Hi,

Just wondering what opinions are on which custom decal vendors there are out there and the quality of what they produce.

I have a couple of wagons needing decals that are not on any sheet available in N. I don't want to go down the route of trying to print myself as this would need a better printer than I have, so prefer to get someone who has the equipment and knows what they are doing with it!

Cheers,
Alan

Depending on your era, Cambridge Custom Transfers will listen to suggestions. Generally speaking I think they are steam era only. Friends who are P4 modellers use them but I have no other experience than that. Hope this helps

Kirky

http://www.robbiesrollingstock.co.uk/

Top guy, will provide complete wagons of your choice or sheets of custom decals.

Just a satisfied customer

while not a custom transfer retailer per se, I'd recommend an e-mail to Steve at Railtec

http://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=3338

when I wanted some custom transfers for a number of class 25s for my Inverknockie layout, ie numbers and nameplates, he did them for me quite quickly, and it was not very expensive. and, his work is, IMHO, quality, with a capital Q.

Hi

Precision Decals http://www.precisionlabels.com

This van was lettered using custom transfers from precision


And the black and white lettering on this


Cheers

Paul

Quote from: class37025 on November 12, 2018, 08:23:38 PM
while not a custom transfer retailer per se, I'd recommend an e-mail to Steve at Railtec

http://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=3338

when I wanted some custom transfers for a number of class 25s for my Inverknockie layout, ie numbers and nameplates, he did them for me quite quickly, and it was not very expensive. and, his work is, IMHO, quality, with a capital Q.

Thanks for that. Custom runs are pretty much a daily occurrence now (in fact I'm building another one right now), with many folks taking advantage of simple numbersets or complete loco packs which contain all the detail with your choice of number. These already have templates designed with most straight-forward numbersets being dispatched in next available post. (Paul I have your detailed email from 5 Nov and I know I owe you a response - this job is obviously particularly involved).

I often get asked about the finer details of the custom service and what the later tech offers, so I created this page below some while ago:
http://www.railtec-models.com/railtec-benefits.php

...the most notable being that the product is spot printed so there's no superfluous carrier film to worry about, and what I'm told is lowest price custom service available, starting at just £1.30 for simple numbersets that can be applied in one easy transfer.

Quote from: Railtec Transfers on November 12, 2018, 10:40:14 PM
(Paul I have your detailed email from 5 Nov and I know I owe you a response - this job is obviously particularly involved).

Hi Steve

No problem and I appreciate that particular job isn't a five minute one. The artwork for those black and white transfers (very simple lettering) took the best part of fifteen hours to get right.

Cheers

Paul

I can recommend precisionlabels.com. You design it, he will print it. I used John for the Peter Fagg, Man of Kent coach logos.

Quote from: Railtec Transfers on November 12, 2018, 10:40:14 PM

Quote from: class37025 on November 12, 2018, 08:23:38 PM
while not a custom transfer retailer per se, I'd recommend an e-mail to Steve at Railtec

http://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=3338

when I wanted some custom transfers for a number of class 25s for my Inverknockie layout, ie numbers and nameplates, he did them for me quite quickly, and it was not very expensive. and, his work is, IMHO, quality, with a capital Q.

Thanks for that. Custom runs are pretty much a daily occurrence now (in fact I'm building another one right now), with many folks taking advantage of simple numbersets or complete loco packs which contain all the detail with your choice of number. These already have templates designed with most straight-forward numbersets being dispatched in next available post. (Paul I have your detailed email from 5 Nov and I know I owe you a response - this job is obviously particularly involved).

I often get asked about the finer details of the custom service and what the later tech offers, so I created this page below some while ago:
http://www.railtec-models.com/railtec-benefits.php

...the most notable being that the product is spot printed so there's no superfluous carrier film to worry about, and what I'm told is lowest price custom service available, starting at just £1.30 for simple numbersets that can be applied in one easy transfer.

Hi Steve, does that mean, you can do some Caroline inspection saloon transfers for me please?

Pete @ EGLM

Quote from: PaulCheffus on November 12, 2018, 10:51:20 PM

Quote from: Railtec Transfers on November 12, 2018, 10:40:14 PM
(Paul I have your detailed email from 5 Nov and I know I owe you a response - this job is obviously particularly involved).

Hi Steve

No problem and I appreciate that particular job isn't a five minute one. The artwork for those black and white transfers (very simple lettering) took the best part of fifteen hours to get right.

