railtec-models

If it helps, I make dozens of these a week in 3d, either as part of complete loco packs where you get to choose your own number, shed code, crest, power classification etc, or individually on their own so you can cherry pick just the bit(s) you need. If I can, I try to steer away from the practise of shoe-horning people down the route of having to buy a large item just to get one bit. As a guide, ready-made ready-painted 3d smokebox plates in 4mm with your choice of number are just £1.95. The 3d plates are now on version 11 and have come a long way since I first started making them several years ago. For the smokeboxes, there's a wide selection of styles incl LMS, BR, Midland, Southern and non-standard examples. The backing plates are 3d and the numerals are again 3d on top of that, and I make the mounting bolt detail too. And a couple of shots of the 3d plates in action courtesy of James Wells and Daryl Saxton. The GWR 1458 loco is now on the layout at the NRM. Custom 3d items: https://www.railtec-models.com/catalog.php?search_str=custom+3d Complete steam loco packs: https://www.railtec-models.com/catalog.php?search_str=complete+steam+loco Turn-around time on these is generally a few days. Sometimes even next day as I'm making custom 3d runs pretty much most days now in addition to all the conventional 2d stuff. "I have to say: Fantastic. In fact they're so good, I'm still speechless. This is the end of etched for cast plates." Pete Waterman, OBE DL

If it helps, there are a couple of MPV packs via this link: https://www.railtec-models.com/catalog.php?search_str=mpv Here's one of them, which I believe is what Jerry used above. As is the Railtec way, variations in typefaces and number spacing (yes, even on MPVs) are traced from the originals for authenticity: Safety signs, if needed, also available here: https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=3137

Ah ok. How about the attached mock-up? Putting the actual place names to one side briefly, is this the style you have in mind?

Let me check. The spam filter does seem to have changed its logic in recent months, plus as much as I try, the email account is constantly hovering around the limit as I get no end of enormous files emailed to me!

Are you saying you'd like this sheet but in a different font? Life's too short to be lining up individual letters from an alphabet sheet! There's also the option to get any ready-made allocation name you like in pretty much any font: https://www.railtec-models.com/catalog.php?search_str=9970

Dead easy. If someone can confirm any additional running numbers that are applicable then I can add those to what would otherwise be a very small 4mm pack. No issue with that, but if there are other confirmed numbers then it's no sweat to add them in.

The reason I suspect it's the norm, as Mick points out, is to accommodate for the plates containing g/j/p/q/y characters which need sufficient real estate beneath the adjoining text without otherwise sitting too close to the lower rim. You could argue if a plate doesn't contain any of those characters (like Mick's Clitheroe) then why not sit the text centrally so that it all looks uniform, but that would require having two templates... I trace dozens of plates a week to get the exact positioning and spacing of the letters per the originals, and the mounting bolts too - a handful of which are vertically offset mainly in privatisation. Getting the mounting bolts in the correct positions may be considered by some as unnecessary detail, but someone somewhere other than me will notice! And that's before you get onto varying gaps either side of the text, varying gaps in between the words and varying radii of the plate corners. All good fun.

I already do custom coach numbers of your choice via this very useful item: https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=4188 As for the coach letters, these can quickly turn into a minefield in terms of research, design and testing (not to mention trying to match what a particular manufacturer printed on a particular production run - assuming they even got it right). If you'd like a quick win to get the vehicle number(s) you need then my advice would be to use the item above. I get the colour, typeface and size per the real things rather than a generic "close enough" approach. As far as the coach letters are concerned, potentially do-able at some point, BUT, if they were to become feasible I'd need some close-up square-on images of the real things which shows all the detail, incl specific dimensions you'd need them to be. Also worth keeping in mind that the coach letter panels are different either end of the vehicle in terms of seat numbers etc.

Is it just coach numbers you need or coach letters too?

The differentiator with Railtec is that the transfers are spot printed, meaning that there's no superfluous carrier film to cut out and you don't have to cut close to the print - and the print has perfect print registration too. I think I make all the different flavours of no/smoking signs filmless anyway, and I print them in reverse so that they can be applied to the inside of the model like the real things. If memory serves I think I currently do the various BR flavours, GWR and perhaps Southern too (it's been another long week).

They've been in design for a little while, as have the MFA data panels. As anyone familiar with Railtec will know, rather than just bang out identical looking data panels with different numbers, I go to quite some lengths to get these looking like the real things with prototypical variations in ton/tare weight and other anomalies based on photos. Here's an example of one of the recent BYA renumbering packs, even though the BYA panels tend to be amongst the better behaved variants in terms of deviations (at the time of writing anyway). The oddballs below aren't just done for effect or to be different; those specific wagons do actually look like that. The MTAs do have quite a few nice variants which I've photographed in detail at Basford yard, so those will make an appearance. I did very recently introduce customisable data panels to help get most people out of most holes, links here: https://www.railtec-models.com/catalog.php?search_str=customisable+wagon Naturally they're spot printed so no carrier film to have to cut out, and with perfect crisp print registration.

