Decals for Traincat G22

[chicken45]

Bob shipped my gons yesterday. They are on their way to me!

I, and I know many others, still need decals.
Anybody out there want to make them?
In a previous post, it looks like the art is complete:

[6axlepwr]

Contact MG decals or highball Graphics (same place). He does fantastic work. His decal film is ultra thin. I have had some decals made by him and I am very happy with the results.

[Dave V]

I need a set too.

[christoph]

I need a set (better two) 

And also decal sets for the H30 covered hoppers.

They are all unbuilt here 

[Altoona]

I need the G22a, H30 and the the H30a, all three have been assemble well a year, but need the decals

Judd Barton

[skm]

I need the G22a, H30 and the the H30a, all three have been assemble well a year, but need the decals

Judd Barton

Mt. Vernon shops has the decals for the H30/a in HO and has indicated in the past that he would do a short run in N if requested. Perhaps a group buy?
Looks like Bob has the completed artwork for the G22, perhaps Mt. Vernon Shops would consider a run of these also?

I have had no luck contacting Highball Graphics recently, anyone has? (I was looking for his NH decals in N scale)

[peteski]

If Bob were to provide the decal artwork in Corel Draw 10 format, I could print few sets out for people (on my Alps printer). In my spare time. 

However, I'm not sure why Bob does not want to provide the decals with his kits. He already has the artwork done. It is a simple 2-color decal (black and white ink). Why not just get Microscale to print a batch of those?  How expensive could that be? Even if that raised the price of the kit by 5-10 dollars, I don't think that would be a problem. After all the buyers of that car will have to spend that money on custom decals anyway.

[DKS]

Why not just get Microscale to print a batch of those?  How expensive could that be? Even if that raised the price of the kit by 5-10 dollars, I don't think that would be a problem. After all the buyers of that car will have to spend that money on custom decals anyway.

Quite likely the minimum order would be prohibitive, not to mention wasteful given the market for them. I can't imagine asking Microscale for, oh, just 12 sets.

And I do think an increase of $5-10 could make quite a difference in sales. Are you willing to shell out $10 more for a kit just to get a set of decals? Seriously?

[peteski]

Quite likely the minimum order would be prohibitive, not to mention wasteful given the market for them. I can't imagine asking Microscale for, oh, just 12 sets.

And I do think an increase of $5-10 could make quite a difference in sales. Are you willing to shell out $10 more for a kit just to get a set of decals? Seriously?

I seriously didn't think that this was such a limited run kit!  Microscale has a 250-sets minimum for custom run decals. I though that Bob envisioned selling at least 250 of his kits.  Oh well, nevermind. 

As for the decal cost, how much do you think will the kit owner have to spend to get a set of those decals produced for them? And even if they get produced, they will most likely be Alps printed (not silk-screened like Microscale decals).

[bbussey]

The minimum is 250 sheets.  It becomes more economical by having the artwork for multiple kits on one sheet, but the planning then becomes critical.  If "camera-ready" artwork is provided, Microscale's price per sheet is extremely reasonable.  I usually have three sets of artwork on one standard N scale sized sheet and use a paper-cutter to separate them.  The low cost easily allows the decals to be amortized over as little as 50 kits without blowing up the MSRP.
 

[peteski]

The minimum is 250 sheets.  It becomes more economical by having the artwork for multiple kits on one sheet, but the planning then becomes critical.  If "camera-ready" artwork is provided, Microscale's price per sheet is extremely reasonable.  I usually have three sets of artwork on one standard N scale sized sheet and use a paper-cutter to separate them.  The low cost easily allows the decals to be amortized over as little as 50 kits without blowing up the MSRP.
 

That is what I suspected (without actually contacting Microscale for a quote).  As far as "camera ready" artwork (which sounds like such an anachronism in the year 2013), they accept Corel Draw artwork, so that is not an issue.

[bbussey]

"Camera ready" meaning in digital form so that they do not have to manipulate it in any way.  They actually prefer PDFs, so you would (in your case) print the CorelDraw file to a PDF generator, with each color on its own layer (including the clear overcoat).

[chicken45]

I already talked to MVS. He's not interested in something this low volume (I don't blame him).
From what I understand, once the G22 sells out, it's done. So there isn't money to be made. Even if a minimum order of 25 would probably be too much. Interest thus far in this thread is under 10.

Would I pay $10 extra for decals? Probably. I wouldn't be happy about it, but I need the decals!
Bob, if you're reading this, can you provide the artwork? Peteski, thanks for offering to do this. I think you are our best hope for now.

[Chris333]

I at least need to finish the one G22 I have built.

[ljudice]

Wouldn't it make more sense to make a decal sheet that can do 4-5 PRR gons - even if not available right now?