Jon
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Sin Un Nombre |
Anyone print their own decals? |
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Hey everyone. I've got a few projects on the bench that I need some custom decals for. I've flirted around with the idea of handpainting, but I'm
not sure I'm up to it. Does anyone here print their own? I know somewhere I've got the Testor's custom decal system......somewhere. Basically,
I'm just looking for some pointers. What paper should I use? What kind of printer? Things like that. Any and all help is greatly apprecisted. Thanks.
Jon |
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Cjent |
Anyone print their own decals? | ||
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See your IM, Jon.
Cjent
"Speed Thrills" |
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HEY YOU MR Z28 |
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I print most of my own decals ,I use testors paper .you will also need decal binder testors #9200. What color is the car going to be???I like
to use the white paper on white cars as it's not so hard to cut out & trim. Clear paper works not so good on black cars. I have hp photo printers I
like to tape the decal paper on regular paper I sometimes run it through twice(depends on what printer I'm using)
Acquire your first decal (#, label whatever )after it's printed it must dry at least a few hours (I do mine overnight). Than sprayed lightly BUT cover completely with decal binder. Too much and you will run your art work. Not enough and in the water it will disappear.Too many coats and you will orange peel the decal, than allow to dry about 3 hours If your still reading after a few you'll see what I'm talking about .. mike
Last Edited By: HEY YOU MR Z28
02/19/08 04:27 PM.
Edited 1 times.
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opracer |
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I use MS Word to set up all of my decals. You have a zillion fonts and sizes, you can bring in the grqphics and size them along with the fonts, and you can cram a lot of decals into a small area. To make sure your decals are sized correctly, set the paper size in Word to 5.5" X 8.5" in portrait mode. Then set the screen zoom to about 70 - 75%. That way the screen image will be the about same size as the decal paper. To fine tune the size correlation, hold a sheet of decal paper up to your screen and change the zoom one percent at a time until they match exactly. Save that page as a template so you can use it every time. The decals shown on screen will then print at that same size. To judge the size of your decals, use that template and hold the body up to the screen. (Take the chassis off first or the magnets will mess up your screen when they get close). You can adjust the font and graphic sizes to fit. Before you print the decals, print the screen on plain paper and hold it up to the body. Adjust the font and graphic size as needed. The comments about clear-backed colored decals on dark bodies are right. Remember, your printer doesn't have any white ink. You can't print white decals on the clear paper. What you can do is set up a single-cell table in Word, set the background to something approaching the car color, and enter the decal text in the cell using a white font. Wheh you print the decal on white paper it will have a car-color backgound you can trim down so it doesn't show so much. This may take some practice to figure out what cell background to use so it blends into the car color. Always print at least three times the number of decals you will actually need. With some, especially large black surfaces on clear paper, you will need to apply double thicknesses to make sure the car color doesn't bleed thru. Also, you're bound to screw up at least one of every decal you apply at first. When you print, tape the decal paper to an 8-1/2 X 11 sheet of plain paper. The decal paper may feed at an angle or jam when used by itself. On my printer, the decal paper goes on the top left corner of the plain paper and is fed in upside down. Again, the plain paper run will tell you where your printer will print on the big paper. Before you spray sealer on the decal paper, cut off the portion you are using and save the rest. Otherwise the whole page will be sealed with no decal and can't be used again. By taping the decal paper to a sheet of paper you can use a single sheet three or four times. When you seal the decals, make sure the printing is completely dry. I know you want to get the decal on the car as soon as possible, but avoid the temptation to rush things. I let them dry overnight. Use two layers of spray sealer. The first should be light (no blobs of liquid on the sheet) but should cover the entire surface. If it goes on too thick it can cause the printing to run. Let it dry for at least four hours then spray a heavier coat to finish sealing. I've made decals for about 60 cars this way and have screwed things up about every way they can be. I hope my "learning curve" will help you.
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HEY YOU MR Z28 |
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I also test my decal on plain paper to make sure that they are just the right size and just what I want
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Sin Un Nombre |
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Wow. Thanks for the very well-written and detailed post. As soon as I find my Testor's decal system(if nothing else, for the paper), I'll be referring
to your post for all my problems. One quick question. The main decals I'm concerned with printing at the moment are black numbers on white circles for a
yellow car. If I used a sheet of white decal paper instead of clear, would that give me the effect I'm after? Thanks you once again.
Jon |
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HEY YOU MR Z28 |
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YES it will, black numbers on white paper works for a yellow or any color car
mike |
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Cjent |
Anyone print their own decals? | ||
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Terrific tutorial Opracer. Thanks!
Cjent
"Speed Thrills" |
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Stingray Racing |
Decals | ||
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I conserve my decal paper by first printing the decals I want on plain paper. Then I cut out a piece of decal paper just large enough to cover the decals on
the plain paper. Tape the edges of the decal paper down to the plain paper so it won't get hung up in the printer rollers. Then run the whole sheet of
plain paper back through the printer to print the decals. This way you can still use the smallest pieces of decal paper.
Rocky
Stingray Racing geocities.com/stingrayracing/index.html |
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