Following up more in the topic of the decals Scale-Craft sold with their models before the war and with the new 1946 production, we turn to the C&NW flat.

As noted in this recent article, I recently found this drawing below in a set of unused 1946 decals.

I’ve had the model below for years and years, I used to run it a lot in the early years of my layout. I believe I purchased it in high school (probably in the same purchase as the stock cars seen in the background!), and I know I replaced the deck at that time. It is a nice model and matches the drawing exactly, as what they sold you were exactly the decals to do the model.

Then we turn to the decals that were in the 1946 sets, made for Scale-Craft by Walthers. Again, that prewar drawing was there in the decal envelop but, along with a page of generic small markings, you got the below (which is a bit hard to read in the scan).

In short, what you got was a lot of stuff that you could not possibly put on a flat car and a few decals that would work generally, but not to do the same lettering scheme as the drawing. But you could match the lettering in the booklet Walthers put out. It was republished multiple times, the version I’m looking at is the 4th edition from 1947, Guides for Model Car Lettering and Painting for Model Railroaders.

It was better than nothing for sure for the OO gaugers of the time, and I must admit that I like the look of vintage HO decals (which is what these are) on OO cars, they work pretty well. Still, I feel there is a bit of enhanced desirability of models built with the prewar decals, they really have a nice look.