Railtec and custom decals

[Martin Kelly]

Some time ago I tried to used the online contact form at Railtec's website to ask them some questions about doing some custom decals:

https://www.railtec-models.com/contact.php

However, for reasons unknown, I never actually got a response from them. But it was during Covid times so there could have been challenging circumstances at Railtec.

So I'm writing now to ask if any fellow Society members have experience of working with Railtec to get a sheet of customer decals made. If so, how did you establish contact with them? Also, did you design and send them artwork yourself and what tools did you use for that? Or did you get them to assemble a customer sheet for you by mixing and matching elements from their existing range?

I'm researching a project to build a rake of wagons of a particular type for which some "standard" decals would be needed (e.g. running numbers, load/tare, TOPS codes) but also some things that it looks like would need to be custom-created (e.g. yellow pool numbers, traffic restriction instructions).

Can anybody offer any pointers? Thank you!

[Daddyman]

Some time ago I tried to used the online contact form at Railtec's website to ask them some questions about doing some custom decals:

https://www.railtec-models.com/contact.php

However, for reasons unknown, I never actually got a response from them. But it was during Covid times so there could have been challenging circumstances at Railtec.

So I'm writing now to ask if any fellow Society members have experience of working with Railtec to get a sheet of customer decals made. If so, how did you establish contact with them? Also, did you design and send them artwork yourself and what tools did you use for that? Or did you get them to assemble a customer sheet for you by mixing and matching elements from their existing range?

I'm researching a project to build a rake of wagons of a particular type for which some "standard" decals would be needed (e.g. running numbers, load/tare, TOPS codes) but also some things that it looks like would need to be custom-created (e.g. yellow pool numbers, traffic restriction instructions).

Can anybody offer any pointers? Thank you!

I've had quite a bit of custom work done by him. I needed some 6" BRITISH RAILWAYS lettering that no one else offers. I contacted one well-known company and they wanted £45 just to resize a transfer that they already had in their range, and couldn't promise it would be done that year (I asked in March last year) as they couldn't guarantee when they'd next be printing white (yes, really). Steve at Railtec resized his lettering for me and had it to me in 2 days for about 3 quid. He's very attentive to detail and has been working on some EWS lettering to match the new Bachmann 37 for me. It's impressive what he knows (different sizes of lettering and numbering on different EWS 37s, for example), and the lengths he'll go to to get things right. In all the cases I've had stuff done by him, he's already had the artwork - I've never had him do something for me from scratch so can't comment. But your yellow pool numbers would certainly not be a problem - assuming he already has these in other colours. Communication has understandably been a bit slow in the past few months as he's been moving office. But I think he's back up and running now.

[Martin Kelly]

Thank you Daddyman - that all sounds very positive. What do you think is the best way for me to make contact? Is it worth me trying to use the contact form on the website again?

[Neil Smith]

I recently ordered some of their new embossed "rivets" (similar to the now defunct Archers range) and they arrived here the next day.

I was suitably impressed so replied to the email I had been sent on despatch to thank them for such swift service, and got an equally swift reply from Steve.

That email address is no secret as it is given to customers:

railtecmodels@gmail.com

Hope this helps!

Neil

PS usual "just a satisfied customer" etc

[ChrisMitchell]

Last year I enquired about transfers for SPV vans. After sending Steve a “side on” picture of my Rumney Models kit with a ruler against the solebar for scale, they appeared as part of his standard range within a couple of months.

When I’ve ordered transfers from the website Steve has always responded quickly and even when they are specially printed (there are many where the customers has to supply his required numbers etc) they aways arrive within a couple of days.

Regards, Chris

[Daddyman]

Thank you Daddyman - that all sounds very positive. What do you think is the best way for me to make contact? Is it worth me trying to use the contact form on the website again?

Just as Neil has said, Martin - use the gmail address. That has always worked for me.

[Martin Kelly]

Thank you everybody! I've just sent an email enquiry to Steve. I'll report back on how it goes.

[Winander]

YesterdayI used the enquiry form on the website at 17:50 and received an email response 7 minutes later.

[Martin Kelly]

I'm delighted to hear that several of you are getting prompt replies from Steve at Railtec. Sadly, it's now a week since I emailed him and not a whisper.

I know that he's really busy and gets a lot of enquiries but it seems odd that you all seem to get a swift response and I've heard nothing. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

[Neil Smith]

Hi Martin

Sounds silly but you don't have a reply from him lodged in your spam folder or somewhere?

If not - if you want to DM your email address I could try emailing him - sometimes there can be issues with emails from certain domains not getting through to some addresses.

All the best

Neil

[Martin Kelly]

Hi Neil,

It's not a silly thing to ask but, yes, I have regularly checked my spam folder and there's nothing there. Thank you for your offer to contact Steve on my behalf - I'll DM you. As ever, the S4 Forum community comes up trumps. I've only been a member for a couple of years but I always find everybody so friendly and helpful.

THank you!