Custom dry transfer decals

[John]

Does anyone know of a vendor(s) making custom to order dry transfers (rub on) decals? When I checked a couple of years ago the vendors I talked to said they could no longer make them because the required material was no longer being made. I have a photo ready copy of the custom decal desired. I only need white lettering and white logo.

[LurchBird]

I have not tried this company, but I have heard good reviews about them:

http://www.allout-graphics.com/

I have not pulled the trigger yet because they are expensive. A 4.5 x 6 sheets is $14 for the negative setup, and then $20 for each printed sheet. A 12"x18" sheet is $32 setup + $65 each per sheet.

It would take several runs to make it viable in my opinion. I'm thinking about trying Tester's laser wet transfer decal sheets and printing in yellow. Not ideal, I know, but worth a shot at less than $3 per 8.5x11 sheet.

Mark

[Tarheelrrds]

I have not tried this or know of anyone that has but it may be an option.
http://www.pulsarprofx.com/DecalPRO/index.html

Alan Ashworth

[El Loco]

Hey Lurchbird, I used the testors decal sheet and printed yellow  lettering on our ink jet. The decals came out crisp the decal laid down great but only one glitch.  The green paint  showed through under neath the decal changed the hue of the yellow. It was translucent  If in fact you could back the first printing in grey or silver or (white preferably but not possible to print white with an ink jet) and then print the yellow over it would keep its color (hue) and loose its translucency.
That is what I have experienced anyway.
Sorry to be a wet blanket..

[BillD53A]

An ALPS printer can print in white.  Unfortunately they are no longer available in the uS.  I think Kodak used to make a printer that used white, also. 
Seems I read somewhere that the chemicals used in making dry transfers are extremely toxic, and OSHA or somebody monitors the exposure of people involved in the manufacturig process very closely.  Dont know if thats true or not. 
Scale Graphics Decals is the name of one custom decal manufacturer.  Dont know anything else about them.

[LurchBird]

El Loco,
You're not a wet blanket. I appreciate the feedback. Others have echoed your experience. I may just leave the clear decal sheet for printing black to apply onto light colored cars, as this seems to be the best usage for it. There is a white decal sheet that folks have used with success. The trick there is to print AROUND the lettering with the same color as the car, and then to feather the decal in with paint to get as close of a match as possible. I see the best application of this method on engines, where black is easy to feather in and weather.  Yet another option is to find a wet transfer decal maker, such as http://www.railgraphicsdecals.com/ as these seem to be a bit more reasonable.

Mark

[LurchBird]

Has anyone tried this DIY dry transfer?

http://www.pulsarprofx.com/decalpro/index.html

Mark

[Kevin Strong]

I have not tried this company, but I have heard good reviews about them:

http://www.allout-graphics.com/

I can vouch for them. They do good work. They are expensive (compared to the guys doing custom decals), but if you're going to be doing a full sheet of lettering to do an entire fleet of cars, then your price per car drops considerably. I work in 1:20.3, and can get between 6 and 10 cars on an 8.5" x 11" sheet. In O scale, I'd imagine you can easily get 10 - 15 cars per sheet. At that point, you're looking at $3 - $4 per car. That's not bad, and (in my opinion) worth the expense to not have to deal with decals. If you're looking to letter something like a single locomotive, then I'd go with any of the custom decal guys. I've used stuff from Stan Cedarleaf and Shawmut Car Shops.

Later,

K

[NMWTRR]

I have had good luck with a product called HobbyCal inkjet water slide decal paper.  You print the graphics on from a normal inkjet printer.  You can use any graphics program like power point to create the decal.  You can scan an image in and then print them out too.

Unlike other decal paper it will print out white areas, you have to create the negative in other words where you don't print it will be white.

You can't use decal solvaset or it will turn the white areas clear.

One other way to prevent decals from letting the paint show through is to paint a light color like white or yellow under the decal.  The darker colors show through more.

[JohnR]

I've also used allout-graphics with On30.  You want to take advantage of the sheet size and get as much as you can on the sheet.  The setup fee is a one time deal.  Depending on what you are after per car, you cost per car could be as low as $1.  It all depends on the sheet layout.  I wouldn't waste space on numbers unless it's gross weights and such. 

Compared to custom thin-film decals, custom dry transfers are more expensive.   I prefer dry transfers.  No setting solutions.  No shine to dulcoat. 

-John