Mountain of an adventure with custom vinyl stick on letters

Fellas- Remove the excess vinyl BEFORE applying the transfer tape.

They look great Keith, thanks for posting those pictures.

 

Good tip Roger, I thought that as well, just seems like it would be easier to remove the flash before doing anything else.

I know you are meant to pull off the excess first.  With the small size of this lettering, it wanted to take them along.  The best option, for me, was to put the transfer tape on first.  The flash then pulled off very easily, leaving the lettering behind.

That is a beautiful locomotive.  It is on my want list of Legacy steam.

The flash around larger lettering I ordered pulled of easy before taping.  So I was able to do them the correct way.  The other 1/4" just don't have enough surface to not come up with the flash.

 

The larger LIONEL lettering that I ordered was meant for a Lionel PW celebration series EP-5 to mimic a 1950's Toy Fair version.

 

2001 it was cataloged as an Archive Collection item but never built.  I have wanted one since I got back to O.  Forum member Jumijo did a beautiful job painting one for himself, some time ago.

With Lee's lettering source, I finally have one of my own.

 

 

I like how they're coming out, this could start a revolution in repainting equipment!

Ever since I was a child I have always wanted to be able to dedicate some of my trains to people, places or things that really mean a lot to me. So I decided to try out these decals and let me tell up, I was blown away. My ALCO c-420 is now dedicated to my late dog frosty who passed away the same day this locomotive arrived at my front door. May he rest in peace.

I just ordered some rolling stock art from doityourselflettering.com

 

 

I'm excited to try the thunderbird out on my caboose. I'm still brainstorming about the drumhead.

This is turning out to really work well, I agree.  I don't see a lot of decals in my future, I think - these work so much nicer for me.

What a great idea.  That is a nice touch.  I've wanted to pay tribute in some way to a former forum member.  This would be perfect.  Think I'll put his screen name on a diesel.

Just finished painting my caboose. I was thinking about applying some dull coat on top of this. This is an Aristo Craft caboose with a coat of Krylon Banner Red gloss paint. The white pass decal is from Ozark Miniatures and the Thunderbird decal is from www.doityourselflettering.com I plan on adding some number decals and a lighted drumhead, but this looks good for now.

 

It's neat seeing what folks have done with these vinyl letters.

Recently, I ordered some more.  This time I went with the thinner vinyl.  It's for a MTH SW1 that I stripped and painted.  These thinner letters worked great and laid in the grooves nicely.  I still need to reassemble the switcher so I'll post a pic tomorrow.

I want to put a drumhead logo on either side of my bunk car. But I don't know how to make it work with the plastic simulated wood.

Should I push it into the cracks, let it ride over the top or something else?

I'm wondering if the thinnest vinyl will go over ridges and seams and still look good like a decal.  Has anyone had good (or bad) luck doing that with these?

I've applied mine on tenders over rivets and panel ridges.  That is the extent of my 3-D adventures with it.  It works well although I found I had to anticipate and accept that it does not stretch totally.  Of course it is going to want to stick to the top of a ridge or rivet first, so after positioning it correctly, I push it down on the flat areas as far away from and around the rivet and get it good and attached there, in place, using a a nice rounded end of a plastic paint brush handle.  I then work in toward the rivet or ridge, pushing it down and working up toward the ridge and force it to stretch over the ridge, slowly.  It does stretch a bit and sort of wraps around the rivets and ridges like a small tent.  I have not had the guts to push it all the way flat - I worry it would tear.  But its a near thing. It see definate sharp rivet and ridge profiles as long as I am a foot or so way.  You have to be within a few inches to see that what was a sharp rivet is now a small tight cone shape, etc. : it looks okay to me. 

Thanks Lee, that's what I was curious about. 

Nice work

I'm encouraged with the results you guys get.

 

Alright Lee-

I will see your vinyl lettering for cars & raise you!

I am building a foamcore building, so I designed some vinyl windows & doors...

I also cut some corner trim to match, patterned off of the corner trim found on the Ameritown Fire Station.

 

Building is not done, but I thought pulling from your idea just saved me some serious time and money. With these windows, I actually repositioned them twice.

