Page 13 - NMRA Roundhouse November-December 2019
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US adverts” will turn up a lot of useful images that can be downloaded. If you are using a Windows PC, then I would recommend trying the “Snip and Sketch” tool that comes as a standard feature. Using this allows you to capture a part of any image on your PC screen. Mac us- ers can use the Skitch app. Provided you only use it for your own model railroad, then there are no copyright issues.
If you need a sign for an industry you have created yourself, then the simplest solution is a computer printed image that is just applied to the building. Black lettering with a white background or re- versed can be done with a laser printer. The main issues are font selection and if you are not using a wood frame, hiding the edge of the paper which will have an un-prototypical thickness.
Font Selection is very much dependant on the period that you are modelling and you should take some care to use
a font style that would have been or is in use at the time. For example – Ed- ward Johnsons san serif font screams London Underground and Gill Sans is a development used by the LNER and the Flying Scotsman. If you Google “Vintage American fonts” or “Railroad fonts” you will get lots of sources both free and
paid of suitable US style lettering. It’s all about picking something that is both historically correct, visually appealing and representative of the object that it promotes.
If I am not using a frame and directly ap- plying the image to the subject, I reduce the thickness of the paper using very fine sandpaper and a gentle touch to remove as much material as possible.The trick
is avoiding perforation and this is very much one of those techniques which
is improved by practice. I always print more than one copy of my final image to allow for disasters.
The photo above shows both a web sourced advert and a simple word pro- cessing software company sign.
Both are framed with strip wood which hides the paper edge.
In the case of Paxman engineering above, I designed my own company logo style advert using Microsoft Word by utilising different size letters.This is ink jet print-
There are occasions when no comput- er font will do, such as in this example of “The Shack” above, where I wanted to reproduce a sign that was originally painted free-hand on the building.
I ended up using the prototype pho- tograph and created a decal from this image. I am fortunate in having Photo- shop, so I can correct some horizontal skewing due to the original photograph not being taken “straight on”. However, word processing programs like Micro- soft Word or a free alternative like WPS Office usually have 3D rotation features which perform a very similar effect. Click on your picture and open up the “Format Picture” option to see what is available.
ed on plain white paper and then framed with strip wood painted black.Weather- ing powder or chalk dust applied with a cotton bud completes the effect.
   After some weathering the decal blends in well with the model building’s wood facing.
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