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Armor/AFV: Techniques
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Home-made decals
pbennett
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United Kingdom
Joined: October 14, 2007
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2014 - 07:31 AM UTC
Struggling to find suitable decals for a specific small-scale vehicle, I wondered whether anyone has tried applying rub-down transfers to clear decal. If so, any tips would be most welcome. I imagine a coat of matt varnish would be essential before placing the decal in water. Similarly, has anyone tried hand-painting lettering (either with enamels or acrylics) onto clear decal? Again, I presume matt varnish would be required.
18Bravo
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Colorado, United States
Joined: January 20, 2005
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2014 - 07:48 AM UTC
Both of those methods will work. In fact Shep Paine even suggests using dry trnasfers on clear deal film in one of his books. I imagine the advantage is you can make sure everything is aligned before you apply it as a decal. I have applied dry transfers individually with pretty good success, but it can be quite tedious.
C_JACQUEMONT
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Loire-Atlantique, France
Joined: October 09, 2004
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2014 - 08:09 AM UTC
The only decals I've made I used clear decal sheet and paint over stencils.

One thing I can tell you is that decals made that way are very weak, unless you brush on a special product on them to make them stronger. That's on the clear decal sheet before cutting them out of course and after leaving the product to dry thoroughly.

The aforementioned product is Microscale Liquid Decal Film.


Cheers,

Christophe

Hisham
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Al Qahirah, Egypt / لعربية
Joined: July 23, 2004
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2014 - 08:43 AM UTC
I printed these on a clear decal sheet using my Canon ink jet printer.. and then gave it a couple of coats of MR Hobby Clear (gloss) from a spray can.. and the colors stayed stable after placing them in the water. I only tried this one time, so I don't know if it's something that will always work.. and you have to make sure the decal paper is made for ink jet printers.



Hisham
Namabiiru
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MODEL SHIPWRIGHTS
#399
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Rhode Island, United States
Joined: March 05, 2014
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2014 - 09:15 AM UTC
I've been wanting to do a JGSDF LAV in JASDF livery--like the ones we have here on base--but haven't been able to crack the decal issue. The markings would be white on a green base coat, and for the life of me I haven't been able to come up with a solid idea for producing my own decals for white markings. I thought about doing the decals as negatives and printing the base color over white decal material, but I very much doubt I could exactly match the color coming off the printer to the paint.

Anyone got ideas?

gastec
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Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: February 03, 2014
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2014 - 09:52 AM UTC
I recently tried making my own decals for the first time using a laser printer. Worked perfectly and didn't need to do anything more to the decal other than print, trim and put in some warm water. Came of the backing paper extremely easily and moved into position. Added some Microsol setting solution and once dried, a coat of clear varnish. The decal paper I used was from the Bare-Metal Foil Co.



The decal is still wet in this photo and what looks like 'silvering' is just the Microsol.

Gary
Alystyr
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Ohio, United States
Joined: June 17, 2014
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2014 - 10:08 AM UTC
Mark:
Matching the basecoat is easier than you think if you have access to a scanner. Just paint a swatch of the paint that you'll be using on a styrene sheet and let it fully cure. Then take this sheet and scan it into whatever software you're using to make your decals. Take the resulting scan and use that color as the surround for your markings. If you make this border thin enough, it should almost disappear once applied, especially after any weathering/filters.
To be honest, it's harder to explain than it will be to do.
TheGreatPumpkin
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DECALCOMANIACS
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New Jersey, United States
Joined: April 20, 2009
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2014 - 11:06 PM UTC
Hi All,
I run a small decal company called Decalcomaniacs! that uses both Alps and laser printers to make my decals. I have the capacity to laser-print white. If any of you have questions about how to print your own, feel free to PM me or post here. Merry Christmas!
Regards,
Georg Eyerman
Decalcomaniacs!
tankmodeler
#417
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Ontario, Canada
Joined: March 01, 2004
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Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 12:08 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I wondered whether anyone has tried applying rub-down transfers to clear decal. I imagine a coat of matt varnish would be essential before placing the decal in water.

I've done this a lot and the use of a matt varnish prior to dipping dry transfers on decal film in water is not required.

Paul
Namabiiru
Staff MemberAssociate Editor
MODEL SHIPWRIGHTS
#399
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Rhode Island, United States
Joined: March 05, 2014
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Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 03:23 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Mark:
Matching the basecoat is easier than you think if you have access to a scanner. Just paint a swatch of the paint that you'll be using on a styrene sheet and let it fully cure. Then take this sheet and scan it into whatever software you're using to make your decals. Take the resulting scan and use that color as the surround for your markings. If you make this border thin enough, it should almost disappear once applied, especially after any weathering/filters.
To be honest, it's harder to explain than it will be to do.


Floyd,
Brilliant! I feel ashamed I didn't think of that myself, but then that's why I love this site--because it's chock full of helpful people that are smarter and/or more experienced than I. Cheers!

Alystyr
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Ohio, United States
Joined: June 17, 2014
KitMaker: 146 posts
Armorama: 88 posts
Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 08:45 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Mark:
Matching the basecoat is easier than you think if you have access to a scanner. Just paint a swatch of the paint that you'll be using on a styrene sheet and let it fully cure. Then take this sheet and scan it into whatever software you're using to make your decals. Take the resulting scan and use that color as the surround for your markings. If you make this border thin enough, it should almost disappear once applied, especially after any weathering/filters.
To be honest, it's harder to explain than it will be to do.


Floyd,
Brilliant! I feel ashamed I didn't think of that myself, but then that's why I love this site--because it's chock full of helpful people that are smarter and/or more experienced than I. Cheers!


Not a problem, Mark

Forgot to mention that not all printers reproduce colors all that accurately, so you may have to tweak your scanned color slightly. Unfortunately, you can't really test it using plain paper, at least with an inkjet printer. You can test the artwork size and layout, yes, but the colors end up looking different due to absorption by the paper. No experience with a color laser, so I don't know if it's the same.
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