I am in need of help and advice in making my own decals. I had purchased Micromark’s clear decal paper for ink jet printers and discovered that when the decal is applied the backround shows through causing the lettering to disappear. I am trying to apply a yellow decal to a black steam locmotive. Micromark said that I should use white decal paper and print the yellow decal in a black field that matches the black on my model. I do not want to do this. I am looking at having custom decals made but that will require that I purchase 25 sets when one will do. The cost is not inviting either.
I am looking for suggestions and ideas as to how to make my own decals and have them work like a professionally produced decal does. Maybe this is not possible? Would going to a Kinkos or Staples to print the decal be better?
You won’t be able to make your own yellow or white decals, the ink (yellow) in injet printers isn’t opaque enough. Either print them on white decal paper or have some custom screen printed ones made for you.
You might have better luck printing a “negative decal.” Use the same paper, but print the black background instead of the yellow lettering. Then paint a yellow block (or circle, or whatever) a bit smaller than the decal on the engine. When you print the decal on clear paper and apply it, the black background will cover the unwanted yellow, and let the desired yellow show through.
Make sure the yellow paint is very smooth to get a good appearance using this technique.
You can buy paper for laser printers, Most copy places can print it for you, laser yellow toner is much brighter and thick enough not to show through. Print your origional on photo paper for best results. However if you want to print it with your ink jet printer, do what Micro mark suggested, white paper, print your yellow decal with a black border around it , with proper application and trimming you’ll never see the edge.
When you print decals with an inkjet or laser printer it is neccessary to use white paper when printing colors other than black. The toners/inks used in these machines need the white underlay of the paper to create the color you desire. If you are puting the color decals over a light colored surface such as white or light greys it will work OK. If you print a yellow decal with an inkjet on clear paper and put it over a blue surface you will get a green image. The green image will not show up very well but it will be green. This is because the inks/toners are transparent to allow the white backing make the color show up. The only way you can put the yellow over the black is to do what the above suggestions are or to print a white underlay under the color ink. Unfortunatly this can not be done on an inkjet printer. There is some work being done with a laser printer right now to do this, but it is still in the development stages and requires purchasing two laser printers. one for the white toner and the second for the color. The alps printers are a good machine to do this with as they were able to print white. however, Alps has stopped making these machines some years ago and they are going to stop supplying ink cartridges during the early part of 2007.
Seriously, I have tried doing everything and wasted so much money while doing so. I would just go and buy the ready made Micro-Scale deals, they pretty much have whatever you want and it’s not expensive at all. And it’s also in correct scale size too and true to the prototypes.
On the other hand, I’ve had a lot of fun making and using my own decals, and I’ve been very happy with the results. I started with a Bowser PCC car, which came unpainted. I was making my own Moose Bay Transit Authority, so I figured I should at least try making my own decals. There was a learning curve and a lot of decals that came out unuseable, but after a while I got to the point where I felt I could reliably make my own decals.
For the decals in Micro-Scale’s catalog, you’re not going to do better, and it’s just a lot of extra work to make your own. For custom work, though, it’s worth a try. In particular, I’ve had a lot of fun adding advertising signs to the sides of buildings. Here, the imperfections in my decal-making process turn into an advantage, as the results look appropriately weathered as soon as I put them on.