Re: Champ decals
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Alex Schneider
It should be noted that Rich bought Champ as a going business and moved it from "Cleveland 2, Ohio". During his ownership he made numerous refinements, and where they were extensive he tended to discontinue the old, regularly priced decal and introduce a new decal in his Blue Ribbon and Super lines, at a higher price (still reasonable in my view). Rich had to deal
with changing environmental rules which forced him to use inks which did not contain materials deemed hazardous, primarily affecting gold and yellow decals. This had a major impact on passenger decals, especially for prewar cars, relatively less on freight cars or locomotives. Rich was seeking to sell the business and retire when he was taken from us, and his family sold off the inventory and closed the firm. It was a real loss for the hobby. But I'm certainly not qualified to run it and apparently no one who was, was
interested. If the railroad-specific historical societies are interested in seeing craftsman modeling and kitbashing of "their railroads" continue, they may need to develop the artwork and make it available for download, free or at least at reasonable cost, for printing by modelers or those willing to print on demand. At one time the NMRA published lettering diagrams, and they may need to resume such a role. Otherwise when "old stock" is exhausted we will have decals only for a handful of roads. Alex Schneider
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