I would leave significantly longer than just 30 mins in between applying the transfers and spraying over them, as the transfers need sufficient time to dry. I think I mention in the accompanying instruction leaflet to leave minimum 24hrs, although this itself will depend on atmospheric conditions. I can well anticipate that's exactly why you've had the results you've shown. At least I saw this on a public forum so I could offer some guidance.

If it's the same Bob re an order from 2 days ago for 5 custom locos then yes I've got it, but simply didn't just yet get to the email. I know I normally get many (web) custom orders turned around in less than 24hrs but sometimes other things can impact that. I wouldn't necessarily call it email difficulties but simply a biproduct and inevitability of providing such a hugely niche service. I made quite an in depth post a little further up the thread about the large number of factors which often make it unrealistic for one guy to respond to every email as quickly as I'd like, which hopefully may help give some context.

Now that the house move is done, the customisable items on the web site are available again. Phew!

Life's too short to be lining up individual numbers, and it'll be quite the challenge to get it looking as good as a one-piece transfer that you can apply in one easy hit. There's an existing item on the Railtec site which I think will give you what you need: 4mm-9091 https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=2251 Quite a useful customisable item to get most people out of most holes with EMU renumbering. For example other modellers have used it to get them this: There's a similar parallel offering for 1st gen DMUs, if it helps: 4mm-9090 https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=3108

Hi Phil, I've just looked and can see one from 48hrs ago, so please bear with me. Whilst here it's probably a useful juncture at which to reiterate and help raise awareness of some of the constraints of running just one hugely niche supplier which helps the hobby grow (because I get that unless you've done it, it's probably not obvious). Other niche suppliers may recognise some elements of this but I absolutely can't speak on others' behalves. The aim is simply to share knowledge and help folks better understand their hobby from the other side of the table perspective, hopefully to ultimately help them, because although this may only be "toy trains", small scale and a topic considered by some as "a bit geeky", many suppliers who support the hobby still require the same amount of applied skill, education, dedication and craftsmanship as is required in other industries. It's true that I get an immense number of emails, forum tags/IMs (here, Instagram, FB, other forums), SMS, Whatsapps, phone calls and sometimes even knocks at the door - which is humbling, because it means there's demand for what I create. The inevitable flip side is that it's often a huge challenge trying to keep on top of just all the inbound comms, as much as it pains me to close the laptop lid at 2am and still not had opportunity to get to everything. That doesn't sit comfortably with me but, I do as much as I physically can; I love to create and I love to help people enjoy their hobby (not jobby, thanks not-so-fat-fingers). So how does that happen and why might someone not get a response to their email when they expect? 1. What I myself didn't realise when I embarked on Railtec - which began purely as a hobby - was the sheer enormity in breadth and depth of subject matter. Obvious in hindsight but if you stop and think about the variety of rolling stock and markings on them over the last 150 years, even with some pretty intense train-spotter-esque knowledge, you're going to have to put in some hard graft to figure out all the areas you don't know. 2. The very nature of what Railtec does means reproducing very, very specific detail - much of which before t'interweb can be pretty hard-going to research. Often people send grainy b/w images scanned from a book taken at a 3/4 angle and ask me to recreate the markings (much of which you can't even see). The kicker is - having to recreate something very specific is often more challenging than creating something from scratch, because people already have a reference point and expect something to look a very particular way and right in context on the model. And you'd be surprised how much of the railway is non-standard, even within the same loco livery and operator. One recent example is all that small bodyside detail on 60s (fuel tank drain, screen wash filler etc). There are at least 7 different variants, and they even vary from one (e.g.) GBRf 60 to another when you would probably expect them all to follow the same template. And then the typefaces of the numbers may look the same, but they're not. Many modellers may be ok with generic markings and a font that looks close enough, but it won't be right, and (a) if you're going to expend the effort to craft something then you may as well nail it, and (b) it's your model - so you're probably going to be looking at it for the rest of your days and it'd be nice if it were bang on, no? I aim for "Wow, look at the detail on that" rather than "Yeah it looks fine". The topic of reproducing number spacing, wonky digits and colour matching would be another para on its own. 3. Once you've done all the painstaking research and figured out what all those markings are exactly (large and small) - and what their dimensions were in 1:1, you need to figure out if they'll fit the model they're supposed to go on. Because we all know that every model is a perfect scaled down replica of the real thing... 4. Time to make the graphic design. For complex elements like crests and other obscure detail, time can evaporate on this one. Remember "wow" not "fine", not just so people will come back for more, but because they get a visible e-buzz when they email in to say just how much they love it. 5. You've done the research, figured out all the markings, made them fit the model and done the graphic design. Now for testing. So that beautiful looking crest you recreated looks epic on the laptop but when printed at 2mm, ends up looking like a dark blob. Not good. Making things look good in 1:1 is easy. Making them look "right" in each scale is much more of a challenge. Cue what can be hours of tedious trial-and-error. Jumping into machine code and bending the hardware to do things it wasn't designed to do in order to tweak the quality of the print would again be another para. (The print method is constantly evolving and is different now to what it was just 3 months ago, and very significantly different to what it was when the newer tech came online). 6. Finally a bit more time spent researching what would make a useful pack. It needs to be relevant and strike a balance between someone having to buy multiple packs to complete a single model, or having to buy a huge pack and only want a small part of it multiple times over. This fable seems relevant! Despite now having a catalog of ~3500 items, hopefully I get it right most of the time. Obviously there are other elements which hamper the ability to be everywhere for everybody in a way I would like, (HMRC/VAT compliancy, web site code, replenishing stock, working with govt & other orgs who are kind enough to grant permission to reproduce trademarks so that you can have them for your models & various other predictable admin type tasks), but hopefully this gives some flavour and insight into why things may not always unfold as you might hope or expect, and if you don't hear from me when you would expect, it's not because I'm sipping a negroni on Copacabana Beach, but instead neck-deep in one of the above . But the wait for quality of research, quality of artwork and quality of print in new and existing designs will be worth it.

