Designing waterslide transfers - guidance please

[whart57]

I am currently working on a project to produce waterslide transfers for the 3mm Society. We have already had some produced by Wessex Transfers but these are just single colour white lettering for wagons. We are pleased with the quality though so are moving on to more ambitious goals.
 
I am starting to consider locomotive lining, SE&CR, so nothing like taking baby steps first. However I have not used many transfers since my Airfix kit bashing days half a century ago so I don't really know how best to lay the components out on the sheet so that they are actually usable by the "average modeller". Obviously boiler bands can be just long strips, and crests and lettering will be blocks. I don't know about panelling though. It strikes me that the panelling for a tender or cab side would be difficult to apply if printed as one piece. even in 3mm scale. Is it better to create it in sections and if so, where to make the cuts?
 
There is another problem, the SECR lined the edges of all flat surfaces with 1 1/4" or 1 3/4" thick black lines with or without a thin line inside it. This makes the lining class-specific. Again the question is, how to split it up so that the individual pieces can be applied to the model with the minimum of frustration.

 

I am inclined to place the black edging and the light green panelling on the sheet at the correct spacing

 

Any experiences that might help me here?

[ianmaccormac]

Hi wharf57

I am just designing transfers for LB&SCR in 4mm and 7mm using Wessex Transfers digital service. Have you contacted Rob and asked his advice? He has been very helpful to me.

I am just waiting for the first 7mm scale Umber Passenger sheets to come back from Tasmania at the moment.

Cheers

Ian in Blackpool

Edited April 3, 2018 by ianmaccormac

[Anglian]

However you decide to resolve the way you partition your elements I strongly advise you to consider how you would like the sheet laid out if you were to use it. Avoid the temptation to get too much onto a sheet as individual items become a nightmare to cut out.

 

I'd consider dividing the sections up with dashed lines so folks can cut the sheet into several pieces – again this makes it far easier to use. If there are necessary dimensions that would help the modeller locate the correct decal add them to the sheet along with your copyright, version number and date. These may seem like silly irrelevant details until the day comes when you wished you'd added them.

If possible I'd split your production run so you can make adjustments once you have feedback from folks using it in the real world. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by Anglian

[NCB]

I am also one of those working on producing waterslide transfers for the 3mm Society, in the project whart57 referred to above; in my case I produced a sheet of decals covering Cambrian Railways wagons for the period 1900-1915. I'm currently starting to think about lettering for Cambrian Railways locomotives and coaches, also lining for the locomotives. The quality we've had from Wessex Transfers so far in printing white-only transfers is impressive, and I'm sure the much more complicated colour transfers can be produced OK.

 

However, I've just noticed that the Wessex web-site has a banner across it saying "We are closed until further notice". I hope that Rob & family are OK. I think this has appeared within the last couple of weeks or so. Was wondering if anybody has any idea what the state of things is?

 

Nigel