What would you guys suggest for the best quality and in a good price range of decals, sign makers, rolling stock decals, etc… For personal designs, most are computer programs, right? Thanks, Ben
Just exactly is it you are looking for? The best decal maufacturer? The best decal paper? How to make your own?
What you are looking for is not clear, try to expand on what you want.
Bob Boudreau
Ya, i want to know how to make your own. In the April MRR mag, Cliff Powers, the builder of the Mississippi Alabama and Gulf RR model, used CorelDraw software for his Freelance RR. Thanks-Ben
Pick up a Testors do it yourself decal kit, about $5.00. It contains a half sheet of clear and a half sheet of white decal paper, a fixative spray can and a mini DVD with some designs (mostly for cars I’m told, it won’t work on my computer). That is how you can make decals. How to design your own in Corel Draw is something you would have to learn on your own.
Keep in mind decals produced from this kit are quite limited - no whites, yellows, or lighter colors such as orange. They will print on the paper but will not be opaque enough to use.
Bob Boudreau
Personally, I use CorelDRAW for the decal sets I design- I find that the way it works is very compatible with the way I like to work. I picked up an overstock copy of a previous version from a clearance outfit for less than half of list price. It was still a couple hundred bucks, but for the amount that I use it for decals, signs, web site graphics, and incidental artwork for a newsletter my wife and I publish, it was a very worthwhile investment. This morning, I’m using it to lay out the artwork for my RR historical society’s next custom-run freight car kit.
When it comes time to print the decals, I have two ways:
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If the set is going to be black, white, gold, silver or a spot color that I can print well on my ALPS printer, AND it is going to be a short run, I print it on the ALPS. For all-black decals, I’ll use a laser printer.
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If the set uses lots of yellows or closely-matched colors, AND I can justify printing more than a couple dozen sets, I send it out to a commercial decal maker to have it silk-screened. The ALPS just doesn’t match colors terribly well (I’m very conscious of the pixel patterns), and is kinda pricey to use for more than a few dozen sets. I use After Hours Graphics (AHG) in Sharonville, Ohio, since Chip has been able to match the slightly odd colors I need, every time. Plus he is really good at getting fine lines to come out properly registered (in the right location) and opaque.
Personally, I’ve never been happy with using water-based inkjet printers for decal printing, both due to a lower print quality than I like, and the amount of hassle it is to get it work properly (prepping the paper, overspraying, etc).
Having said that, I haven’t tried usin
Not to discourage you, but CorelDraw has a very steep learning curve. That said, it is a very versitile program and you can duplicate just about any logo provided you find the matching fonts. If you are designing your own, the font problem is not an issue.
As was mentioned above, clearance versions are availible cheap.
I posted an article on my website about creating and printing decals. It is not all inclusive and by no means a tutorial but, give the reader something of an understanding of what is involved. I can’t begin to count the number of emails I get from people who ask me to print out a scan of a picture they sent to me expecting it to come out like a profesional decal. Yes it can be done that way but, generaly the artwork needs to be created in a vector based drawing program such as Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator. Although I print all of my decals on an Alps I have heard of people getting good results on an inkjet printer also. As far as the learning curve on Draw and Illustrator… Yes thay can be somewhat steep but, it is only as hard as you make it. I was able to learn Illustrator faster than I learned Autocad. The program just seemed to “click” for me. Draw is roughly the same to use also as I have worked on that at my job.
Dan Pikulski
www.DansResinCasting.com
Corel offers CorelDraw Essentials 2 for ~$65 … just the vector graphics program without the rest of the suite. Has anyone used it? I would think this is all you would need.
Ken
I like Microscale myself. Almost too this, good selection in my prototypes. Bought some special runs from individuals over the net for special applications. I do not need to get into making more decals.
If you want simple go with Testors decal maker. It is $5 at wal mart and comes with the software needed. Coreldraw is good if you have experiance in drawing on the computer. I have made at least $200 from making decals for my friends.