Hello,
Wondering if anybody is printing there own color decals for rolling stock,Signs,etc. and what might be involved.I saw Decal paper on micromark website and I have an inkjet printer that does photos really well.I’d like print some specific to my area and not available commercially.Any Help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Hogwire
I’ve done a number of these myself. I have an inkjet printer. Rule 1: You need the right kind of paper for your printer, inkjet or laser. They are not interchangeable, not even a little bit.
I can’t speak for laser decals, but inkjet decals need to be sealed. Rule 2: You need to seal the decals. I use a brush-on product called Liquid Decal Film from Microscale. I give it two coats, with plenty of time for the decal to dry before each coat. Others use various sprays.
Decal paper is expensive, but you don’t need to print the whole sheet. Rule 3: Set your top and side margins as small as possible. Print a test page on regular paper. Make sure the margins didn’t clip out part of your decal. Cut the decal out of the paper sheet and test-fit it to your model. Print the decals in a strip at the top of the page. Give it a good couple of hours to really dry, and then cut the strip off with a flatbed paper cutter. This will give you a clean, square edge, and you can feed the rest of the sheet in later to print more decals.
Light colors don’t work well, because printers expect you to be printing on white paper. Rule 4: If possible, design your colors so that you will be decalling dark over a light background. But, you can paint a white spot and decal over that. The tricky part is matching the size and shape of the white spot to the decal.
Decals go on best on a smooth surface. Rule 5: For good-looking decals, use a spray paint or airbrush, or coat with gloss or satin spray before applying the decal. For weathered decals, such as signs on a wood fence or a brick building, apply the decal to a rough surface and it will look beat up.
Decals are tricky to apply. Rule 6: Use something like Micro-Set (blue bottle) to help “float” your decals into place. A small, soft artist’s paintbrush can sometimes be used to apply the decal. Use Micro-Sol (red bottle) to settle the decals into place over slightly uneven surfaces like access
Thank you for the Quick reply,These tips are very helpful.I’m familiar with the microscale products and they yield good results. Printing on test sheet is an excellent tip… would you recommend a good source for decal paper and do you use clear or colored decal paper?
Thank you,
Hogwire
Please let us know how your project progresses. I have a job in mind that will require homemade decals also.
I use clear decal paper. The only “color” I’ve seen is white, which will give you better color balance, but then you have to trim the decal very exactly. I got my decal paper at a hobby shop which deals in more than just trains, My LHS doesn’t carry it. I’ve used “Expert’s Choice” brand, but I’ve never heard anyone say that any one brand is better than another.
This is a trolley I did for my own Moose Bay Transit Authority. I found a font online (“Saloon”) and used it to print these decals using MS Word. Note that the decals are dark, and the background color is light:
For anyone who is saying, “Oh, I could never do that. It takes years of practice.” I say “Bunk.” This was my first try. I was pretty clueless. Other than seeing my first decal instantly dissolve when I put it in water (See Rule 2 above. How do you think I learned this?) I succeeded while pretty much flying blind and enjoying the learning process.
Here’s one of my favorites. I painted a white rectangle on the building with cheap acrylic paint, and applied the decal over that. All of the white areas of the original artwork (again, a download) came out clear on the decal, but then the white rectangle showed through to restore the original appearance. For this one, I saved the picture on my hard drive, added the border in MS Paint, and then imported the picture into MS Word. I like to use Word for this because it lets me size the picture exactly before printing it. I added the darker red border to hide the slightly uneven edges of the white box. This one was later coated with Dul-Cote to give an even more rough, weath
Mister Beasley,
Truly an inspiration,Thank you for including these examples for all of us to see.I agree nothing ventured …nothing gained; your results are excellent. I can’t wait to order the decal paper and give it a try.By the way the Moxie Festival is held here in Maine every year.Keep those photos coming!
