Have built multiple old Ambroid, Gloor, Quality Craft wood kits, using the enclosed decals. Lost only one common ATSF b/w square logo....easily replaced with current Microscale stock.
But, I do usually put a couple coats of Microscale Decal Film on the old decals. I don't know whether it's necessary or not, I tend to take the 'safe' approach on this sort of enigma. Many of these kits were designed around a specific prototype, and those decals included with the kit tend to be unique to that model. For example, when was the last time you saw a set of these kit decals offered for sale separately at a train show, on Ebay, etc.?? Oh, sure, you can get the decals if you buy a complete kit on the secondary market, but decals, only???.........never seen them offered. Cataloged Champ, Microscale, Walthers decals from yore?.....they're out there. But those unique ones included in the kits?......
The thicker film witness is not a biggie with me, the only one to be satisfied in this process. Besides, when putting these decals onto a scribed surface...especially painted wood...the film thickness is much less noticeable than when applied to a smooth wood/plastic/metal surface. The more tedious thing in applying decals to scribed material is scoring the film after application, a couple of coats of Solvaset or Microscale Set, and allowing the film to dry. Any film that bridges the scribed gaps will look bad...IMHO, of course...after the clear coating....and subsequent aging. In fact, for a variety of reasons, mostly mysterious to me, clear decal films not bonded or poorly so to the surface tend to look worse through the years.
All that said, I am indeed curious to know of a duplicating service for old decals....at a reasonable price. In fact, I've been hoping for such for about 60 years!....the last time i built one of those old HO Strombecker passenger train kits....the ones with humongous decals that covered the entire diesel engine! I learned part of Dad's 'blue vocabulary' when he tried applying one of those decals to a B&O kit engine I had prepared. Well, Strombecker was still around back then, and they replaced the set, advising Dad to cut the large decal into smaller pieces, carefully applying each piece, matching the joints carefully (?), etc., etc.. It went.....'better'...the second time, but not without stress...and grateful acceptance of Dad's best effort. Now in my so-called golden years, bitten by the nostalgic bug, I acquired a couple of those old Strombecker kits again, being sure that the all-important decal sheet therein was not pre-fragmented, not curled into a tube shape, and not yellowed/mottled. But, I haven't built them....yet....because of lingering concern for those old, irreplaceable decals. I'd LOVE to find someone who could take those precious sheets in all their graphic glory and make a handful of duplicates on current films....just in case.
If I was aware of a current production set of decals that would be appropriate to an old model kit....satisfying to the only customer that counts.....moi...., I guess I'd forge ahead and use the old set with or without application of additional film. Otherwise, I'd follow some of the suggestions offered above.
Good luck!
FWIW, always...
KD
