Besides trying to make n scale decals fit your equipment; is there anybody out there selling decals for z scale? I've not been able to find anyone yet. I found undec pieces but no decals???hboy:
I understand the license thing, and I understand the rare printer that is no longer made and the even rarer ribbons. What I do not understand is, there is some way that decals are being made in Europe, in very very very fine detail, and in white and silver and other colors I am always being told is impossible to make. A few years back it was said with home computers being as cheap as they are, and prices going down on things like CNC machines, lasers, printers, electronics, ect, that there would be no need for hobby shops to be full of racks and racks of things like decals. It would be something like the "Jetsons". Little Elroy would want something in particular, a button would be pushed, and out would come the stuff for pennies, as there is no overhead. People have been wanting customized decals now for like the last 20 years, I know it can be done.
There are some excellent high-end printers that would make excellent decals including silver and gold, the issue is the cost: these printers start at $10K and the very perishable "inks" $200-$400 a load, capable of producing 10K sheets a decals. These printers are meant for high volume graphics design operations and having one mainly for decals would make the cost of the sheets about $50. If you can find a design house that is willing to do a small job (which I suspect is what most decal producers do) cost would be about $2 per sheet. BTW: if you had the opportunity to go to NZSC 2010, MTL was showing-off such a printer on their tour. Nothing is impossible just very expensive. If someone want to write me a check... Mark
There have been a couple people advertising custom decal here. Unfortunately, I can never find the list of advertizers on Trainboard when I'm looking for it. Maybe one of the staff members can help. Mark
It has got to be what they are using. A lot of the reallllly good stuff over here is kind of an offshoot of a side hobby of someone. An engineer or architect that happens to like trains and can use their machines for fun and not just for work. But please, really, after 20 years can we go beyond the "well lets get some HO and N decals that are kind of sort of might work and if we scrounge enough of these 15 year old yellow and curled sheets we might make something that looks cool"? Kids, they are uglier than the back side of a mud fence.
Maybe as we get more experienced model railroaders, such as Subwayaz, into z scale there may be more demand in the future. Also, the costs of printing white have gone down about 30% from above. But you should be able to to find a grahics house you can take an image and decal film and get it printed. Also ask the group: where did MTL get their UP passenger decals? Robert Ray? But why be limited to decals? How about pad printing? The laser guys out there could cut some pads and all you'd need to do is ink them up and press it on. Conformal and no air bubbles and about the best solution for white lettering. Mark
First off thank you for the compliment. Secondly there are companies out there that will do custom work but....$$$$ Here are a few that I happen to have read about at one point or another http://www.railgraphicsdecals.com/ http://www.modeldecal.com/ I had just hoped that they were already out there hboy:
Contact Dan Pikulski at Dan's Resin Casting. Dan makes Z scale decals and has custom made numerous Z and N scale decals for me. I highly recommend him. http://www.dansresincasting.com/Decals.htm dpikulski@roadrunner.com 108 Clarence St. Allegany, NY 14706-1103 Yours, John
Glen, Please follow up with us here at Trainboard and let us know of your results. John, Thanks for the links and info. Hope he can handle the extra demand!
There was a recent newsletter link on the Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine website, December issue link. Making your own decals. There was a guy on eBay selling decals, mostly graffiti, but Z too. They looked good to me but for train specific stuff, you'll need to do your own or possibly someone as listed above. It's easier if they have already done it as they can just rescale. However, *many* hours (and test fits), let alone the research, were used to make them fit the loco or car. The research alone is miserable. Font, era, locations, etc. Rob Ray really hates doing all this as it is a huge resource hog to get it right.
I scan existing decals, reduce them in photo shop then print on decal paper using a standard Ink Jet printer.
See if this link to the Model Railroad Hobbyist - Reader's Blogs (2slim) works: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/10186
I emailed Micro Scale, they let me know they have no plans on doing anything for Z scale. If I could print white on my printer, I'd scan in some N scale decals and re-size them.
