A Good Point and a Decal Set

When I posted about creating decal artwork, I received a reply from Stephen Wilder, who made a very good point about the creation of accurate lettering; a point that had completely slipped my mind, but bears mentioning as it's another example of the things that are encountered in making accurate lettering. He observed that the "MA R" from my Pere Marquette lettering differed from what he had created for his Pere Marquette lettering. Yet neither of our lettering is incorrect. Often, one style of lettering will not work for a car that has constraints, such as a single sheathed automobile car (the Pere Marquette auto car has slightly condensed lettering in the road name as compared to a 1937 AAR box car or a gon) or a depressed center flat car (the "PENNSYLVANIA" on the F29  is only six inches tall). These differences must be incorporated or the lettering will not work. It's a point worth noting and I thank Stephen for making it.

I would also like to take a moment to plug the excellent decals that Stephen created: Smokebox Graphics set DF0187 for Pere Marquette freight cars. It's rare that I will rather purchase a decal set than create my own. I'm that picky. That said, I bought the Smokebox Graphics decals because the artwork is that good. They are printed by Cartograf. If you model airplanes, you know how good Cartograf decals are. I highly recommend this set.