I was woundering if it is currently posible to do full color grapics for the sides of model railway equipment ..eg silimer to photogrphic advertisments like coke and beer ads etc..
Has anyone sen anything done this small for ho scale model railway equipment..
Digital pictures welcome..and comments Thanks :)
Brock R Bailey Victoria BC Canada
snipped-for-privacy@shaw.ca
Try a decal making kit, and make decals of whatever size you want. The sheets are 8-1/2"x11". See Walthers catalog. There was a thread about this on this forum less than a year ago. Google "inkjet decal"
Or, print the graphics out on card stock, score weld lines and/or punch rivets (from the back), and glue to wood or plastic sheet for car sides. Card/paper is a much underappreciated modelling material, BTW. It should also be possible to print to plastic sheet, and if it's not heavy enough, glue that to a backing sheet. See the printers that print directly onto a CD provide a flat printing path.
HTH
Brock,
I'm not exactly sure what your are asking, but... if you are asking about making car sides, that is probably doable but I'd be really careful. For one thing, I don't know how you would effectively seal the ink on plastic. Most inkjet printer inks are intended to soak into the paper. I don't think they would soak very far into plastic. Any kind of overspray that you might put on them may cause excessive color runs.
On the other hand... I've been one of the lucky ones to own an ALPS printer for the last 5-6 years and I print my own decals all of the time (including white lettering on clear decal paper). The ALPS printer uses ribbons similar to the old IBM Selectric typewriter ribbons that have a thin color film that is transferred to the printed piece by impact of little printing pins and heat to set it. The colors are waterproof, won't smear and don't fade much at all. And, for one car, I did print a full side decal.
The car was an AccuRail wooden reefer. These are nice to work with because the car sides detach; they are held in place with six friction pins and they usually snap out pretty easy. After printing my decal which included ladders and reefer doors, I cut a piece of plain scribed siding the same size as the car side piece I took out. I painted this and let it dry. The next step was to place the decal on the new car side. After that, I sealed it and glued the new siding in place of the old and the project was done.
Sorry, I don't have a picture of the car, and I built it for a friend, so I don't even have the car any more. If you are interested, contact me privately and I'll send you a couple of images of cars that I have done to see if that is what you are talking about.
dlm
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