Imagine trying to get a piece of wet spaghetti to stay on the edge of a table knife... That's what applying these old Champ stripes is like. Then multiple passes of Solvaset to get them to lay down and stay down. Champ decal film is tough stuff, but more delicate stripes this thin would be very difficult to apply! These are only moderately frustrating.
Almost done, just a few tweaks left, then I'll do the herald, the logo, and the smaller items, car number and diner placards. This will be the last one of these for a while. There have been a few mentions of cost in these discussions. what did this project cost? Well, surprisingly not too much. It breaks down like this:
The car (e-Bay buy) $49.00
D&G Models P21J trucks: $16.95
Broadway Limited Full Width Diaphragms: $40.00
Champ Decals 1" stripes BRH-86 $8.00 e-Bay buy, anywhere from $5-8.00 typically. One package will do two cars.
Microscale Decal set 87-1055 $8.76 Direct buy from Microscale
Misc shipping $40.00 The big charge was shipping the brass car to me.
Total: $162.71
With current Wathers Proto plastic cars pricing anywhere from $95-110.00, I think this is a favorable comparison.
I didn't count things like Kadee couplers, window glazing or shades, the interior pieces which were donated, or figures, all of which I had already. Maybe another twenty bucks total for that stuff. I buy the cheap Chinese figures off of e-Bay.
Not too expensive really, in the grand scheme of things. Plus you get a car that is seldom seen, and becomes a conversation piece. Brass Trains is currently dumping these old Sohos on e-bay starting at $49. Nobody even bid against me on this one, so while I disagree with the often-uttered sentiment that "nobody wants to model anymore" I can understand where it comes from. I don't bother with underbody detail on these, as they are skirted cars, so you don't see that detail anyway, but if you want to those details can be had!
Next up will be the Pacific Electric cars. I need to get decoders for them, then they can be re-motored and re-assembled.