hopper w/ big graffiti and a problem

[Indy-City]

I'm trying to copy this graffiti and the lettering of this car

www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=36595

on my P2K H0 hopper.

this is the current status of this evening:



The yellow on the photo is not quite right . It is much greener on the model. It's probably a problem of the flash light.

However, I am not very satisfied with the lettering. But so far I have not found a black decals for the "Southern" lettering. Only in white or green.

Who knows where I can find the correct decals in black ?

[gabby]

Indy-city that link you supplied dosn't work.

That is some graffiti but not for me.

[Raeder]

Hi Joerg,

I think your best bet would be custom decals, or if you can find the right lettering, get the individual letters and add them to the car one at a time.
That car will be an interesting one to do, I would look at the picture as inspiration, an idea of something to do, rather than trying to copy that graffiti entirely. I'm looking at doing some similar stuff, and copying graffiti takes a lot of doing!

[carlmarsico]

FYI - If you are going to redo the car, note that the car in the link is a different prototype than the P2K model.

CJM

[Indy-City]

CJM,

you're right and i know about it.

It's close enough for me unless you know which manufacturer has the correct car in stock.

I am talking mostly about the nice colorful graffiti, although I am usually more accurate.

At this time my main problem ist the black "SOUTHERN" lettering.

Who knows which font they used for it ? It seems to me I have to do my own decals.

[carlmarsico]

Nobody makes this car - these were 4000 cuft cars built by Pullman-Standard for Kaolin service (not to be confused with the 4000 cuft cars PS built before production of their 4427 cuft cars)

You should be able to get a closer model of this car by starting with an old Walthers 4427 (with the low sides), replacing the side ladders and grabs to match the side grabs in the picture, lowering the brake wheel (Plano makes new end cages to do this), adding the "missing" ribs, and even then, you'd still have a "stand-in" model. (Note the space between the end cages and the tops of the hoppers)

I'm at a loss for decals...

CJM

[lindsaya99]

The Southern block lettering in black was available at one time. The original versions of 87-13 included the black letting appropriate for covered hoppers. The set was revised a few years ago and the black lettering was changed to green. If you can find an older set of 87-13 then you will be set. At least for the lettering and numbers. None of the Southern freight car decal sets that Microscale has produced includes data. You will need to purchase a set of gothic data in black. 87-1162 should work.
Charlie

[chock]

If it isn't this font, then it's pretty damn close: letterpressfonts.com/clare-condensed-normal-font-p-340.html

On the subject of which, anyone know which font Susquehanna uses?

Al

[sgoti]

Not even close.

"Clare Condensed Normal" is a serif font (has the little wings, tails, and doodly-blobs at the end of the letter strokes). Besides, it needs to be bolder.

The "SOUTHERN" lettering on the car looks more like a plain Block Gothic.

If you can't find the older Microscale set referenced above, you could try scanning the set with green letters and having the SOUTHERN lettering printed in black on a laser printer.

If you do try this process, you could really make it work to your advantage and do all the weathering on the lettering (faded and worn areas) first.

[Indy-City]

The worst thing is that there is a SOU-font to find but it is not the same font as on the car.

I tried the fonts on my PC. The "S" is close in Eurasia, the "O" in rail gothic but the rest is more SOU-font.

Clould it be possible that this car has been new lettered after the merger of N&W and SOU and the font is a NS-font ? The pic was taken in 2007.

[chock]

Sorry for the confusion, thought you meant this font:



Incidentally, there's no need to explain what serifs are to me, I work as a designer and was a sub editor for a few years too LOL Of interest in case anyone is curious, their purpose is to visually connect letters so that the eye draws a line along the word and makes it more legible when scan-reading, which is why body copy is usually a serif font and headlines are often sans serif.

Al

[sgoti]

Oct 26, 2010 11:17:29 GMT -5 chock said:

Incidentally, there's no need to explain what serifs are to me, I work as a designer and was a sub editor for a few years too LOL

Well, I didn't know that. Consider it information for the non-typography types among us. ;D

Regarding the lettering on the car in question:

1) It may be original lettering, done before computers and fonts. Remember, there was a time when lettering was done by hand with stencils. Back then, it was "typeface", "fonts" didn't come into use until the explosion of computers and desktop/digital publishing.

2) Don't get hung up on using only one font. As long as the stroke weights look the same, and the letters look like they "fit", mix-and-match. I have done this in the past with some of my ad layout work.

3) After closer examination of the RailcarPhotos image, I'm goingto say the lettering is green- just a very crappy-looking, very badly weathered green. Look at the letters as compared to the black in the graffiti. However, trying to get the new-looking lettering from the Microscale set to look this way would take a lot of work. Better off trying to get black lettering to begin with.

Looks like you tried to do the "SOUTHERN" by hand on your car. If the edges were just a bit sharper*, I think you'd have nailed it.

*At least on my screen it looked like fuzzy edges.

If you were very patient, you could always try cutting stencils... (shudder)

[lindsaya99]

To add to what Carl said. This car was built by PS in November 1967 and numbered in the 97700-97999 series. Although at first glance they appear to be similar to the PSCD4000 (i.e. Walthers and Exactrail cars) they really have more in common with the 3 bay PS2 covered hoppers. There is a very nice pic of the A end of one of these cars in Southern Railway Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment. The lettering on the graffitti car is not original yet it is not the later "Claytor" style font used through the eighties. The original lettering was black block style with the block "O" in "Southern". Later on, the round "O" was used. I didn't notice that before I made my first post. The older Microscale 87-13 set has black block lettering with the block "O". No one produces a set with black lettering with the round "O". Claytor font was (is?) produced by Islington Station Decals. A google search came up with this link if you want to purchase those. www.canadasouthern.com/tmr/islington.htm
I hope this helps.

[Indy-City]

In the next 1 or 2 weeks i'll get the Walthers 4427 covered hopper.

Then i'll restart this projekt with the closer to prototype model.