It already is. A quick search on "destination blind" on the web site reveals: https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=4514

Indeed; thanks Andy. 3d Poppy plates (and 2d poppy motifs) here: https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=4779 Ready-made numbers here: https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=3186

As I live and breathe R&Ding the recreation of the smallest markings on a daily basis, this is a topic close to my heart! This photo on Flickr (not mine) might help illustrate the difference both in the two styles of cl20 cab window arrangements and, conveniently, the difference in numeral sizes too. Recreating all the differences in number sizes, spacing and styles so that your models look like the real things really is as fun as it sounds.

In order to help fulfil Jon's promise to me that there would be no problem in selling a sufficient quantity of packs to make it worthwhile in supporting him in his venture, below is a link to the single van pack in question. The decision was made to put the pack on open sale instead of there being a bulk sale at discount to Jon, the latter model typical in helping cover the set-up costs of all the research, careful varied design in the markings and testing. Now that Jon has sold all of his stock there will hopefully be sufficient reciprocal support to make it a viable endeavour for everybody, and maintain the spirit to support other similar projects for the community - so hopefully this is ok with Admin. I know a number of you have reached out and purchased already, which I appreciate. 4mm-8566 https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=4825 I understand there were around 50 units manufactured, so I'm told that should be transfers for 50 vans required from Railtec? Or have people made other arrangements? It's good to see that the work in getting the product to market has prompted the flurry to help Jon sell all his stock. Looking forward to seeing some of the finished articles. Now back to the daily grind

As if by magic... 4mm-PL1216 https://www.railtec-models.com/showitem.php?id=4789 Will set you back an eye watering £2.90. And of course they're spot printed so there's no carrier film to have to cut close to. In fact these are completely filmless. Slots in quite nicely with a bunch of 3d plates that have been released over the past few days, mainly examples with ornate embellishments (37692/47635 Lass O Ballochmyle, 37068 Grainflow, 31201/56132 Fina Energy, 31233/327 Phillips Imperial, 33050 Isle of Grain, 37688 Great Rocks, 68033 The Poppy & more).

On the topic of 3d plates, here are some of the more ornate examples that people have asked for over the past few months. Quite a cruel close-up and even I have utmost difficulty trying to photo the 3d bits in such a way that they appear on camera as they do to the naked eye (& I haven't particularly succeeded here either), but I'm pretty happy with how these have just come out - to the naked eye at least! Disclaimer - embellishments such as crests and plaques can, in some cases, take a huge amount of design work and testing to get looking right in each scale - up to several hours each in some cases - at least if you want them to look authentic rather than an approximation or a blob of colour that might look "ok at a distance". So whilst I'm happy to continue to try to help as many people as I possibly can, it won't always be possible to consider every unique embellishment either due to lack of suitably detailed images or lack of resource, so please just bear that in mind. Other 3d items such as bog standard 3d plates (i.e. plates like "The Commonwealth Spirit"), 3d shed codes, 3d smokeboxes and 3d GWR cabside plates of your choice all continue to be available as templates for those already exist. Hope you're all enjoying a peaceful Christmas.

Thanks all. Are there any images of the "return to ..." brandings specifically on the Cs? If I were to consider including them in a new pack then I'd need to get a good feel for what they look like, as well as any critical dimensions within which they would need to fit.

Is it literally that sheet linked to but with Siphon C the same size as Siphon F? I'd also need guidance on one or two vehicle numbers specific to the C, as well as if there were any difference in tare/ton values.

Thanks Phil. I'm sure in the fullness of time I'll be venturing into 3d steam loco plates, although works plates and tender plates will be next to accompany the existing 3d shed codes and 3d smokeboxes.