[:)]I was wondering who out there makes there own decals on there computer,and how do you do it?Dry or wet transfer?
[:)]OLE’IRISH
I made mine using an excel program and then printed it on clear decal stock and then covered it with a coating of sealent from a spray can. Got all the stuff at the LHS. Just be careful when applying the sealent. Put it on very lightly and in many coats that are allowed to dry between aplications. If you don’t it will cause the final image to run and smear (found out the hard way). Also make sure that you get the right kind of decal stock for the job. They have two kinds; inkjet and laser. Get the kind for the printer you are going to use.
Good luck!
I have used Microsoft Publisher to make decals, using a laser printer. The sealant is a must–it is absolutely required for inkjet-made decals (they are water soluble) and very helpful for laser decals (the edges tend to flake off when you cut out the decal.) Decals are by definition wet-transfer–dry transfers are different.
Laser means you’re limited to black & white, but this is very useful for things like large building signs, or any place where you are applying to a black background–I just put a little paint around the edge of the decal to hide the edge.
Thanks guys,will give it a try!!
OLE’IRISH
They do make color laser printers. They are very expensive, so most people don’t have them. You might find Kinko’s or one of the office supply places could print a page for you.
I haven’t tried it yet, but what I’ve been told is that HP ink is water-soluble, but Epson inks are not. After my HP died after less than 5000 pages, I went to an Epson 3-in-1 (no fax). The sales guy where I bought it claims Epson ink is water-proof, and for proof had a printout sitting in a jar of water. Ok, that’s paper, but what about decal stock?
The Epson “DuraBrite” inks are waterproof, but I don’t know about the others. I recently bought an Epson after my HP died, and I am getting ready to try my first run of decals.
Good luck to you!!
Ray out
I have a color laser jet at work and I have an hp inkjet at home. The quality of the laser printer is photo quality and so I didn’t even think about the inkjet when I was trying this out. I can tell you that the only issues that I came across were that I couldn’t get the printing real small for my decals. That could have something to do with my using an excel program to set it up. The font size only goes down to 8 and I’m in N scale so I would like to have gone smaller. Would Microsoft Publisher help with that?