I’m about to venture into the world of making my own decals with my inkjet printer. I’m wondering about what to seal the decal with so the ink doesn’t run when the decal is put into water or when Micro-set is applied to it. In searching the forums I see that people use either a commercial decal product that is brushed on or sprayed on or a generic clear spray. I’ve got a can of Krylon Preerve It! which is used to seal photographs printed on an inkjet. Considering that it’s designed for inkjet photos, I’m thinking it would be good to protect decals as well. Has anyone used that product on decals?
I’ve had success with Valspar Clear Flat. The Valspar Clear Gloss works also. I spray a thin coat, let it dry then spray another coat, a little thicker.
I’ve used Microscale’s Liquid Decal Film, which is a liquid that gets painted on, and also a Krylon spray product. I won’t be home again until Sunday night, (going skiing), so I can’t tell you exactly which one. I found that the Liquid Decal Film itself would cause the ink to run, and I had to make sure to keep the decal sheet perfectly flat to minimize that. The Krylon spray doesn’t seem to do that, and provides just as good a seal.
At the time I made the switch, I also replaced my old HP720C with a Canon Pixma printer, so I’m using newer technology and what seems to be better ink.
My hints for the day: On your screen, make the margins as wide as possible, and print your decals right at the top of the sheet. Then, use a paper cutter to get a clean 90-degree edge cut right below them. That way, you can feed the rest of the sheet back into the printer several times and you don’t have to print a whole page at once, or waste too much of that expensive decal paper. Also, print a sheet on plain paper first, to check color and size of the decals.
LION wonders if that paper will work with a color laser printer. (LIONS have gotten rid of all ink jet printers, the lasers are far cheaper to operate) As long as the decal paper is not a plastic base that would damage the printer when heated then it should work.
LION usually does not bother with decals, Him prints on paper and attaches that to the models. It is no where near as good as a decal, but is good enough for a LION.
Here is a bus. A real bus with a “wrap” on it. LION likes this wrap, but why can’t a wrap be made to fit on an HO scale model. LION will have to look into this.
No, that paper won’t work on a laser printer, but if you buy decal paper for lasers, that will work. We’re used to thinking “paper is paper” when feeding our printers, but this is one case where you’ve got to make sure to read the package to get the right flavor.
Well, I guess I’ll be the first to try Krylon Preserve It! on decals. If generic clear sprays work, then this stuff should work too. I’m glad to see that Canon ink is one of the better ones for decals as I’ve got a Canon Pixma printer.
Mister Beasley, I intend to keep cutting down the sheet as I use it. When it gets small, I can tell the printer it’s a small photograph
Lion, that bus should be able to be modelled. A piece of string or wire for the snake, but it would be hard to paint the design of the snake’s skin on it.
Thanks all for the comments.