N Rust Decals

[mecgp7]

Not sure this has been covered before so forgive me if it has.

Surfing eBay I came across rust decals produced for weathering N scale equipment. They are produced by Weathering Solutions (Weatheringsolutions.com). I was curious so I bought some to try. I have had a lot of fun using them and I think you can get some very realistic rust going on your equipment.

“A” side of a hopper (clean, no rust):


“B” side with rust decals and a coat of Dullcoat:


Close up of rust:


For the purposes of this post, I did not add any other weathering as I wanted folks to see the decals in the nude. I will add weathering later on. I think the results are pretty dramatic.

Pluses:
It makes fast work of adding rust
No soaking decals. You dip them in water and they slide in seconds
You get a lot of decals (three sheets the size of Microscale sheets)

Minuses:
These decals are thick which poses two challenges. First, you need a lot of decal solution. The manufacturer even recommends putting the solution on the car, etc. before laying the decal on. Second, they are so thick that additional weathering could be tricky. The edges of the decals are almost as thick as the vertical seams on the hopper I have pictured. If one imagines using chalks or powders, they’ll expose the decal edges. The edges are not visible from a normal viewing distance.
*If anyone knows a way to make decal solutions “stronger” I’d love to know.

The cost of the decals is in line with Microscale  ($6.00 prior to shipping), but you do get three sheets. Two are identical and one has large rusticle decals for the heavily rusted equipment.

The company makes different sets, too. Some designed specifically for locos. They also make them for other scales.

I have no affiliation with the manufacturer. I just thought I would share.

[6axlepwr]

I had been meaning to post about these. I was at the house the night these were printed for the first time early July this year. It is understood that the decal film needs to be a lot thinner and that is being addressed. There is a lot more decal stuff planned. It was very impressive to see this printer run.

The decal sheet that is being used is not the usual small stock that you can buy from Microscale. The printer these are being done on is rather large and can print white. The decal film comes on a large roll so a much thinner film needs to be sourced. Graffiti decals can be printed with a white underlay to produce quality opaque graffiti now. Just needs to get that film thinner.

mecgp7, thanks for posting this. I have a number of sheets, but have not even opened the packages yet.

[spookshow]

I was all prepared to poo-poo the idea. But wow, those look really great!

Cheers,
-Mark

[Denver Road Doug]

Interesting.  Thanks for the post and photos.  Your hopper looks great!

I definitely see uses for it, especially for older second or third tier rolling stock as a way to get them grunged quickly...and the price is right.   It looks fine to me, but I see the decal edge issue being a downer for the "photo fleet".  You probably wouldn't want a large fleet of cars with that level of rust streaks anyway, so I could see buying a set and dividing it amongst my fellow n-scale locals.   A nice addition to the arsenal, I'd say.   

EDIT: Just bought one set of the streaks and one of the roof spots.   Couple of things...
1. In the "streak" set, it appears you now only get TWO Microscale-comparable sheets, printed side-by-side on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet.  (perhaps what they actually send is more, though?)
2. I may be wrong, but I believe the sets "specifically for locos" are not...they just use keywords in the description to get more hits.

[mecgp7]

Doug,
Mine didn't show the third sheet on eBay either, but it was in there. The website shows the different sheets. They have one for a loco that is different than the ones for the cars. Not sure it matters as rust is rust

[sdodge]

Yes, thanks for the information. I was wondering how to get realistic looking rust streaks going down the car. This looks like a solution.

[wazzou]

Those are pretty nice results with only an application of decals to get that look.

[chicken45]

Just sand down the decal film 

[ednadolski]

With a bit of practice, it's really not all that hard to get better results using oil paints (water-based or traditional oils is a matter of preference).   And then you don't have to have the same rust streaks on all your cars. 

Ed

[wazzou]

With a bit of practice, it's really not all that hard to get better results using oil paints (water-based or traditional oils is a matter of preference).   And then you don't have to have the same rust streaks on all your cars. 

Ed

I think certainly that most people realize that is the case, however for some, who lack the time, patience, or talent to pull it off, this presents a nice alternative. 
I believe, even Micro-trains manages to sell out all of the weathered releases they offer.  These decals certainly offer a more affordable, subtle and realistic appearance than those cars.

[GaryHinshaw]

I agree that these appear to be quite nice - and a good addition to the arsenal, as DRD notes.  I'll be very curious to see graffiti decals from the same source.

[towl1996]

Looks to be a great product. I'm a buyer when the "thin" decal version becomes available, any idea when that could be?

[kalbert]

Huh, that's pretty convincing! I don't see any products on their site, nor any N scale in their ebay store though 

Have you got any pictures of the decal sheets and what patterns there are?

[Bendtracker1]

Huh, that's pretty convincing! I don't see any products on their site, nor any N scale in their ebay store though 

Have you got any pictures of the decal sheets and what patterns there are?

The seller told me that the decals are not scale specific.  However they are based on small, medium and large.
He also told me that he intends to revamp the descriptions to include this general size description shortly.
Here's a link to their products on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/weatheringsolutions/m.html?item=171120286345&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
It appears that he has changed some of the title descriptions for the sizes, pictures are available on each of the auctions.

[ednadolski]

for some, who lack the time, patience, or talent to pull it off, this presents a nice alternative. 

Doing decals well also takes time, patience, and practice, esp. if you have a lot of them.  And if you have more than 1-2 cars then it would take extra time to re-arrange the various spots/streaks in order to get variety.   Many proto cars also have other rust effects (e.g. random patches, around bolts/ladders/details, etc.), so if you want a complete effect then you have to try to match the colors of the decals.  You can see that in the ebay pics, those models there have had a lot more work than just applying decals.

I don't want to sound like I am trying to dis these, I am just cautioning about thinking of them as a 'fast and easy' approach.

Ed