Decal question

Started by Ralph Clements · 7 · 8 years ago · decals
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    Ralph Clements said 9 years, 9 months ago:

    Has anyone ever used the sheets you can buy where you design your own decals and print them on a laser jet? Testors makes some and other companies too I think. I do not always want to build and mark my kits using the decals that come with the kits and wondered if anyone would be so kind as to share your experiences with these print-them-yourself sheets.

    thanks -

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    Seamus Boughe said 9 years, 9 months ago:

    Ralph,

    I tried the whole "design your own decals" thing some years back and had very little success with it. It could be that my computer skills were lacking or that I missed a step, but my results were always blurry or runny. I will have to add that whether you are successful or not, the whole process is somewhat costly. Now I just stick to aftermarket decals or painting masks. Give it a try anyway, you will probably be more successful at it than I was.

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    AL HOFFMAN said 9 years, 9 months ago:

    Never have tried this myself but I have a friend who does it often on an ink jet printer. The sheet needs to be sealed as soon as possible without touching anything or it definitely will smear. Have heard from another source that to help prevent bleeding seal the blank sheet before starting & then again when the print is done.
    Micro-scale has a decal sealing product. When you seal it the whole sheet becomes a carrier so the decals need to be trimmed close.

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    Rick Wilkes said 9 years, 9 months ago:

    I've done with an inkjet. As Al commented, to prevent smearing it was necessary prep the sheet with a light coat of the "fixer". After printing I always let the ink dry for several hours before spraying another light coat (or 2) of the fixer. I get my artwork either by making a high density, eg photographic quality, scan or typing in MS Word. Fonts are available for most lettering styles, eg Amarillo for USAF stuff.

    I've found the decals would stand up to a fair amount off poking and prodding to get them into final position and reacted normally to setting solutions.

    Just remember that you might have to double up to get the color density you want and white areas will need to be painted either before or after, or the whole thing printed on white decal sheet.

    Very good results can be achieved, the most important part is the original art work.

    Didn't mean to drone on, but I hope this helps, I'm pretty sure using a laser printer will require much the same techniques. I believe that using a laser jet requires decal stock, you won't get usable decals using inkjet decal paper in a laser printer.

    P.S. I'm not the friend Al was talking about, I think it's guy that makes & sells very nice inkjet decals at model shows.

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    Ralph Clements said 9 years, 9 months ago:

    Thanks for the sage wisdom and advice all - I am fairly adept at computer graphics, it is the 'fixer' part I am leery of.

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    Rick Wilkes said 9 years, 9 months ago:

    The trick is not to spray enough to get the sheet wet. I usually keep the can at least a foot away from the decal paper, and make slow passes with 30 seconds or more between passes, One or two coats for "primer", then another 2-4 passes to seal it. I use VitaClear spray because that was in the VitaCal set I bought, it's been years and I still have plenty. I think Testor's makes it's own "fixer" spray bomb. I've also heard of using Dullcoat, etc, as a fixer but, I have no experience with that.

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    Gábor Szabó said 8 years, 7 months ago:

    Hi! I produced some decal sheets thorough the years and my experiences quite simple.

    First: the key for the success is mainly the - as You noted - fixer, or varnish. I usually use Microscale Decal Fix from airbrush. It is an acrylicbase clear cote but quite heavy just from the bottle. It can be diluted with mixing isopropyl alcohol and water (50:50% or like vodka 🙂 ) to spray. I don't reccommend to simply bruh it because it can harm the printing. I sometimes use Future but mainly over white decal film because Future coat is more thin than any ordinary varnishes. Second: I use laser printable paper and good laser printer that can achieve least 600dpi resolution (but i could work with a stuff that could 2400 and 3200dpi ! those printings was awesome). I prepare my decals with various softwares but mainly with photoshop because I worked some DTP years ago but I think that You can use fine settings in any software. Over 600dpi in 1:72 or 1:48 decal printing results are convincing 🙂

    Third: I used various brands for the decal film and they not so different from each other. recently I bought some chinese "cheapo" stuff on evilbay and they worked fine for me however they didn't bother to add some brand name to it simply sent me plain decal papers in an envelope 🙂 but they work. The decals on these pics are home made as per You could read.

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.