Passenger car lettering sources

[nkp_174]

My Champ decals arrived today. I'm disappointed in the passenger car details.

My order:
-2 packs of NKP steam locomotive lettering
-2 packs of NKP caboose letter, the High Speed Service version in their catalog is actually the steel 400 series cars of the 1950s...of minimal use to me...the plain white & black lettering version is what I thought the High Speed Service version to be...appropriate for the fleet of hundreds of wooden cars...and should work fine for me in the pre-High Speed Service years by leaving off that portion of the lettering.
-NKP Dulux gold passenger car lettering...for coaches
-NKP aluminum lettering...apparently they didn't plan on anyone using them to letter sleepers or Lounge cars...which was my reason for purchasing them... I might have to get custom decals printed for the car names...unless their are blue decal sheets out there...
- And a my primary reason for ordering was a set of Signature Series 1938 20th Century Limited decals. It only included the lettering details...none of the complicated striping!

For those whom don't know, the 1938 20th Cent Ltd was a very complex paint scheme. Aluminum stripes were at the top & bottom of each car (3/4" thick IIRC). Above and below the windows was painted light gray. The windows were particularly complicated. The series of stripes were at the window level. The car was dark gray at the windows, with 3.75" thick (iirc) aluminum stripes near the center, and had 2" (?) blue lines as borders above and below the windows. The following year, it was switched to a simplified scheme with the 3.75" lines becoming .75" lines and the blue lines became aluminum. The lines at the top and bottom of each car were dropped in 1940 or so. The more modeled paint scheme is the 1948 version with the grays reversed and simplified line work. Only a few cars served on both centuries.

Any ideas on sources to supplement the decals with aluminum & blue striping, or am I stuck using masking tape?

Any ideas on a source of blue letter transfers for HO cars? I suspect that Woodland Scenics Dulux Gold transfers will suffice for my future heavyweight fleet.

EDIT: as a happy note, the 20th Cent Ltd decals included non-'38 cars...such as the 1939 Commodore Vanderbilt Bedroom-Buffet-Lounge car Chittenango Falls which will be serving of my layout...my single favorite car of all time.

[iis612]

I thought Woodland Scenics made some generic dry transfer letters in a shade of blue. I know I have seen them, but they may not be WS. I will do some hunting later and see what I can find.
I am suprised that Champs fell short. I use them for all of my decals. They are the only ones who went the extra mile and worked with the PMHS to get them right. They might have run out of the stripes and blue lettering. I know that when (I can not recall his name) the owner passed away they stopped printing new decals.

Matt

[nkp_174]

Interesting. I found another area in which they fall short: There are no black outlines around the letters. So much for it being a set of "Blue Ribbon Series" decals. Oh well. I realize that I'd probably order more of theirs than have custom ones printed. I just wish they were closer to accurate. I've previously heard of a few other complaints about their decals...but they are the only source for the standard gauge roads I like best...even if they don't give enough numerals to number an NKP berk to be #755 or a 4-6-2 to #166. At least they don't charge $8 per car like many of the On3 decal manufacturers.

I'll plan on ordering more from them...and I won't be disappointed in the future since I know their short comings in advance. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided not to add the black outlines for cost/QA reasons.

Between the absurdly expensive On3 decals and the short comings of commercial decals in HO, I am becoming increasingly interested in ordering, at some point, some custom decals...to augment what Champ offers and to provide cost effective decals in On3.

I've found that Champ does offer alphabet sheets and lining! Unfortunately, the lettering isn't available in blue or aluminum. Maybe they'll do a custom set of letters, color wise.

Here's a nice view of what the lettering is supposed to look like on a 4-4-2 sleeper...

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