Decal update!

[pfarber]

I have the quote for the decal run in hand. WOW. That's a lot of money!

Initial price is $30 per full set which will include:

TWO deep sump oil pan removal caution - left and right
ONE oil filter lid decal
ONE oil filter body decal -late oval type OR -early round (pick one)
ONE oil breather decal
ONE t-2 fuel filter decal
ONE valve tappet setting decal .012 - rocker cover *
ONE min octane rating decal - rocker cover
ONE air cleaner decal

So in essence there will be an 'early' and 'late' decal set.

The decals take up over a full page (8x11 in) and are period correct lacquer ink, water slide decals (they will last just as long as the originals).

*There is a GM service bulletin that increases exhaust valve clearance to .016 (intake remained at .012) and this is the correct setting from Dec 43 on. But till Dec 1943 production trucks were set at .012 (early trucks were .006 and .012) There is no image of this decal (did it list both intake and exhaust separately?) so I only have the one.

[pfarber]

Well, after a verifying the color and final proof I get a quote in writing.

Seems that the minimum qty has changed from 125 to 250 sheets.

That means the original, VERY acceptable quote of $500 for 125 sheets is now $1000 for 250 sheets. The price per sheet is the same, but I there are not 250 CCKWs that I can think of that would use these decals.

I think that I could put them on ebay and get maybe $20 per sheet, and at 20 sheets only lose $100 (or *my* sheet would cost $100) but I cannot eat 220 sheets and have *my* decals cost $600. The target market was always assumed to be 20-30 sheets for sale, after I 'paid back' the folks that sent me the decal images to start with.

Microscale Industries http://www.microscale.com/custom.htm was the front runner becuase they do this all day long (water slip decals for the model railroad and airplane industry.

I do have an email into Ms Hayes begging for the lower min qty as originally stated in her email to me back in May. She is out till Monday.

But unless they budge I am back at square one. Other decal shops have been contacted, but the leader of the pack seems to be out of the running.

[pfarber]

Two more responses back:

1. Minimum 500 decals PER IMAGE (that's a 4500 decal order!) from a place in PA.

2. Cannot do larger than 2.5 inches in any direction from a place in FL.

Must be nice to turn down work and be inflexable. I'm actually going to start looking into offshore printing shops. Seems that in the good ole USA getting anything done is not going to happen.

[pfarber]

THE DECAL GODS HAVE SMILED UPON ME!

Microscale has agreed to a 125 sheet run. I had to drop two decals.. but they are ones that are available already, just not in water slip... jeep dealers have them.

Here is the sheet as it is going to press. It is not to scale (reduced) and blurry (I had to screen cap it as my laptop doesn't have all my graphics tools installed yet):

I had to drop the T-2 fuel filter and one of the oil pan decals. Thats not a bad trade off.

Order will be placed as soon as I get the quote and back from Microscale. WHOOO HOOO!!!

[retro-roco]

Put me down for 2-4 sheets... glad things are looking up!

[BillyClanton]

Howdy. I might be interested in a set myself, for my Chevy. They look like they may work there, too. Billy

[pfarber]

One slight snag. After talking to another owner about the oil lid decal I was convinced to order a few sheets of the 'laser printer' water slip decal sheets to test out the images (especially the lid decal due to its odd shape).

The sheets arrived yesterday and I quickly printed out a few test sheets. Initially I was amazed at the print quality of the laser based decal sheets. But I was quickly discouraged when the sheets were put into use.

First, the lid decal is wrong. The radius of the decal is to small. Microscale has been emailed to await new decal artwork.

Second, the laser sheets are way to flimsy for such large decals. Even after coated with lacquer they were simply not stout enough to be handled. The decals being printed will have extra clear coats to 'beef them up'.

So there is another small delay.. but now that I have the sheets to test with this should be THE LAST HURDLE (oh please oh please oh please).

[retro-roco]

One slight snag. ....First, the lid decal is wrong. ...

Hmmm,

Paul,

I got to wondering how you determined the proper shape of the decal. Since the oil filter lid is a very short cone, did you do some flat pattern layout to determine the shape, or did you trace an existing?? Sorry to hear about the challenges with having them printed!

Not quite as easy as you seemed to think back when I first asked the above question... To get an idea of what I was asking about, look here:

http://www.sheetmetalguy.com/cones.htm

Hope you get it figured out!

[pfarber]

Had to take a week off due to a trip to the corporate HQ.

The math thing is great, but I simply scanned the lid and used the actual 3d image for lines. I learned my lesson regarding trying to measure the lid.

Test printed a few and they fit much better, and match the images I was sent that had original lids and decals.

Earliest I can get them to the printer is Tuesday.