Why my Virginian "battleship" gondola decal set is better for these cars than the Walthers #95-001 set shipped with the F&C cars:

As many of you know, I've put together a slide show, "What Happens When Manufacturers Make a Model," featuring my Virginian HO-scale models and prototype photos. When I gave the show the first time, the attendees really got into the spirit of things, more than I planned! When I projected the slide of my Funaro & Camerlango battleship gondola, whistles blew and yellow flags filled the air. My model is finished with the decals the manufacturer supplied, the Walthers generic set, and has the following problems:

- The road name letters, the most visible feature of the decals, are too thick, and in the wrong typeface. That's true of all the letters, but obvious when comparing the "G" in Virginian with the prototype,

- The outside circle of the logo (the second most visible decal feature) is much too thick; it's more like a tire than a circle,

- No decals are provided to show the Virginian car class, the third most visible lettering feature on the prototype,

- The dimensional data does not include statistics appropriate for the car, and

- The dimensional data sheet is in a serif font, while the Virginian always used sans-serif fonts for freight car lettering.

 Once someone has spent a good deal of time building the car they surely want its to look excellent. My decals make that possible by correcting all these problems.