turned up white on white backing paper - and with the over-laquer applied, were totally invisible to a human eyeball, even under UV lighting. Trying a few out on spec, just to see where they were on the backing paper, left me with a teeny and fragile decal on an even more fragile backing.
I gave up.
THEN he tells me that he is making the next lot of white decals on a BLUE backgound so that the ycan be seen and trimmed prior to application.
But not for me.
Hmmmmmmmmm.
Not happy, me.
tac