Putting Graffiti on my cars

To begin with, my current preferred method of moving cars around the layout is with the “4 turn Car Card system”. I have tried the “Tab on Car” system and although very good, I still prefer the 4 turn at present.

A problem I had is with my freight cars, in that I have many duplicate cars simply with different road numbers. For instance, I have 3 off 50’ boxcars of exactly the same road name, length, style etc, that when using them with the Car Card system, operators are going to have problems reading the small numbers denoting the car. With all the cars “currently” in use, I have specifically chosen different cars. However, there is only so far one can go. I also use photos of the individual cars to help operators know exactly which Car Card refers to which Car on the layout. So 3 photos of the same car on 3 different Car Cards was still going to cause a problem.

I hit on the idea of using Graffiti decals to individually identify each of the duplicate cars. For instance, in the case of the 3 exact same freight cars; one I would leave as is, and the other two, I would fit decals to.

I purchase 2 sets of the same Blairline Graffiti decals. The reason for two the same was that I would fit the same decal in the same place on both sides of the car, so that no matter which side of the car one looked at it, it would resemble the photo on the car card.

Lets get to some examples and some photos: -

Below are 3 off 50' boxcars which are exactly the same in all respects. The only difference being the road numbers. They all initially looked like the centre car which also shows the car card that was in use. The other two on either side were not being used as it would have caused great confusion. Here though, the new Graffiti placed on each one can be seen and now uniquely identifies the cars. Now all I need to do it take some photos of the other two and make up suitable Car Cards.

With the ones below, they also look like the ones above. However, on closer examination, it can also be seen that they are actually different. Not just in shape, but the BN herald below is smaller then the BN herald above. Again, by adding Graffiti, I increased my Car Card freight by a further 2 cars.

These are two 40' boxcars which are the same. Again, by adding Graffiti to the one, I have added an extra wagon to my fleet.

These two below are 2 of 3 MRL wagons I have. For some unbeknown reason, known only to heaven knows who, I only decaled the one. When I get home, I will do the last one (3rd of the 3).

Please excuse the photo below for it's quality, however, the rake of cars in the front are the cars once all of them were complete. So I went from 4 unique wagons in use to 10 wagons now available for use on the rail-road, and hopefully operators will be able to easily identify the cars against the Car Cards during an operating session.

As for the decaling. That was as easy as always. As mentioned, I used Blairline Decals. They are laser cut around the decal for easy removal. I would use Microscale "Micro Sol" and "Micro Set". Micro Sol really softens the decal so that it conforms to the shapes on the car body.

I would brush some Micro Sol over the area where the decal was going to go. Then place the decal in some warm water for about 30 seconds. From there I would take it out the water and slide the decal onto the car and using a knife blade, gently slide the decal into place. From there, I would add some more Micro Sol over  the outside of the decal and that was it. Put the model to one side for the day and end of story :-)