Ok questions:

 

Tom M for your bird decal, did you just send them a picture and thats all they needed?

 

im confused why their lettering is only available in the 1/4" and 1/2" you would think that they could do any size??

 

how delicate are the decals, the super thin compared to other thicknesses?

 

I want to reletter my UP mikado to EJ&E. I'm thinking this vinyl decal may be the way to go. What's your honest opinions about how the vinyl is working.

I just sent them the picture of the Thunderbird with a blank background and it came cut out like that. There's a place to enter your preferred dimensions. If you have an image that needs to be cleaned up they can do some editing. As far as the lettering is concerned I just ordered some 1/8 inch lettering but I was informed that they couldn't do cut out letters at less than a 1/4 inch. They said they could print it but it would be on a clear background. So I'll try it and see how it looks with some dullcoat over it.
They have great communication when it comes to special or difficult decals, so don't hesitate to ask questions.

Oh, and they are not delicate. They are pretty hardy but still pretty pliable. Very easy compared to dry transfers. Just peel and stick. I get the premium vinyl.

For 12 Thunderbird and 12 drumhead decals I paid $27 with shipping. I am impressed with their quality. The thunderbirds and the drumheads are meant to look like mounted metal signs, so I stick them on floating over the top of molded details. But they move around enough to lay in and around molded details.

 

 

Could someone please provide a beginners explanation of how to use the transfer tape.  Confused about this.

 

Bill

You order the letters from the website, picking color, font, etc.  As said they will do anything over 1/4 inch high.  You can select that they will remove the excess around the ltters or not (it costs more but it worth it to me.  They send you letters with sticky on their back side on a piece of tape.  You position the take over the loco or whatever and press the letters down.  The idea is the letters stock the loco and you pull the tape off.  mostly this does work, but you have to go slowly and be prepared to help the letters stay on if they want to stick with the tape.  Takes patience but I have not lost one yet.  Then I press the letter on with a plastic plastic pen end to make them stick.  They look good, and since you can get about any color and font you want, the possibilities are endless.

 

Thanks Lee

 

Bill

They look very good in person.  Easy to apply and I'm very happy with the results.  I have not tried a clear coat over these.  Not sure that I will, but if I do I'll post results.

if you clear- multiple THIN layers- the vinyl will curl

Finally placed a big order today, I'll post the results when I get them in. First I need to figure out the best way to remove the current lettering on my steamer.

Has anyone tried any different companies for vinyl printing/cutting? 

I've just stuck with this one.  I think many companies offer larger letters, as for store windows and all.  This company was the first I found ( and I stopped looking then) that does as small as 1/4 high).

For Keith or Lee, or anyone that has actually worked with them, could these be used as temporary, removable decals? (Obviously disposed of after use, I would get multiple sets for future applications)

I.E., will they lift off later without leaving marks other than an easily removable adhesive?

I am considering a project that would have these applied over a clear-coated finish. It would be seasonal, and need to be removed afterwards.

 

Dave

I managed to resurrect the Roland STiKA cutter I mentioned in the previous thread:

I'm using it to cut new car number/reporting mark and "Auto Train" logos for a pair of MTH A-T autoracks I had custom painted.

 

---PCJ

 

 

Ok here are my results so far. I sent in the below picture to doityourselflettering and told them what I wanted. They sent me back some font options in the first picture below. I choose the bottom font which I think best matches the EJ&E logo. I told them the height I wanted the final product. They responded with an email showing me what I would get and I placed the order. Because the font wasn't a perfect match I took an knife and trimmed some of the detail in the lettering. Overall it came out great.

 

i made everything myself on the webpage except the chicago outer belt line logo. the  extremely small lettering that I used for the number boards has a black background but it works great. If you have lighted number boards you will need to go a different route.

 

smaller lettering doesn't look fantastic on rivets, that's the only negative so far. I am still working on this project but so far I can recommend the vinyl and am very happy. If you mess up you can just peel it off. No big deal. Order extras of anything your making so if you mess up you can use a new piece. You can not apply, remove and apply again. You get one shot.