Hey everyone,
I want to make some decals for a tank in REFORGER, and I was wondering what's the best way to go around doing this. I've been looking through past threads, but there's still some unanswered questions. I've been looking at the Testors set that comes with everything. I read though that the sealer sometimes doesn't work perfectly? Could I use Testors Dullcoat along with the one in the kit? Or should I use a different method, and if so would dullcoat still work or should I seal it with something different? As you can tell I don't really know what to do, but have a basic idea. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Oh, I have an ink jet printer.
-Seth

For sealing home-made decals, I use Krylon Krystal Klear matt in a large spray can from Wal-Mart or the likes. It is acrylic so it won't attack the decals. It works perfectly every time.

Thanks Gino. What kind of decal paper should I buy, white or clear? Also, all I've been able to find so far is Krylon UV-Resistant Matte Acrylic Coating. Is that pretty much the same thing?

-Seth

I use both white and clear paper, it depends on what I am making. If the decal has to go on a dark surface and is lighter, you will need to print it onto the white with a dark surround since home printers do not print in white. For light vehicles or standard bumper numbers on a lighter painted background, clear is fine.

The matt-coat sounds the same. Ant spray acrylic clear should do just fine.

I'll be making decals for an M60A2 in MERDC during REFORGER '77. So for the team markings I'd want white paper?
-Seth

What color is the team marking? My initial guess is yes. Also, the team markings were usually just paper with tape holding them on. White decal paper would make that very convincingly.

I use the Wal Mart stuff too, it works very well. After you draw your decals, print them on a sheet of printer paper first, to make sure everything is the right size.
I can draw or import just about anything I want, except for white images. Sometimes I'll use white paper, if the markings will appear on a background color I can match, but with most shades of sand and olive this is impossible. I wish ALPS printers, which can print in white ink, were still extant, but that train has long since left the station.

Hey thanks guys for the help. I'm doing orange team markings so I figure I would put that on white decal paper. I'll need to do all the bumper codes so I'll just put them on the same piece of paper as the team markings.
-Seth

During the field exercises in the Northern West-German 'plains', like ReForGer, Grosser Baer, and alike (until the mid 90-ies), most European 'enemy'field units used large tape to create the, mainly red, crosses on their vehicles. Referees carried with crosses.
Next to that, all unit indication signs and vehicle numbers, not being the official license plates, were covered with unendless amounts of green tape. Though, due to the US Army identification system, they hardly covered identification signs
Some (Dutch) commanders went that far that even baret signs, identifying the various infantery or cavalerie units, as well as all other branch typical signs, were removed. Soldiers were thus seen with either their helmets or just a bare barets.

An amount of inspiration can be found in the Concord book USAREUR, # 2011, ISBN 962-361-911-1, but also in books like Certain Shield ( Concord, # 2012, ISBN 962-361-912-X )

Okay, I have a stupid question. I bought a few sheets of decal paper awhile ago, and I have an inkjet printer. What if I want to make decals that don't take up the entire sheet? Are unused parts of the sheet just wasted or is there a way to run them thru the printer (with other decals printed on them) later?

Lee;
if you can arrange your area to be printed to one small corner, say the bottom right then you have the rest of the paper to still use. If you have your picture set to the center of the page then its going to be more difficult. You should be able to change the paper size on your printer to 1/2 sheet or card size, so that later on you can run the remaining page through. Best of luck.

I cut out just a large enough square of the decal paper to cover the area I am printing and a little space around the image. I tape this square to a piece of regular printer paper, over the spot the image is on, using scotch tape. Once it is printed and dry, I carefully cut the scotch tape with a hobby knife. In this manner, I waste almost no decal paper.

I do the same thing. If you print on white paper first as a test, and tape the section of decal paper over that and re-print, you are assured of hitting the decal paper correctly.

I've read this with interest. Mainly because I don't fancy painting "DUNKERQUE" freehand on a Char B1

But I'm wondering where I can source some LASERJET decal paper in the UK???? I can find plenty in the US but nothing in the UK without paying through the nose. Any help?

AND perhaps I'm being a bit thick here but is the white decal paper actually white, or does it just have a white backing? If it's actually white do you have to colour the background of the decal the same as your paint job? I understand that I can't print white, hence the need for it to be white. But doesn't it leave white edges around the image unless you colour it the same as your paintwork (or paint it when it's on)?

Thanks, if I'm being a bit thick don't be frightened to say so, wouldn't be the first time

Andy

I was wondering about that too. From my understanding it's best to use clear paper for stuff such as numbers. At least black numbers.
-Seth

Ignore my last post please.

Call me thickie

Here bud

http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/.-Laser-Water-Slide-Decal-Paper_155.htm

Look at the example of a red ambulance in customer creations - he coloured the decal background red to avoid seeing white edges. Might be trickier to match a NATO green though?

If you use clear paper how transparent is it on a dark background? Say for example I wanted to do white text on a NATO green background using clear paper, would it come out light green????? Or would it just come out green I want a white'ish "DUNKERQUE" on a NATO green background, can I only use the white paper??

(You can guess I'm thinking matching the background colour could be incredibly difficult, even if you cut it as close to the text as possible)

Thanks for your help

You have to use the white decal paper to have any white or light colored decal, lettering, image, etc. over a dark background Home printers cannot print white. They do not have white ink. Also, they print very thin ink, so it doesn't cover well. To get it to work, you have to print it with a solid color surround to hide the rest of the white on the surrounding paper. The printer actually prints the color onto the surround and doesn't lay down any ink on the white part. It is a little bit tedious, but can be done.

What do you need to print out your own decales ? a special program or app ?

Hi Guys,
Here's some decal 101:
1. Clear decal paper has clear film (no color) and "white" decal paper has white film.
2. Working with white paper does make life easier (you will need a white undercoat as the inks from most laser and inkjet printers are not opaque enough, so they disappear on a dark colored surface and look bad on anything but white. This means US bumper codes and any white tactical numbers are going to be really hard to do.
3. I do a lot of my lettering work in MS word. Word also has a lot of shapes and clip art that allows you to make up basic shapes (and the appropriate combinations will allow you to make most shapes you'll need).
4. There are several printers that do print white, but they are NOT cheap! Alps (if you can find them) MD printers have white ink. OKI laser printers can be converted to print white and supposedly Roland plotter/printers can print white, too. I've never worked with a Roland (they are several thousand $), so I don't know much about them.
5. Don't expect to scan in some stuff you found in a book and get anything resembling good results (it is also a copyright violation). You are going to need to draw the image, either by cobbling together clip-art images or free-hand drawing. If you do not have a drawing program, I highly recommend Paint.net as it is freeware.
6. If you want to be lazy, drop me a PM and we'll discuss what you want. My rates are US$30 plus shipping for a 5.5 x 8.5 inch sheet. I can print white and the decals are laser printed (I had to make a plug somewhere in here).
7. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.
Regards,
Georg

The best answer for the bumper codes- dry transfers... Model railroad stores have tons of options. Also - of course you can order specific ones for US Army markings that have the tactical symbols and such.

I love REFORGER era - the early versions were a white square piece of paper with circle and a green triangle for the opposing team. Later I believe was the orange and blue - orange circles, blue squares... sounds like a Lucky Charms add... I've seen some decal or transfer sheets just for these purposes - can't remember who made them though.

When printing your decals use the highest quality photo settings for best results, but they'll probably never be as sharp or as opaque as professional decals.