Who/What is DKMTECH decals?

I've used a few sets and found them to be quite good.

As for the rest of your questions, why not ask DKMTech directly?

VGN64 posted:

You can't do a search an Oscale search on Ebay without them showing up.   You type in brass caboose and over half the auctions are dkmtech.  Are they rerunning Champ decals?  are they doing orginal work?  Anybody know their quality.  I'm getting tired of wasting time looking thru all their auctions in catagories they don't belong.

I've not used any yet, Brad A  has.  Comments on other Yahoo lists imply that some sets are not correctly sized.

I don't know how they get by eBay's keyword spamming rules.  The descriptions and pictures are misleading and do not show decals.

On the other hand, once you figure it out their advertising system is easy to spot.

And O Scale is not exactly awash with decals, so if theirs are good, then the net effect on our hobby will be positive.  I am about to order a couple sets for a trial.

I just purchased a set of SP&S Steam decals from them.  They are not re-runs of the Champ set, which I have in HO and was able to compare them to.  The quality of the DKM decals appears good. (I have not applied them yet.)  My only complaint thus far is that this decal set did not include the data that should appear beneath the road number on the cab, i.e. locomotive class, boiler pressure, driver diameter, piston diameter & stroke, etc.  The Champ set did have that.  

(My project is re-lettering a 3rd Rail GN Z-6 from GN #4000 back to SP&S #903.) 

well i ordered some sets, and its been 3 weeks and no product. He blames it on the postal service. My patients are wearing very thin. And no I do not like not having a photo of said product.

But eBay says you only need one photo per auction, which he has complied with.

Jersy boy

Gentlepeople,  

I mailed some checks from Highlands Ranch CO to Boulder CO, about 45 miles.  It took 12 days to arrive.

ChipR

. My patients are wearing very thin

Yo doc, you will need to learn patience with your patients.  .

Butch

I saw these on eBay. When I saw he offered a few sets for the Boston & Albany I ordered up 3 sets. I've always used Clover House dry transfers. Nothing against decals they just weren't offered for the B&A except for Champs engine set. 

 My sets did arrive after about 2 1/2 weeks. I was beginning to wonder myself and was almost ready to shoot an e mail. I have very little experience with decals. I've done some reading and even watched a few videos. I put them on a tender I was working on. Lettering and numbers went easily. The data. Not so good. I've read how to do this but it was still frustrating at times. They are really small. Good thing multiples are offered. After a few tries things went better as I started to get the hang of it. They look good. I'll seal them tomorrow with a flat finish. Then weather it.

Seal with gloss first, then flat.

Most Champ steam decals did not have cab data.  For SP you needed a special set.

Most of the above is good news.  We have Protocraft, maybe Microscale, and these guys.  Decals are essential for kit builders and scratchbuilders.

Lee Kaplan is the eBay seller.  Yes, his sets are inconsistent. I have sent him images of what he is missing from sheets, size issues etc.   he does not seem to care.

the atsf stock car set is incomplete and scaled wrong, same for the d&h hopper, prr cabin car and soo boxcar set.

his reading and NYC usra s/s sets appear correct-- except the heralds are not sized correctly.

i set him overlays and questioned if he sized to a model or just estimated, he did not reply.

i am done with him

Boston and Albany box car sets are available from rich leach and are dead accurate.

if you search the 2r forum, I posted a PAC limited brass car I did last year

I got all 3 of my sets of decals within 10 days - I suspect that he prints these as orders are placed.

I'm finishing up a pair of X-23 boxcars for the CVRR right now....

Thanks for this post.  I had always wondered about this seller, like others, was annoyed at this flood of items tagged in the wrong categories and figured I would try his stuff one day, but you all have saved me the hassle.

Perhaps if enough of us complain to Ebay they will deal with his spam.   There new classification system is bad enough but when you search Gloor and get 20 times more decals from this guy than you get kits you waste a lot of time scrolling thru junk looking for a kit.

I searched "Gloor" on ebay and the search gave me 2 kits, 1 parts and 22 DKMTECH decals.  No pictures of the actual decals just pictures of prototype cars.  I wrote ebay, others should do the same.

Good idea.  Put him out of business.  After all, between Champ and Microscale, we have enough decals in the hobby.  Be a shame to have somebody compete with Champ - they have been so good this last decade.

Sarcas - er, Opinion.

Here is the solution if you really want to search for Gloor Craft:

Go to advanced search, and exclude mth and brass.  You will get a clean search, sans decals.  The technique he is using is to get the widest customer base possible - not unlike those posters who say " not brass import" in their title.

If I'm correct Champ Decals is no longer.  Any Champ you are buying is old stock.   Spray them with flat finish before you get them wet so they don't come apart.  I love their decals but they weren't always accurate either.  They were a giant step forward compared to many Walther's releases.  Now the art is finding who is custom making the particular decals you need.   For the N&W we have Shell Scale but they don't do all their stuff in O scale........mainly HO and N.

I purchased as mentioned 3 sets. I've got a Lionel Berkshire and an older Weaver brass 0-6-0. Both are being lettered into the B&A. I'm truly a novice at this. I always used dry transfers because they were available. Although they go on well enough. You get one shot to do it right. Takes a while just to position it just to get straight. If you mess up you usually have to scuff it off and repaint.

 For these projects I looked into getting decals. Even e mailed a known supplier to see if I could them custom made. Never got an answer. I saw all the decals on e bay while looking at Atlas reefers.  Clicked on his store and found the B&A sets. It was $20.00 I think for the engine set. All the data is there. 2 lettering fonts and enough to do about 6 locos. The only thing is the data for the Berkshire is in  3 decals. A- , 1 and a. Frankly I'm not skilled enough to apply these. I'm just happy someone offered them.

 As far as my project. I started with Scalecoat 1 engine black. After it dried for about a week. I applied Testors Gloss and used their decal setting solution. Followed by another coat of gloss then a few coats of flat. Some Bragdon powders chalks and another few coats of flat to seal everything up. I think it met my standards and looks pretty good.

For my money, there are only three decal makers today.  RL Design (Rick Leach), San Juan Decals and Protocraft Decals are the suppliers of choice.  Some Microscale sets are ok.  Champ and Walthers are really dated.

Silk screening printing is the preferred approach not the old printing press used by Champ and Walthers.  Today, artwork is created on a computer by tracing lettering in photos of the actual piece of equipment.  Lettering is not standard printers type styles.  Railroads created their own fonts.  The Southern Pacific used a style called Egyptian.  

Gene

I need two sets for a pair of Weaver E8s in CB&Q. Help anyone?

Thanks,

Dick

I like CDS lettering out of Cedar City, Utah. I pay via PayPal and I get good quality decals to my house in less than a week. 

I do wish dkmtech would show the actual decals instead of the prototype photos. I'll stick with CDS Lettering and Clover House for my White Pass dry transfers for the time being.