Has anyone ever tried using a rubber stamp for lettering? I was thinking if I could get a rubber stamp with changeable letters (in the correct scale size) and used it with paint it might turn out ok. If one put a thin layer of paint on a piece of paper and then pressed the stamp on it to transfer a thin layer of paint it might work. Comments please!
Professional rubber pad and also silk screening are(or were) standard means of painting kits and RTR models by manufacturers, That said, getting out the old rubber stamp and attempting to get correct amount of paint on stamp, and pressure by hand means, is not likely to produce professional looking results. The degree of success will vary directly with large number of lines per inch and agate types in small scales. In 'O' scale You have pretty good chance of doing this. By the time you get to 'OO' and smaller you will have no chance of pulling it off in seriffed Roman faces at all.
Tampo printing,the spanish word for stamp,the process by which they imprint those lovely letters on all the trains we own,is the process which you are discribing.The only bad part in what you want to do is the rubber that they make stamps form is too pourous,and you will get an unevan and spotted imprint.Tampo machines use a special paint and much harder rubber and a cradle to hold each part or shell while imprinting the specific image.Better to stick to decals as they are aboundant and much easyer to use with fine results.Happy Modelling!!
Alex is correct, we had those machines to print the data and logo on our (IC) chips' for identity. The machines operated at a rapid speed on some, slower on others and were quite complicated to get setup. I had to design and inspect the tooling that positioned and located these chips on the anvil for these machines. It was fun watching them get the machine set up. Several hundred chips were run through before everything was set to meet spec. Those were sometimes washed off and run again, but some were just scrap. It would be the same with your car sides. Unless you were going to imprint several thousands of images, it wouldn't be worth the cost of the machine, nor the tooling to hold your part, nor the 1 to two hours to get it set so the printing is crisp and not smeared. The paint is special, usually white or black. It is not liquid, more like a printer's paste and smells of varnish. If you look on one of your PC Boards, notice the printing on one of the chips. That is about as small as it will make letters and numbers you can read, even with a microscope.
Thanks guys....how do you feel about dry transfers vs. decals? I've got a ways to go to upgrade my decaling skills! Especially on wood sided boxcars...WHEW!!!
I use both dry transfers and decals. Given the choice I generally like dry transfers. I use dry transfers from CDS Lettering and have found them easy to use. The one major consideration with dry transfers is that one cannot adjust them after they are on the car. I have used them on wood sided cars, and over rivets with success. My decaling skills still need some work. I have messed up some decals when I was trying to position them. I am still working on “my touch”. Sometimes the choice of which to use comes down to what is available. If something is available in both dry transfers and decals my first choice would be dry transfers. For some examples of both decals and dry transfers check out my website and look under custom cars.
Thanks Tom. Great site you have. You're doing what I'm hoping to do. Great looking weathering. Thanks for the info.
