Older Atlas & Kato lighted number boards?

[CBQ Fan]

What are you guys doing to upgrade these to have numbers or look better than just lighted bland boards?  I have a couple older locos that are this way and are sentimental to me but I would like to upgrade their looks a little.

[bbussey]

I painted mine black (or white) and put number decals in them.

[bdennis]

I did the same as Bryan.
Pulled them out of the loco, painted white or black depending on the prototype, then made decals from decal paper on a laser printer then applied. They came up a treat.

[jagged ben]

THIS:

http://home.comcast.net/~atsf_arizona_2/Easy_N_Scale_Locomotive_Numberboards.html

I was surprised how easy it was and how good it looks.  Will not mess with decals again for this type of loco.  And, I might add, will never have to pay anything if I mess them up or lose them. 

Only one thing to add to it, which is that I sometimes use a bit of MicroSet to hold them in if they seem loose.  But you don't always have to.

[bman]

     The same as above.  I paint the lens, then apply laser printed decals.  If you do not have a laser printer like me, no problem.  I take my decal paper and a thumb drive with the file I wish to print to the office supply store and for 10 cents they print the file for me on the laser paper.   I make plenty of numbers ahead of time so I have a good selection as the store will only print on a full sheet of decal paper.  Then I seal with Testors gloss clear and let them sit overnight to dry.  After applying I use brush on Micro Scale's clear satin over them.

[JMaurer1]

THIS:

http://home.comcast.net/~atsf_arizona_2/Easy_N_Scale_Locomotive_Numberboards.html

I was surprised how easy it was and how good it looks.  Will not mess with decals again for this type of loco.  And, I might add, will never have to pay anything if I mess them up or lose them. 

Only one thing to add to it, which is that I sometimes use a bit of MicroSet to hold them in if they seem loose.  But you don't always have to.

I do this too.

[CBQ Fan]

Great suggestions!  Thanks for the advice!!!   

[bdennis]

As an example.
This is a old Atlas/Kato RS3 that has been painted and weathered. It is not a light box above the cab, however, the number boxes on the hoods on RS3's are rather small.
For this I painted the area white and then made the black numbers (ie typed the numbers in a cel in excel, made the numbers white and then shaded the cell black to give a effective white number on black) on Decal paper with a heap of other numbers for other loco's and then applied the 1 decal to the area.
They came up a treat.