custom decals


D

dalehenigman

New Member
I have a couple of Walthers 53 ft containers that don't look too bad other than missing numbers on the front. I would like to use a computer to make black numbers and clear background onto a waterslide decal. Need to know where to buy and what kind of decal paper to buy and what kind of printer I need to use. and in general how to do this. any help would be appreciated.............thanks, Dale
 
Hi Dale;

I have been making all my own decals for my CEMR equipment, as there are none commercially available. If you go here on my old website I explain how I made them. Instead of the Evan Design paper I now use Testors and have had good success. Just make sure you don't use too much clear on the paper as it will make the decals thick and they won't conform to the nooks and crannies as well.
 
I'll second the endorsement of the Testors clear decal paper. If you're printing black it'll work great. Allow at least a day for the ink to dry before applying the decal sealant, and as Gary stated use it sparingly. If you get it in the right light you should be able to see when you've gotten just a barely glossy coat over the paper.
 
If you want to print any white areas there are only a few printers. Alps used to have one and now apparently the Epson Pro WT7900 prints in white. Of course you can always used white backed decal film instead of clear, but...
 
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OldGuyHO said:
If you want to print any white areas there are only a few printers. Agfa used to have one and now apparently the Epson Pro WT7900 prints in white. Of course you can always used white backed decal film instead of clear, but...
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dalehenigman said:
use a computer to make black numbers and clear background onto a waterslide decal
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Yes, the use of white ink and white decal paper definitely applies here.
 
I, too, have been using the Testors clear decal paper for years and am generally pleased with the results.

White 'paper', OTOH, is a different story: Whenever I attempt to do a decal with white lettering on a black background, the blank ink always cracks as it cures, leaving an ugly pattern of white lines across the surface. Maybe it's the printer I'm using [HP OfficeJet Pro 8100] where the ink doesn't stay elastic when it dries?
 
Greg@mnrr said:
Are you guys using a laser or ink printer?
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I've used both, but have better resolution and detail with inkjet. You have to look at the resolution of the printer overall, though. My laser would probably actually do better than just a cheap inkjet, but not better than a higher-end quality inkjet. The other thing is that with my inkjet and its "as the eye sees it" color interpretation, what you see on the screen is what prints. With the laser I had to adjust colors to actually look WAY off from what I wanted on the screen for them to print the right color on the laser. I've seen warnings that laser also flakes more around the edges when you cut the decals, but luckily I didn't seem to have that issue. Just for the record, I use a Brother HL3170CL laser and Brother MFC6490CW inkjet.

CSX_road_slug said:
Whenever I attempt to do a decal with white lettering on a black background, the blank ink always cracks as it cures, leaving an ugly pattern of white lines across the surface. Maybe it's the printer I'm using [HP OfficeJet Pro 8100] where the ink doesn't stay elastic when it dries?
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Ken, I think it may very well be the brand of ink that's giving you a problem. I use a Brother MFC6490CW and have had zero problems with ink cracking or spider-webbing. The one time I used white paper was for the GP33ECO and its slug, and those decals covered half the long hood on an N-scale model. I had to cut the decals very precisely along the color edge and didn't have any flaking of the ink there either. Even without that, though, you could still see just the tiniest sliver of the white decal film at the edges, so I did use black stripes from Microscale to butt up against the colored decals and hide that. Definitely not the fault of the printer or its ink, just that there's no way for that white decal film not to show at least a tiny bit no matter how you cut it or how good your ink is. I almost managed to hide it completely by angling my x-acto knife and sort of cutting under the ink instead of straight down, but you could still see the edge if you looked really close so the black stripes just finished it off and made it perfect rather than almost perfect. It also only really showed against the black. Where the green decals meet each other you couldn't see the seam at all unless you put it under a magnifying glass and looked really closely.
 
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