EXTERNAL: HO Herald King Hopper Decals

Tue Jun 12 00:21:24 EDT 2018

Wow, Eric, thanks for the reply.

When I sent the original message to this group I also sent a message to 
Herald King asking whether they had any in stock and if the decals I was 
asking about were of the scheme I was looking for. After reading about 
Herald King being unresponsive in the past and seeing their website was 
not very helpful, I didn't expect much. However, I received a reply from 
Herald King soon afterward. After a quick back and forth I was able to 
order the quantity of decals I was looking for, so they're on the way.

I have used Highball Graphics decals in the past. They're excellent. I 
use their ACI/Kar-Trak labels and COTS labels exclusively. The printing 
is crisp and the lettering is legible. I would love to see more hazmat 
placards from Highball. Theirs are the best.

I prepared a few different sets of decal artwork in the past, but I 
printed them from AutoCAD directly to the decal paper. At this point 
they've begun to fade (these were black lettered decals on clear paper), 
so a replacement might be a good idea. I prepared a set for three 
switchers that used to work a local mill, but Athearn ended up releasing 
the model factory painted before I could build the model myself. I may 
have to see what my options are for getting Corel. I'm curious if I can 
import CAD artwork into Corel...

The artwork you've attached is impressive. Really stunning stuff. You've 
certainly got me thinking about some of the things I've drawn in the 
past that would work well as decals. I have a fertilizer plant that I 
drew in AutoCAD complete with all the signage. A lot of that could be 
easily printed by Highball.

Thanks for the information and inspiration, Eric.

