Product Idea: Conspicuity Stripe Dry Transfers

[ljudice]

It seems  to make sense for retrofitting cars...   

Thoughts?

[GaryHinshaw]

Good idea.  Dry transfers seem to have gone the way of the dodo bird though.

[C855B]

Constant QC issues. I was a big user of dry transfers back when they were the go-to in the graphic arts for display type. Best-known brand was Letraset. My experience was they never aged well. Sure, you'd keep half-used sheets in your stash for the next project, but if that next project needing the particular typeface was a year or more down the pike, you suffered with cracked and broken letters, with broken bits frequently peeled off onto the backing sheet. Never pretty, and by the end of it you eventually had to buy a fresh one to finish the job. Ugh.

But dry transfers for conspic stripes? Dynamite idea. There are still companies doing dry transfers in HO, so I'd start looking there. Maybe somebody does custom work.

[jmlaboda]

Maybe you ought to contact Clover House to recommend it to them.  They are the largest model railroader dry transfer manufacturer...

http://cloverhouse.com

[ljudice]

Maybe you ought to contact Clover House to recommend it to them.  They are the largest model railroader dry transfer manufacturer...

http://cloverhouse.com

Contacted!!!

[nkalanaga]

My 1974 railroad needs the early rectangular white reflective "spots".  In many cases I use Woodland Scenics 1/32 inch white stripes, and make rectangles by cutting the transfer, but not the backing sheet, with a hobby knife.  It can sometimes be tricky to keep from transferring extra "spots", from that or other stripes, but the extras come off easily. 

The same idea might work for conspicuity stripes, by using yellow stripes, and cutting them longer.

Trivia:  Firefox's spell checker doesn't like "conspicuity".

[Denver Road Doug]

There is at least one company that makes actual reflective striping...for multiple scales.  I've done one Z car with them...not bad.   They won't hold up to macro-photography but I thought they looked great from a foot away.   I can't recall the name right now I'll edit it in a bit once I figure it out.   EDIT: Thanks to Johnathan Edwards (Catt) I have the manufacturer: Smokebox Graphics. http://www.smokeboxgraphics.com/reflective.html

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This collage was supposed to show the progression as less light was present.  Really the last photo is what is important to show that reflective property.
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The original, for reference.
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[learmoia]

There is at least one company that makes actual reflective striping...for multiple scales.  I've done one Z car with them...not bad.   They won't hold up to macro-photography but I thought they looked great from a foot away.   I can't recall the name right now I'll edit it in a bit once I figure it out.

Those do look nice..

~Ian

[ljudice]

Cloverhouse replied - they are looking into it...

The Microscale reflectors are not bad - and pretty precisely cut to minimize film. It would be nice if they had the pre-made double wide stripes though.

Not so sure the color is right either.  (yellow)

[wazzou]

I have had the most success with dry transfers when I burnished them on Microscale decal film and then used them just as you would a waterslide decal.

[peteski]

There is at least one company that makes actual reflective striping...for multiple scales.  I've done one Z car with them...not bad.   They won't hold up to macro-photography but I thought they looked great from a foot away.   I can't recall the name right now I'll edit it in a bit once I figure it out.

If these are real reflective stripes they are probably several inches in scale thickness.  That is probably what you mean about them not holding up to close-up photos, right?

I have had the most success with dry transfers when I burnished them on Microscale decal film and then used them just as you would a waterslide decal.

I agree that this makes it easier, especially for logos or lettering. I've done that myself. But if you want to do it this way (even with simple stripes) then why not just make them as waterslide decals to begin with?  This is something that can even be printed on Alps printer (if you have the Kodak Orange ink).

[GaryHinshaw]

Microscale already makes decent conspicuity stripe decals.  To me, the advantage of transfers would be the ability to add them over a weathered car, like Doug's, without needing a glossy surface or having to worry about the weathering being affected by water.  But I guess transfers have their own issues.

[ljudice]

Microscale already makes decent conspicuity stripe decals.  To me, the advantage of transfers would be the ability to add them over a weathered car, like Doug's, without needing a glossy surface or having to worry about the weathering being affected by water.  But I guess transfers have their own issues.

My thought exactly!!

[nkalanaga]

Bryan:  I put most of my CDS and WS dry transfers on decal film.  The backing sheets, paper or plastic, are simply too stiff to fit around N scale details.  In the case of CDS, the paper is also translucent, making it very hard to find the smaller printing.

[Denver Road Doug]

If these are real reflective stripes they are probably several inches in scale thickness.  That is probably what you mean about them not holding up to close-up photos, right?

Yes, I guess I presumed that would be obvious to most.   But yes.