Cheers

Paul

It doesn't surprise me! The research & design particularly of freight stock can consume eons. Some of the forum members may have noticed that print of the NGS decal sheets is now being done by Railtec, though thankfully the research and design is handed to me largely already in a printable format. Some may just need cleaning up and tweaking but when design as EPS, AI or SVG files are done for me then the print (depending on what it is) is usually pretty straight-forward.

I keep meaning to carve out a couple of hours to knock up a "how to" page in relatively easy-to-understand langauge around how to create artwork, and ways in which it can be presented to me which will facilitate time, cost and quality of print, if people would find that useful.

Quote from: Pete @ EGLM on November 12, 2018, 11:02:59 PM

Quote from: Railtec Transfers on November 12, 2018, 10:40:14 PM

Quote from: class37025 on November 12, 2018, 08:23:38 PM
while not a custom transfer retailer per se, I'd recommend an e-mail to Steve at Railtec

http://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=3338

when I wanted some custom transfers for a number of class 25s for my Inverknockie layout, ie numbers and nameplates, he did them for me quite quickly, and it was not very expensive. and, his work is, IMHO, quality, with a capital Q.

Thanks for that. Custom runs are pretty much a daily occurrence now (in fact I'm building another one right now), with many folks taking advantage of simple numbersets or complete loco packs which contain all the detail with your choice of number. These already have templates designed with most straight-forward numbersets being dispatched in next available post. (Paul I have your detailed email from 5 Nov and I know I owe you a response - this job is obviously particularly involved).

I often get asked about the finer details of the custom service and what the later tech offers, so I created this page below some while ago:
http://www.railtec-models.com/railtec-benefits.php

...the most notable being that the product is spot printed so there's no superfluous carrier film to worry about, and what I'm told is lowest price custom service available, starting at just £1.30 for simple numbersets that can be applied in one easy transfer.

Hi Steve, does that mean, you can do some Caroline inspection saloon transfers for me please?

Pete @ EGLM

Yes Pete. I designed these in 4mm quite some time ago although that pack has been left out of stock until I leveraged the 3d waterslide tech to include the nameplate, which I would also intend to replicate in 2mm. The only downside is that the 2mm pack would be utterly tiny, which I'm trying to steer away from, though it's such a unique vehicle that it perhaps wouldn't make a huge amount of sense to include other vehicles on it. Designing packs is always a fine balancing act between keeping them small, specific and relevant, but not having them too tiny that they risk looking a bit odd and maintaining value for money.

Hi Steve

I've bought and painted a 3D printed Caroline and the Mk1 Chassis, so you can charge me what you like for it!!!

Pete @ EGLM

Many thanks to all for the responses - I wasn't expecting quite so many so quickly.

@Railtec Transfers - thanks for direct comment, I will PM you as with others and see who can do this.

Cheers,
Alan

Quote from: Railtec Transfers on November 12, 2018, 11:03:45 PM

I keep meaning to carve out a couple of hours to knock up a "how to" page in relatively easy-to-understand langauge around how to create artwork, and ways in which it can be presented to me which will facilitate time, cost and quality of print, if people would find that useful.

That would be incredibly useful to me. There are lots of numbersets and wagon markings I could do with ordering and I already use Corel Draw to prepare artwork for etching. I have been in contact about some custom work in the past but I understand you have quite a backlog so these never came to fruition, but if I can expedite the process by supplying (near) ready artwork I would be happy to do so.

Richard

Quote from: RichardBenn on November 14, 2018, 09:55:32 AM

Quote from: Railtec Transfers on November 12, 2018, 11:03:45 PM

I keep meaning to carve out a couple of hours to knock up a "how to" page in relatively easy-to-understand langauge around how to create artwork, and ways in which it can be presented to me which will facilitate time, cost and quality of print, if people would find that useful.

That would be incredibly useful to me. There are lots of numbersets and wagon markings I could do with ordering and I already use Corel Draw to prepare artwork for etching. I have been in contact about some custom work in the past but I understand you have quite a backlog so these never came to fruition, but if I can expedite the process by supplying (near) ready artwork I would be happy to do so.

Richard

Understood Richard. It likely won't happen until after Warley as it's all hands on deck with consistent 14hr days just now but I can see this being a small investment in time which will (hopefully) save more time in the mid/long term.