Ryan Harris
Fort Worth, TX

On 6/11/2018 8:04 AM, NW Modeling List wrote:
> Ryan:
>
> A noble endeavor!
>
> There is a fellow who has been printing modern-ish decals on an ALPS 
> machine and selling in person at the Boeing Model Railroad Club meets 
> in St. Louis who may have done these.  He is a meticulous researcher, 
> and his printing is very crisp. Unfortunately I cannot remember his 
> name, so hopefully this will allow you to network to him-- maybe start 
> with the Boeing St. Louis Model RR Club web site. He specializes in 
> modern IC prototypes, but has ranged pretty far from that over time.  
> I can't recall seeing your specific set in his list, but he's got over 
> a hundred prototypes covered, and if one is yours, you are in tall cotton.
>
> I have been having custom decals made for me by Jim Abbott of Highball 
> Graphics (http://www.highballgraphics.com/). He's willing to print 
> single pages (8.5" x 11", less 1/4" borders all around), and does a 
> superb job, with decal paper as good as Microscale's current 
> offering.  Jim has a 4-color laser printer plus an Alps printer and 
> limited stock of gold and silver material for it.  He also sells good 
> decals of his own artwork, mostly of NE prototypes.
>
> The catch with Jim is that he ONLY accepts artwork from a vector 
> graphics software called Corel, and ONLY in Version 13.  I purchased a 
> copy (Version 19, but which can "save down" to 13) for the sole 
> purpose of generating artwork for modeling.  Corel is fantastically 
> capable, although with a very steep learning curve which is mitigated 
> somewhat if you are already familiar with CAD packages.  It's also 
> expensive (~$450) if you buy the full commercial version, but a very 
> complete academic version (compatible with Jim's requirements) is 
> available on Amazon for $99.  Go find a student or teacher in your life!
>
> I'll also recommend checking out fonts from Railfonts 
> (http://railfonts.com/), which (in my Windows 8 and 10 machines) are 
> fully compatible with Corel, as are all other True-Type fonts.  Not 
> having to design your own font for a project saves LOTS of hours-- but 
> I have done that too, for example for the numbers on T&P steam locos.
>
> If you go this route, you will open up an entire new world of 
> opportunities for finishing your models more accurately than even the 
> factory painters.  I have had Jim print up 11 different sheets for me, 
> that will allow me (as I get project slots with my painters) to finish 
> over 70 unpainted brass models.  So far, I have been able to complete 
> a T&P F-1s, a B-6, and an I-1a (all in the green boiler livery); a 
> Wabash P-1 (in the full Banner Blue livery); an NYC DES-3; and a WECX 
> 20-axle Schnaebel car.  I have completed the artwork for several N&W 
> steam locos, including the Jawn Henry and an E-3.  The decals are 
> truly superb-- far sharper and denser than old Herald King, Walthers, 
> or Champ sets, and easily equivalent to Microscale's sets, which are 
> screen printed.
>
> If you can live with one of the True-Type fonts available 
> commercially, the artwork design for your hopper cars could be as 
> little as a 2-3 hour project.  Note that Corel can scale, 
> anamorphically stretch, tilt, and add perspective to any Tru-Type font 
> (or any other vector object), and has superb kerning and line height 
> editing features, so "existing fonts" is much less of a constraint 
> than one might at first think. BTW, it's hugely helpful to have photos 
> taken at right angles to (and from the same height as) print blocks on 
> a prototype-- this makes scaling the art straightforward.
>
> Jim accepts digital files by email, and payment via PayPal on his web 
> site.  About a week after payment, your decals show up in the mail.  
> You could probably fit enough decals for 20-30 of your cars on a 
> single sheet.  Because your printing is all white, Jim would use his 
> 4-color printer, and his total charge would be $35 plus $3.50 for 
> shipping.  (Metallics cost $40/sheet at this time, but will probably 
> go up as his ALPS paper stock dwindles.)
>
> The first attachment hereto is a .jpg copy of the latest sheet I have 
> been working on.  This will include decals for a Lehigh Valley 
> drop-center flatcar, a YVT Westinghouse B-1 electric, a T&P M-1 in the 
> MP Eagle paint scheme, three VGN cabooses that had slightly different 
> liveries, a GN Sno-Dozer, an ATSF Dynamometer car, a LIRR G-5, three 
> TCY HWT cars for the 1937 Super Chief, several GN HWT head-end cars, 
> and a drumhead or three for the CNW 400's.  I have a bit of room left, 
> and may try a first cut at decals for an OMI Erie tugboat.  (At 
> $35/sheet, it's cheap enough to do a trial run, and I have taken this 
> route several times.)  As you can see, you have complete artistic 
> freedom over what you do with the page real estate.  And, as you can 
> see, models that have been hopeless to finish previously can now be 
> finished in literally any livery version you can document.  Although, 
> as the 2nd attachment shows, even that's not a requirement.  (I had 
> two Global Outlet sets, plus an Alco set, of EL-2b's, and had this 
> "what if" painted by Don Silberbauer of Model Memories with my custom 
> decals plus stripes from a Microscale EF-4 set.  We'd both like to 
> have seen an EL-2b set crossing the Hell Gate Bridge!)
>
> And, lest you fret that maybe Corel/Highball only allows you to do 
> alpha-numerics, check out the 3rd attachment.  These are some of the 
> logos for which I have generated artwork from scratch in Corel, 
> modeled after images from the www.  I'm especially proud of "Dashing 
> Dottie", which I did for a LIRR N-22b caboose project.  I don't think 
> there will be too many of those out there in Model Railroad Land!  And 
> I now have all the CMSt.P&P logo versions I need to correctly do the 
> EF-1 and EP-1 sets that have languished naked in unpainted brass for 
> decades.  The Baldwin builder's plate was for the YVT B-1 electric-- 
> somebody had the presence of mind to take a close-up of the plate on 
> YVT #297, and so now my model will have the exact correct builder's 
> number and date represented. Way Cool!
>
> Jim was very helpful with advice on how to use some of Corel's more 
> arcane features.  I'll be happy to advise as well, through this forum, 
> if anybody wants to try this out.
>
> Did I mention I'm looking for another custom painter or two?
>
> Best,
>
> -Eric Bott
>
> Moderator:
> http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2018/20180611.DSC02090.JPG
> http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2018/20180611.Lehigh-Valley-9955.pdf
> http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2018/20180611.Logos.pdf
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NW-Modeling-List [mailto:nw-modeling-list-bounces at nwhs.org 
> <mailto:nw-modeling-list-bounces at nwhs.org>] On Behalf Of NW Modeling List
> Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2018 18:19
> To: NW Modeling List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org 
> <mailto:nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>>
> Subject: EXTERNAL: HO Herald King Hopper Decals
>
> Hello modeling group. I'm Ryan Harris and I've been modeling N&W 
> equipment from afar for several years now. I got hooked on NS when I 
> was in college in Georgia in the early 90s, but it wasn't long before 
> I became more interested in the predecessor roads of NS. My modeling 
> era is the mid to late 80s, so that puts me squarely in post-merger 
> territory but I have more than my fair share of pre-merger equipment.
>
> I'm working on a coal train based largely on the Andrew Dow book. I've 
> come to the point where I want to decorate some hoppers in what I 
> believe is called the Claytor scheme (seen here:
> http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1959433 ) but I 
> haven't had much success finding decals for these cars until now - maybe.
>
> I found Herald King set H-55 in their alphabetic listing of decals, 
> described as: "H-55 HOPPER: Blk 100 Ton (1981) Wht Decal". The 
> illustrated catalog is not much help, since the images are such a low 
> resolution it's impossible to make them out. Here's the image from their
> website:
>
> https://heraldkingdecals.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/H22-232x300.jpg
>
> It looks like the upper left image on the catalog page might be what 
> I'm looking for. Can anyone confirm if Herald King H-55 is the set I'm 
> looking for?
>
> Also, another problem is I can't find any in stock anywhere. I've set 
> up a saved search on ebay in case any turn up there, but I'm looking 
> to letter about a dozen cars. If these are indeed the decals I'm 
> looking for and anyone has a lead on where I can purchase about a 
> dozen sets, I'd very much like to know.
>
> Of course, if there is a better set that I'm unaware of I'd love to 
> find out about it. I bought a couple sets from the commissary a few 
> weeks ago, but those decals will work only for earlier cars.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ryan Harris
> Fort Worth, Texas
>
>
>
>
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