I found an article in this months Model Aviation magazine about how to make decals with an ink jet printer. I’ll try to pass it on as close to written as I can.
If you have an item in your computer then it is already digital. You could take a digital picture of something and turn it into a decal. Or you could use a “Drawing” program to create a logo.
Print it on something called “Inkjet Water-Slide Decal Paper.” You can obtain it from Bel Inc. http://www.beldecal.com/inkjet_decals.cfm or a local source. Complete printing instructions are on their website. Then all you have to do is spay a light coat of Krylon Crystal Clear over what you just printed. After it dries you can apply it as you would any decal. The next day spray a fine mist over it and you’re done.
Seems easier than the method offered by Testors paint company.
Note: I would test spray some Krylon to make should it is compatible with the paint on whatever you are going to apply the decal on.
I used my Lexmark X75, which makes darned good copies of scanned photos for our daughters’ albums, to make translucent logos for my freelance railroad. They came our well on the window decal stuff, but they are too light on the ink for a real decal. We were advised of this problem some time back on a similar thread. You need special ink, printer, and stock in order for this to work.
Let me know if you can see the decals you made once you put them up against the side of your loco.
I’ve done this for some custom Transformers I’ve made. I’ll most likely be doing it for building signs on my layout, too. One thing to remember is to always make duplicates of each decal. Sometimes you need to double up on them, especially if you’re using clear paper over anything but white or light gray.
Can anyone recommend a good graphics program for creating decals. To me, that would mean it could produce crisp lettering and also allow creation of custom colors. I’m working with one that I have had for over 10 years and of course it is not state of the art but I have a high comfort level with it. Unfortunately, it’s not well suited to printing hi-res color.
Try Paint Shop Pro, from Jasc. They were bought out by Corel, and PSP 10 (or PSP X, or whateve they’re calling it) goes for about 50 or 60 dollars. It used to be a $100 program. It’s what I used for my decals, and what I make my weekly comic with.
There’s also a free prgram called the GIMP. It’s open source and very powerful, but it has a rather steep learning curve.
Yep! Used that technique to make my private pike ‘Iron Belt’ loco decals, even did a thread on that back in March or April of this year, wish I would’ve bookmarked it…
. . .
[LATER EDIT] OK I found the link, here it is: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33859
“Seems easier”? It’s the same method. Their kit comes with a can of gloss clear coat for their decals. The kit with a half sheets of decal paper - one clear and one white, the spray, and a mini CD with a program with mostly car designs was only around $7.00.
Perhaps you could explain how your method is easier?
I have been making decals for years, [8)] I also use Paintshop pro for my graphics[#ditto] I use an Epson photo printer for printing out my decals. Works out well. I have been using Bev-bel decal paper because the price is good, the film is a litlle thick and hard to hide the edges. The Krylon spray goes on the decal sheet before cutting them out and applying the decals. I mask off the paper so the spray only goes on the decals I have printed saving the rest of the sheet for later.[:-^] Someone has suggested to me that the paper from Micro-Mark has a thinner film, I will be trying it in the near future.[soapbox]
I had a problem with an old Canon inkjet. The ink beaded up more than it sat on the decal paper. I was using third-party ink in that printer, though, and I suspect that was the problem. My wife’s HP All-in-one did fine with it, with HP ink cartridges.
So, if you are using cheap ink cartridges, there could be an issue but that is easily fixable.
I have the artwork, and I have a sheet of film, but I haven’t tried it yet. (Perhaps I’m waiting for hell to freeze over.[swg]) I am worried about the transparency factor, and have considered using white film instead of clear. The problem with white film is, it has to be trimmed close.
Has anyone tried matching the edge of the artwork to the car color, ie printing the car color where the decal should be clear?
My thinking is it would allow for a less accurate cut, allow you to have white without an Alps printer, and be much less transparent giving brighter colors.
Only if you can match the colors really well (and keep in mind that what you see on the screen is not exactly how it will print). More likely, the “car color” parts of the decals will be slightly different than the paint on the car.
Eliot,
Here’s an old Athearn BB shell I experimented on. The dark blue coloring on the long hood is solid decal; also, the number [on the side of the cab] is yellow on a dark blue background. All of this was printed on white-background Testors decal film.
Ken that looks great, the color match looks perfect. Certainly wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t told.[;)]
EM, I kind of figured that matching from the screen would be difficult at best. (I think my monitor is failing anyway.) Using the editing software, it would be possible to make something like a test pattern of shades, then print it for matching purposes. Then just select the best one for the edges and any fill.
My interest in this process is really for adding graffiti, with lots of wild and bright colors, to some of my cars. I’ve actually seen real world examples where “they” lay down a light colored base on a car with dark paint, just to make it really jump out. By printing on white we are really doing the same thing.
I’ve purchased and tried the sheets from Micro-mark and had some difficultly. The print looked fine but after i sprayed the paper with sealant and dipped it into water, the ink ran completely off the decal. After reading this thread, it may be that I didn’t wait long enough for the ink to dry. Do any of you with experience have any clue as to what I’m doing wrong?
I’ve made some decals (black) for a couple of my engines and have had pretty good success, although the decal is a little thick. I used an Epson C84 with ink that is pretty water resistant and used a clear overspray of Testor’s Gloss-coat. I used the graphics setting and also the regular print setting–the latter is a little thinner and shows up as well as the graphics sample did.
If you have Power Point, you can use the auto-shapes feature to make an outline, and widen the black outline to suit your needs. Then use fill colours to make your decal, or import what you have already into the shape. Once printed, the black border will give you the buffer zone you need while cropping the decal.
