Having finally found a 3D printed 1930s Leyland double decker, my next thoughts were how to "decorate" it., basic colour not a problem, but no decals of company name nor adverts, so my thoughts went to vinyl overlays; luckily I am reasonably conversant with photo editing software.

Step 1, scan both sides of the model


Edit to separate into separate images then find a colour pic of a Hants and Dorset bus of the period and sample the colour, also copy the company title, add the colour to the images, then the company title, find examples of contemporary adverts on line, download and resize to fit, paste in place.
  

Still needs a bit of touching up amd chassis adding

A similar project for some Southern coaches, Dapol chose not to produce any 3rd open nor restaurant cars, so I got Worsley Works to produce etched brass sides  and using similar methods to the above produced self adhesive vinyl overlays, I used a "sample" of the SR green on a Dapol Maunsell, then added the lettering and numbers.
For the restaurant cars I chose to do the Ironclad version to avoid having to do the recessed kitchen doors of the later Maunsell ones, the recessed end doors of the open thirds were  taken care of by the etches.


Then assembled a full sheet with a different running number on each coach

I glued a strip of clear acetate ((from OHP transparency sheets) to the back of the etches  which I then glued the etched sides  to a variety of Dapol and Farish coaches from which I had cut out the bits betwen windows.

Clever stuff Mike - looking forward to seeing the coaches on a train (with the bus on the bridge above   )

Barry

Hi Mike,
I used a similar method for the double-decker tram in Wombat Creek and the outcome is quite good. Before I applied the 'foil' I sealed it with a matt spray sealer to avoid fingerprints and to remove the shine.