I plan to build a small, free-lance switching layout. The “company-owned” flet will consist of merely one or two switchers and a caboose. Is there any way I can make my own decals without having to pay someone a lot of money to make, say 100 of them when I may only need, say half dozen sets at most. Can I print them up on an inkjet printer? What kind of decal material will go through an inkjet printer? What about making logos?
So many questions.
We tried several threads on this subject a while ago and came to the conclusion that though it can be done, it is not practicle. You could do a thread search and read those. Maybe this time someone will have a brighter hope. I gave up on the project for now. Good luck and be sure there will be several of us following this thread in hopes of a new miricle post.
I did learn from my son-in-law how to make logos on Word, but it was complicated and I have long since forgot all the tricks he used. They would not print on my printer: not enough contrast on the print and you cannot print White.
I would disagree with the above post, you can make decals fairly easily today. Sure printers won’t print white, but companies sell white decal paper. What I have done is to "color"in the background color of the car everything but what would be the white letters for example. Then when the decal is printed the background color frames the letters of the white decal paper. Also since I am now in S scale where decals are not as widely available as in my former HO, I will take decal sets that I purchased in HO and scan them in at 1.4 and print them making them S scale. Note though there are two types of decal paper, one for injet and one for laser jet, and they can not be mixed in printers, so make sure of what you are buying. Also with my injet I use a product by Testors called Decal Bond, which is sprayed on the printed decal to keep the decal colors from washing out when they are applied.
Good luck
Randy
As Art said, you can certainly do this but with constraints. I’ve done a limited amount thus far, but have about 40 locomotives and 65 freight cars that are going to get my freelance roadname and markings, along with 10 passenger cars. Most of what I have done so far is signs on structures, and the results have been decent.
There are several companies that make decal paper, including Testors and MicroMark. I think I own at least three different brands. The paper comes in clear or white, and is also available for inkjets or lasers. You simply design what you want on the computer and print as normal. Obviously, printing on plain paper until you are certain you have achieved what you want is a good idea. For lasers, I believe you need to set the printer to “transparency” mode, which probably cuts down on the heat.
After printing and letting the output dry (I think 1-2 hours is recommended), a sealant is sprayed on the finished product to prevent runs. Even laser output can run.
IMO, the do-it-yourself paper is a little thicker than what you would get commercially, but it seems to be okay. Use a softener when you apply them, and it might take a few coats.
Any lighter color is not practical since inkjet printer ink is not opaque enough to prevent the underlying color from showing through. If you can use black or blue lettering, you will be better off than with yellow or orange. You might be able to use a lighter color on white paper and create lettering within a white stripe. White is completely out unless you own one of the older Alps printers.
Another constraint may be resolution. When you are working with something scaled down to 1:87 or 1:160, you need a fairly fine printer resolution to make that work. My recommendation is to use something that can produce around 1200 dpi or better. I think 600 will work if all you are doing is lettering.
For logos, I would use some sort of graphics package. I have an older versio
MS Paint, which used to come with older versions of Windows, is not terribly sophisticated as a graphics program, but it will allow you to edit .bmp files down to the pixel level. I’m not sure if they still ship it with XP, but if not you can copy it over from an older machine and it will still run. I usually import my pictures into MS Word, which then lets me scale the pictures to the right size.
You may find that some of the software that comes bundled with scanners or digital cameras has enough picture-editing capability to create logos, too.
This has been run through the mill so many times, Decals are easy I have tried all the papers I could find, I have settled on Micro-mark decal paper clear and white. As stated above if doing white do it on white paper and also put white on the model behind where your white needs to be vivid. In my vehicles sub directory are trucks I did myself, My roster shot on my web site shows my three (soon to be four) locos in my private scheme, and a shot of my private railroad trucks also decals I made myself. I use Paint Shop Pro to do my drawings and such, It also good re-sizing and layout capabilities . I use an Epson photo printer. Seal them as stated above, I use Krylon clear to seal mine.
There are a lot of good threads on here about decaling. In fact I just got a Testors kit and plan to do it real soon using Word on my N scale steamer.
Let you know how it goes.
Peter
i use the walmart make your owns
Hi, contact me off-list if you need help to draw some logos. I worked as a webdesigner and I can do it for free in photoshop, just for the fun of it. Then I can email the logo to you so you can print it out on decal paper.