Thank you,
Hogwire
So, your basic shopping list looks like:
Decal Paper. (I use a paper from Testors. The paper will need to correspond with your printer. Injet vs. Laser)
Micro-Set (Blue print bottle stuff. WOrks best on smooth surfaces)
Micro-Sol (Red print stuff, works on rough surfaces)
Gloss coat (rattle can works fine, this is to seal the decal onto the paper)
Dull Cote (Rattle can works fine, this is to seal the decal to the model)
As for making Decals, I use MS WOrd to make the basic shapes. If you crank Word to 500%, you can use the rulers on the side of the document to bild your basic pieces too. Note: It does help to measure the space your putting your decal on. ALso, don’t worry about font just yet, unless you need to do a curved arch font, like the ATSF shi(word can to, but it’s generally easier in Paint) eld, then do that in WordArt. Once you have your shapes, I copy everything into MS Paint, to alighn them where I need them. Word snaps shapes to a single line, Paint allows me to put it where I want it. Also, if you have banners, like the red banners for the Ringling circus Train, do those as a red box with white triangles overlaid the ends.
In Paint, put your pieces together as needed, do color fills, and set up the basic decals. In MS Paint, if you click on the font in the Text Toolbar, you can use the up/down arrows on yourkeyboard, and poosibly the scroll wheel on the mouse, to browse gfonts. What’s more, it will automatically changed what you’ve typed to that font as well. This allows you to scroll fonts to match something to a prototype, or find the one that works for you.
Some key sizes: In both Times New Roman and Ariel, size 8 is about right for car names and numbers, and 10 is good for roadnam
I bought a decal kit made by Testors. It included everything I needed to give it a good try. The kit cost $7 at Walmart (I found it in the model car kit section). I like my results:
The decal setting solutions help a lot, and it is good advice to avoid light shades on clear decal paper - ink jet ink isn’t opaque enough and the background color overtakes the decal color. The one in the picture was printed on white decal paper, so the subtle shades show better.
Also, keep in mind that the one color you don’t have on clear film is WHITE, so you have to plan accordingly. There is a rare printer - the ALPS printer - that prints white, but generally, printers expect the white from the paper to provide the white in the image.
My suggestion is to spend $7 and go for it. Even if your results don’t make you happy, you’ll have learned a lot, and you can try again (Testors sells refill sheets for about half the cost of the kit).
ShayFan,
Thank you for the reply,I 'll checkout Walmart for the testors kit as my local Hobby shop does not stalk decal paper.You achieved nice results and every time I try something in this hobby I learn something new.Thanks for the photos and tips,Keep them coming.
Hogwire
I have printed my own decals also. I am using a laser printer and you do not need to seal the decals. I have a freind in Wisconsin that is using a color laser printer to print his decals. I have good results with mine. He said it does not do well on light color ones. I get my decal paper from Jonrocket.com. They have both inkjet and laser paper at good prices.
John
Another approach to this if you are doing a single decal or a few small ones is to print the test sheet on plain paper, then cut a piece of decal paper a bit larger than the decal image, leaving some extra to the top. Tape the decal sheet to the plain paper over the image and run it through the printer again. When taping, put the tape over the full width of the leading edge of the decal paper. If you don’t, the decal may catch and jam inside the printer.
I have bought both Micromark and Testors ink jet decal paper; the writing on the back is identical, so they probably use the same source.
Usually with factory made decals, we cut the clear film close to the decal image. With inkjet decals, you must leave at least 1/16 inch clear decal film around the image. If you don’t water will penetrate under the sealing spray and the decal ink will bleed.
Someone mentioned ALPS printers. These printers have not been made in over 15 years. Used ones are available, but probably are not in very good shape by now. The ink for these printers is no longer produced, so you should be sure there is a supply somewhere before investing in the printer. For myself, I would not consider buying an ALPS printer these days.
concerning the alps printers heres some info and quite a few links to people that print decals
At my Walmart they no longer carry any model supplies. Not even a bottle of Testors enamel. You may have to try Hobby Lobby. Not sure about Michael’s.