I use clear Belpapers for my custom decaling, where I print lettering/logos on the paper (usually in colors from red>darker), after which I overspray the printed paper with several passes of a gloss clear coat to “create” the slide decal.
What if I applied Microscale white individual letters from one of their decal sheets on the already smooth Belpapers surface to create a particular road name (instead of printing), and then oversprayed the gloss clearcoat as I normally do? Would that create a “slide-able” decal that would present well when applied to the surface of a model?
Or- would the slight thickness of those letter decals (as opposed to the flatter injet print spray of computer-generated printed letter images) present a problem for subsequent Dullcoating when finishing the model?
If it works, that presents a new option for white lettering on any model color surface. Custom logos, however, would still not be feasible this way.
Has anyone tried such a procedure? Just want some opinions before I try this experiment for real. I will report back on my results later on.
I haven’t tried it, but it should work. You would have to let the letters and paper dry really good before the top coat. You could also use Micro Scale decal renew for the top coat.
That sure seems like a lot of work. What I do for ‘patch’ decals that need white lettering is use MS-Word:
O - Select a text ‘background’ that is close to the color of the freight car.
O - Select the font I want and select a font color of ‘clear’.
O - I print this onto white decal paper, and clear coat it.
With a little experimenting one can come very close to the color of the freight car, With ‘patch’ cars, it really is not an issue. This gets rid of the multiple layers of decals
If you are designing round/oval logo’s, you have some hard work ahead of you when it comes to trimming the decal!
I do not see a thickness problem. What you are suggesting is the same as applying individual letter decals directly on a model, then spraying with Dullcote.
If there is a thickness issue, maybe using Solvaset on the decal would help with this (Test the Solvaset on a bit of scrap paper first to be sure there is no chemical reaction with the paper surface.) If you do not have any issue with the thickness of the paper on the model, then there should not be a problem with the decal thickness.
The idea is to create a single longer decal, rather than have to individually position each separate letter. I would use a light tack tapeline as a horizontal guide (no ink or pencil), then- it should be easier to reference the spacing between letters. Once dry, I would clear coat- let thoroughly dry again, then cut the series of letters out as a single decal and apply.
I will give it a try and let folks know the results.
Depending on what you need, you will get best results by having decals printed with white ink on decal paper. The ALPS (OOP Printer) will print white for the DIY crowd and a variety of printing houses will print custom white for a small fee.
Highball will do a full sheet (that is a lot of decals) for $35.00 if you have the artwork set up. These decals look good and will take some of the frustration out of the work around process.
Everyone I know eventually bites the bullet and has their freelance or custom decals done by a professional company.
That same $35.00 can buy a pack of 20 8.5x11 decal sheets, with enough left over to get a full sheet of Microscale white railroad gothic letters and numbers from a local online supplier. I would love to get custom white lettering decal and logo sets every time I need them, but the amount I need (at most, enough for 3-4 cars every 3 months or so) for my workbench use does not permit me the luxury of doing so. I even do my own railroad’s logo decals on an as-needed basis.
D-I-Y is my way of staying in the hobby in a manner within my means, where such is practical. On the other hand, don’t look for my name on the MTH mailing list- I can only window shop-can’t afford that end of the hobby!
Seems like the logical step for me. Before they became commercially available , I lettered many pieces of equipment for the Maryland Midland and for the Entertrainment Line (the excusion service on the Midland). They all were done one letter at a time in HO and N scale. Decals on decals seems like twice the work to me. [^o)]
You’re going to run into problems just getting the white letters on the decal sheet because they’ll be wet and apt to loosen the decal paper below and definitely do not use any decal setting solution as that will soften and distort the underlying decal paper.
Your best bet would be to put down dry-transfer letters (from Woodland Scenics or other sources), then seal them with MS Liquid Decal Film or Glosscote.
When I was doing my freelanced Bunker Hill & Eastern RR, that is how I did ‘decals’ for my rolling stock. WS dry transfers onto Microscale clear decal film, coat and apply like any factory made decal. The good thing is, if you mess up a letter, you can carefully scrape it off and apply a new letter without worrying about damaging the paint.
Decalpapers.com sells two types of decal paper, clear and white, in varying sizes and quantities. The product tradename is Belpaper, from which they market their packaged sets of decal paper. I buy the clear, as much of my personal custom decal work is in darker colors that tend to work well against various lighter model body colors. As has been mentioned in other posts, white decal paper will accomplish the same thing, but the background is now opaque and one has to cut around the image (or letter) to apply it as a decal on a surface.
Other posters: I understand what is being said about the “wet decal” being applied to the paper potentially distorting/damaging the paper itself. Well, that is why this is first a thought experiment, to obtain feedback, and when I try this in real time, I will let the results be known. Better to solicit opinions from others and gain some greater perspective than to just “lone wolf it” and keep everything to myself.
Thanks. I understand about the clear and white decals. I’ve made my own before. I just wasn’t familiar with that name.
By the way, this was discussed a while back, but does that decal paper go down smoothly? I’ve used another brand that seems to be extremely fragile and always wants to curl up regardless of what I do.
I have been using this decal paper brand (Belpapers from decalpapers.com) for over 3 years and have had absolutely no problem with curling of the back paper. I do a generous spray of gloss clear coat, let it dry 24 hrs, and when I soak the decal, it behaves just like the commercial Microscale ones do.
Now- on to my great “experiment”: I used Microscale white railroad gothic decals- two letters. When I applied the soaked and blotted decal to the Belpapers decal paper, there was erosion of the decal paper from the moisture. I used Walthers Solvaset on top, but while sealing the decal nicely, the adjacent erosion was present. This was also retained when, after clear coating and drying (24 hrs), I soaked the “new” decal and lifted it off the back paper. What happened was that the original decal film, on which the Microscale decal was printed, was the thing that started going bad, sort of dissolving partially around the printed letter.
Now, I guess I will do the lettering on my project the old-fashioned way- one letter at a time!
Glad I got your feedback, guys- it was, at least, worth trying…