Hi Folk, thanks to Faust I have some templates for doing 1/35 Aussie WW2 formation and unit marks here at home. I have used white decal paper and printed them using my Cannon bubble jet printer.

They come out real good and are as clear as anything.

Now my questions are as the bubble jet printer ink is water soluable will the ink run when I soak the decal in water to put it on? What finish do I put over them? I normally use Humbrol matt varnish thinned with enamel thinners. Can I continue to use this? Or do I have to use an acrylic clear finish over them.

Any advice would be welcomed. I do not have access to or ever used future or it's like so please I need other products advice.

thanks
Cliff

Hi Cliff
I use a Cannon i550, and have no problems.
The reason I bought the Cannon i550, was I told the guy I get my ink from that I needed it to do decals, and he suggested the Cannon, since it uses oil based inks.(I had an espson 880) I don't know if that's true or not but I haven't had any problems printing up decals yet. (see gallery for photos of M1, all decals were done on cannon i550)
I use to hand paint my decals on clear film, (Nose art) and always covered them with Micoscale decal film afterwards, and I still do the same with the printed ones.
I don't know what brand of decal film you are using, but the stuff I got is really thin and delicate, and really needs the extra coating to stay together. If you can't get Micro scale decal film down there, try spraying with gloss or flat coat.

Hope that helps alittle.

Testors makes a Decal Bonder, (Testors #9200) It is a clear spray that you can spray over decal paper. I've used it several times and it works great.

What I do for ink jet printed decals is to spray a light coat of clear over them before I cut them out and soak them in water. I have never had any bleed on me.

I coat mine with Humbrol flat varnish before use - I know that won't be affected by water, so the ink is 'set' by the varnish.

You can seal them using a clear coating doesn't matter if cryl or enanel. Make some tests before to check what's best for your combination of ink/paper...
Ciao

thanks guys. I will test some pieces out and see what happens.

If you have difficulties with the ink in your printer, place the images is a word document, save it to disk and bring it to a priont shop that has a color laser printer.