Oddballs Decals

[GaryHinshaw]

I ordered a batch of decals from Oddball a few years ago with mixed results.  The black & white printing was excellent, but the yellows were pretty marginal:



True, this is a magnified image, but still...

[PGE_Modeller]

Gary,

That sample looks as though the yellow was printed using "color matching" with an ALPS printer, which prints a mixture of cyan, magenta, yellow and black dots to approximate (dither) the desired colour.  For decal production, a more time consuming method that produces solid colours is to use overlays of "spot" colours.  A lot of experimentation is required to get good yellows, in many cases tricking the ALPS printer into recognizing inks that were (?are?) available in compatible cartridges from OKI or Kodak.  Based on some of the information Tom Stolte has posted on the ALPS and ALPS Decal groups in the past, I am surprized to see decals from him using dithered colours.

Cheers,

[Hyperion]

I've ordered from him 3 times over what has to be at least 12 years, and every time had decals that had the same severe dithering issues as Gary posted above in the Yellows and Oranges. 

[Catt]

I have not ordered from Tom for quite sometime now but the decals I've bought from him were always top notch.The decal film does tend to be rather thin at times though.

[peteski]

While I have never ordered from Tom (I do my own decals on my Alps printer), I suspect that he uses Tangopapa decal film (which is quite thin and fragile). But OTOH, it is almost invisible on the model.  The halftone (dithered) colors are in fact the shortcoming of the Alps printer. This can be remedied by using a spot color process but it is very time consuming and the results are not guaranteed. I suspect that this is why he doesn't bother doing that.

[Family Lines System]

I ordered a few N scale decal sets from him two years ago and was mailed a $20 credit saying that he was having printer issues and to re-mail my order in a months’ time. I did that, gave him a few months to print them and still no decals. I emailed him about the order and he said that he was sending the printer to Japan to be fixed? I have emailed him several times over the last year and a half and not received a response. I guess I am out few bucks?  Too bad, because it looks like he has some nice sets, I was looking forward to using them.

Chris 

I had (have) the same problem.  I placed an order back in June of 2011 and have been chasing him down ever since trying to get updates.  Since I've had absolutely zero response from him since June of 2012 I can only assume at this point that I'll never see the money back OR the decals.  I was really looking forward to those as well, since I have about 40 coal hoppers that need some L&N lettering.   

Mike C.

[BCOL 747]

Mike, after reading this post in October of 2012 I sent him several emails asking if he was back in business and I finally received an answer from him on November 13, 2012 saying this;

“my girl friend has a alps printer when she comes here in 1 week with it i will print your decals, of course I got over a months worth of decal orders, so it will be awhile before you get your order”

I didn’t hear anything back from him or receive the decals in the mail so e mailed him again on January 3, 2013. He replied with this again;

“my girl friend has a alps printer when she comes here in 1 week with it i will print your decals, of course I got over a months worth of decal orders, so it will be awhile before you get your order”

I emailed him a reply saying that if he could not provide me with the decals I have ordered and paid for by January 31, 2013 then as his website suggests I would like a refund. I have yet to see the decals or a refund in the mail. All I can suggest is stay away from this guy in the future. Two years for several sets of decals is way too long to wait. It really sounds like I have been getting the “run around”.

Chris

[ljudice]

Sad to hear this....   The decals I've ordered from him have been fine, but we're only talking a couple of sets.

If you take people's money you should be up front about delivery or refunds or just say you're not in business anymore.

[Family Lines System]

Chris,

Same song and dance it seems.

Here's an email from him on 8-30-11

I am going to get a new printer from FL some time this week when i get it i will print your decals

And 10 months later..

6-26-12

My girl friend has a alps printer when she comes here next week with it i will print your decals

And that's been almost 10 months ago... guess she must be walking and carrying it on her back. 

 

Mike

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Man, that is... wierd. What kind of personal must this guy be posting? "Must have Alps"

I made one order a few years ago. Same AGP tank car set. I was not impressed.

[CBQ Fan]

If the purchase amount is enough I have used credit card balance transfer check to make the payment.  You have to pay the transfer fee but I look at it like an insurance premium.  Years back I had a guy that was supposed to install a deck in my back yard.  He disappeared for two weeks and I called my credit card and they told me they could reverse the check and debit his account directly if it came to it.  I called the guy and left him a voicemail that if I did not see him working on my deck within 24 hours I would file a complaint with my credit card company and they would debit the cash from his checking account and I would consider the materials left at my house as compensation for wasting my time.  He came out the next morning and two 8 hour days later my deck was done.

[squirrelhunter]

This has been discussed on the Texas/Southwest yahoo groups as well. I think his printer has been out of action for a couple of years judging from what has been posted. I would also note he seems to get defensive/be evasive when confronted about his inability to deliver product.

Which totally sucks, because he's the only game in town for Georgetown Railroad (GRR) Ortners.

[FEC Railway]

I actually may still have some GRR decals...PM me.

[ljudice]

He's probably on Match.com now looking for someone with ink cartridges.

[ai5629]

I thought this guy posted on Trainboard or some other Forum (N Scale Yahoo Group maybe) a couple months ago that he was sorry for not filling orders, and he was back up and running.  He even discounted his decals to atone for his sins.  I have ordered with no problems in the past and was considering ordering again.  I am glad this thread was continued so I did not get ripped off.

Jeff