As I detail further in the book, Scale-Craft always sold their OO models with decals, and the pre-war decals in particular are unique products. Accurately scaled to OO, they match the photos of the models in their catalogs. These decals came with printed drawings (matching the OO models) that showed how place them as well. Postwar versions of these kits also had decals, and the same drawings — but the decals did not match the drawings (or the catalog photos, which were never updated).

In the prior (Blogspot) version of the site, I had quite a number of photos of these prewar cars, and a lot of the decal drawings too. I put examples of cars with every type of Scale-Craft decals that I had in the book. After the book was done, I removed most of the duplicate content from what is online, including those cars and the collection of decal drawings. Thus, there are hardly any examples of either in the site now.

The models seen in this article are examples that are recent purchases and show yet more of the decal designs as applied, beyond those seen in the book.

First up is this boxcar. It is sort of a mess in that the person who put on the decals did not take time to match the drawings, a scan of which follows. Notice that the drawing clearly is of a S-C boxcar.

This tank car is better. Although the paint is chipped, all of the decals are there for Pure Oil and they are placed correctly.

Finally I have this flat car for the Rock Island, a little worse for the wear but still a good example of prewar Scale Craft Decals.

As I find more beyond the book I’ll be adding more photos of these models to the website, and also be watching for articles focusing on the decal drawings of which I have a few but not all. Also, for anyone looking for models with the prewar decals for your collection, I do have duplicates of a number of models, be in touch and maybe we can work out a trade.