Hey Husker, those are Microscale decals on the TTX box. I just put on the same set on a BMLA reefer. Yup the screen printing dots are there. Here is a close up. The Sublime tag has the dots. This is before I worked the decal down over the ridges. I agree with you, it’s not bad really and a little weathering will blend it in well. I've order some Blairline and some others from a guy on ebay that swears his are top notch. I will report back how I make out with some more samples. The one thing is for sure, these BMLA reefers are the best car for adding tagging by far. I can understand why hardly a one goes by untagged in real life. Oh and I'm still BLOWN AWAY by the printing on the BMLA reefers.... ridiculous
Very cool, but why ya gotta cover the car number? Yeah the dots are annoying, but since aerosol painting deals frequently in gradients - as opposed to solid railroad colors - it's kind of understandable. I'm sure the technology exists now where you can have better quality printing on decals.
I'm gonna try doing my own graffiti (in the 1:160 world, that is )...I'll practice it on some junky old cars first.
Yup that’s the guy. I'll post close ups when I get them, and also how well they do being applied. They are clear (so no white printing) but on these white reefers that is moot. Ya I need to send that car back to maintenance to get the numbers reapplied over the tag, man I hate it when they tag over the reporting marks! Also a great read if you are going to try to do your own: http://theweatheringshop.com/articleg.html
The photos that Smike posted clearly show the "dot issue". And it doesn't take 2x magnification to see either. To each his own, but I wouldn't put those on a $25 car. But I'm apparently unreasonable in my expectations, or so I'm told. rolleyes:
Keep in mind that image is about 3x magnification, photos at that end show no mercy. I’ll post another image once it gone through some weathering.
Sorry, just going by my monitor, and not clicking on the "Original Image" but just leaving the smaller resized version. It was almost exactly 2x. Regardless, in 1x real life I could see it, even from 3-foot-rule territory. TIP: Print graffiti on any current technology inkjet printer and you'll get better results.
Ok I received additional decals from T2 Decals (on ebay) and Blair Line. Here is my thoughts: Blair Line - N Set # 1258 - They are screen printed so they do have a bit of a pattern but this is not as noticeable as the Microscale Decals. To me these look the best overall. They have more of a natural look to them. They are also wafer thin, and will suck right down with a little Micro Sol. Microscale - These are not photos cleaned up and made into decals, but they are actual renderings, so they have the razor crisp lines, but they do have the most noticeable screen pattern. These are also thin but not as thin as the Blair Line. The solid color ones of these look really good. T2 Decals. - I saw these on ebay and gave them a try. Great Designs. Unfortunately even though they were marked as Nscale they seemed over scaled by about 1/2-1/3 too big for Nscale rolling stock. (The long ones, seems to be usable thou) They also were the thickest since they had clear coat spayed over them (to better protect them) This has a negative effect of giving them a course surface, its bit too course and too thick for N scale use. They do have the smoothest colors with no screen printing pattern. I'm going to send them feedback so maybe they can improve them on future releases. Image showing Micro scale on the left, Blair Line on top center, and T2 decals on the bottom and right. You can size the oversize issues with the D2. Here is the on model (yet to be weathered) showing off the installed decals. Overall I like the Blair Line the best. I also like the solid color Microscale ones as well. As for the T2 I can't recommend them given the current issues.
Very helpful information, thank you for posting it. I agree that the Blair Line sets are generally quite nice (and not too prevalent). Re the T2, I think I read that they were printed on a white background. Is that true? It seems like that would make them difficult to use on a non-white car without some tedious trimming. -Gary
Hi Gary, they are printined on a clear background but do not have white ink in them (That must be from using a ink jet vs. printing press) For non white cars you are supposed to lay down a patch of white to where the decal will be applied. Still tedious. The size, thickness, and orange peel surface has prevented me from using any (except a small cut of one) on the Reefers.
I didn’t understand about the “dots” until I saw the photo from Smike. Now that I see that, I’ll be looking for them now.baffled:
