[NZKevin]

I bought some waterslide decals recently, and they were complete rubbish. Four of the sheets were really badly printed, the last time I saw colour printing so bad it was done on a 9 pin dot matrix. One sheet was a little better, so I tried to use it only to discover that the printing floated off the decal along with the backing paper and they look terrible on the car. These were from scalextric-car. co.uk just to be clear, I have previously bought transfers from PSR and they were great quality.

I decided that I may as well make my own, but couldn't seem to find much information here about it. Has anyone done it, and if so do you have any tips you can share? I have found some paper available locally and checked the instructions, I'm using an inkjet so will need to spray them with a clear topcoat. But I'm sure there are probably some do's and don'ts that I should know. Any tips gratefully received.

 

[GDSLOT]

Im far away from being a pro at printing decals, but the few things I have learned are:

1) Print them with the propper setting, some use more ink than other and when it uses too much ink it mixes and makes a mess, so doing some tests before chosing your right setting is advisable.

2) Once you print them, leave the ink to dry for a whole day before aplying sealer or clear coat.

3)Once the clear coat is aplied, again leave at least 12 hours or a whole day so that its completely sealed, otherwise you risk water disolving ink when using the decals.

4) Dont feel bad if your decals dont match those like Indycals, Atalaya, Patos, etc, the fact is that they use printers that are far above from the ones we own at home😉

Hope it helps a little.

Cheers

 

[42redcat]

I bought some waterslide decals recently, and they were complete rubbish. Four of the sheets were really badly printed, the last time I saw colour printing so bad it was done on a 9 pin dot matrix. One sheet was a little better, so I tried to use it only to discover that the printing floated off the decal along with the backing paper and they look terrible on the car. These were from scalextric-car. co.uk just to be clear, I have previously bought transfers from PSR and they were great quality.

I decided that I may as well make my own, but couldn't seem to find much information here about it. Has anyone done it, and if so do you have any tips you can share? I have found some paper available locally and checked the instructions, I'm using an inkjet so will need to spray them with a clear topcoat. But I'm sure there are probably some do's and don'ts that I should know. Any tips gratefully received.

I make all my decals myself and find it very satisfying.
Use the highest resolution that your printer can do. Anything less than 600 dots per inch risks getting a ‘grainy’ edge, especially on small writing.
Unless you have a fancy printer that will print white, try taking a photo of your car and then scanning that colour to make a matching background for white decals on white decal paper,
Use Johnsons ‘Klear’ floor polish over the decals a day or so after you’ve applied them. This ‘sets’ them in place and stops any lacquer/varnish from making them wrinkle.
Good luck!
Mike

 

[Zippy D]

Just as a thought,
it would be helpful (to me certainly and others I'm sure) if anyone who posts here who prints/produces their own waterslide decals could maybe list things of interest such as:

Printer type/make
Dots per inch (DPI)/resolution
Printer cartridge type/make
Decal paper type/thickness/make
Any special design software used
Method of creating text-alpha/numeric/or specific design
Method of sizing 1:32/1:24 to specific make/models
Method of printing/printer settings for your specific printer for best results
Any pre application decal treatment/sealing
Method of application of decals
Any post application decal treatment/sealing
Anything else of help/interest etc

This could then be used to build up an informative database under the heading "Making Waterslide Decals", which could possibly become a "Sticky".

Cheers

 

[EMPO_Z102]

Hice este tutorial en otro foro, que tal vez te sea útil (AQUI).

I did this tutorial in another forum, which may be useful to you (HERE).

Salut
Frederic

 

[Kevan]

Colour laser printer has to be a better option than inkjet.

It's something I've often looked into but never got round to.

I've heard Micro Sol and Micro Set (from Microscale Industries) is really good stuff.

 

[GRUNZ]

I think there are too many possible combinations to find some useful and up-to-date information.
Some like to use laser printers although my understanding is that inkjet printers should have better photo quality.
Printing my own decals would be something that I have been thinking doing but in the end I just keep buying them from good sources (MTR32, Slotfabrik,Atalaya, etc).

 

[beardy56]

This is my method..

1) I design set my background resolution in my graphics program to 1200 dpi
2) If your program has them use a separate layer for each image, this makes later edits easier
3) when importing designs or images load to a new tab if you can
4) do any editing and cropping needed and if possible copy this in to a new tab or page
5) change the resolution of this new image to 1200 dpi
6) resize this new image, in mm, to the required size
7) copy and paste this new image to the original page
8) check each image and recolour or paint/fill as required, this is important with imported images. also make sure the background is clear or perfect white, it can also be a colour if printing on white decal paper
9) repeat as required until you have all the decals required

10) do a test print on photo paper at your printers highest resolution, your graphics program my confirm the print resolution.
11) assuming all is well you can print you decal sheet, if any errors now is the time to correct them.
12) set the decal sheet a side for at least 24 hours
13) spray the sheet with 2 or 3 coats of lacquer or clearcoat
14) if you have only printed a part sheet you can use brush on varnish or decal sealer or mask and spray

well that's my method

a few extra tips hints..

If you are printing only a few decals I tend to spread them out as I find, with my printer, I can brush seal and after cutting out I can re-use the sheet without problems. I just make sure I avoid the sealed parts of the sheet when placing the next lot of decals.

If the decals has white parts that have a full colour border I will hide all other layers and then first recolour the white to another colour then if there is enough room I add a think border in the same colour then a single pixel black boarder and then change the coloured part back to white. This is then printed on white decal paper and when ready I cut around the black line. This is then placed on the model first and allowed to fully set before the colour decal is placed on to. If the white part of the image is complicated you can print the full image on the white decal paper and the cut inside the image to produce the base layer. Either will work so long as the base layer is smaller than the top decal, you just need a good eye.

 

[PetesLightKits]

Decals for the car on the left were done using Word, an HP LaserJet printer on Testors clear decal paper. I made a spelling error in one word and the blue was not as dark as it should have been - the actual Blaupunkt blue is somewhere in between what I did and the Slot.it on the right. One tip, for when you print - make sure, if there is a setting for it, to print blacks as pure black. Do a test print and use high quality setting.

Most of the text was easily found using dafont.com website, Most of the graphics were found on logo websites, scaled down and converted for pasting into Word. Some of the graphics were done in Word.

 

[GDSLOT]

This is my method..

1) I design set my background resolution in my graphics program to 1200 dpi
2) If your program has them use a separate layer for each image, this makes later edits easier
3) when importing designs or images load to a new tab if you can
4) do any editing and cropping needed and if possible copy this in to a new tab or page
5) change the resolution of this new image to 1200 dpi
6) resize this new image, in mm, to the required size
7) copy and paste this new image to the original page
8) check each image and recolour or paint/fill as required, this is important with imported images. also make sure the background is clear or perfect white, it can also be a colour if printing on white decal paper
9) repeat as required until you have all the decals required

10) do a test print on photo paper at your printers highest resolution, your graphics program my confirm the print resolution.
11) assuming all is well you can print you decal sheet, if any errors now is the time to correct them.
12) set the decal sheet a side for at least 24 hours
13) spray the sheet with 2 or 3 coats of lacquer or clearcoat
14) if you have only printed a part sheet you can use brush on varnish or decal sealer or mask and spray

well that's my method

a few extra tips hints..

If you are printing only a few decals I tend to spread them out as I find, with my printer, I can brush seal and after cutting out I can re-use the sheet without problems. I just make sure I avoid the sealed parts of the sheet when placing the next lot of decals.

If the decals has white parts that have a full colour border I will hide all other layers and then first recolour the white to another colour then if there is enough room I add a think border in the same colour then a single pixel black boarder and then change the coloured part back to white. This is then printed on white decal paper and when ready I cut around the black line. This is then placed on the model first and allowed to fully set before the colour decal is placed on to. If the white part of the image is complicated you can print the full image on the white decal paper and the cut inside the image to produce the base layer. Either will work so long as the base layer is smaller than the top decal, you just need a good eye.

I like it, but... This is out of my league😐

 

[GDSLOT]

Decals for the car on the left were done using Word, an HP LaserJet printer on Testors clear decal paper. I made a spelling error in one word and the blue was not as dark as it should have been - the actual Blaupunkt blue is somewhere in between what I did and the Slot.it on the right. One tip, for when you print - make sure, if there is a setting for it, to print blacks as pure black. Do a test print and use high quality setting.
View attachment 281102
Most of the text was easily found using dafont.com website, Most of the graphics were found on logo websites, scaled down and converted for pasting into Word. Some of the graphics were done in Word.

This is more or less what I do🙂

 

[Kit Spackman]

There are as many different methods of drawing up and printing decals as there are those of us who are doing it.....

 

[EMPO_Z102]

Yo vectorizo casi todos mis logos, pues mis decoraciones suelen raras y no encuentro los patrocinadores en internet. Dibujo lo que veo, pero no entiendo de capas, ni de resoluciones entre objetos, ni de colores. También a veces modifico el logo que he encontrado en la red porque no se ajusta a la realidad.
En cuanto a las tipografías busco la más parecida y la modifico de acuerdo al coche original. Por ejemplo, el logo BRM-Marlboro del P160, lleva tres tipografías diferentes.
Una vez tengo los logos, ya todo queda muy lejos para mi. Siempre con muchas dudas exporto a .pdf y luego busco alguien que me los imprima.

I vectorize almost all my logos, because my decorations are usually rare and I can't find the sponsors on the internet. I draw what I see, but I don't understand layers, or resolutions between objects, or colors. I also sometimes modify the logo that I have found on the net because it does not conform to reality.

As for the fonts I look for the most similar and I modify it according to the original car. For example, the BRM-Marlboro logo on the P160 has three different fonts.

Once I have the logos, everything is far away for me. Always with many doubts I export to .pdf and then I look for someone to print them for me.

Frederic

 

[Dave D Stevens]

We used to make our own decals as kids. back in the 60's.
We would find the image that we wanted in a "glossy" magazine, Then paint over the image with a coat of "Humbrol" clear gloss varnish. When dry we would apply a second, third and then forth coat. The image was then cut out and soaked in warm water. After a while the paper could be rubbed off of the film of varnish leaving the image on the varnish. A coat of the varnish was then applied to the model, and while this coat was still wet, our home made decal was laid in position.

 

[beardy56]

Frederic, would you not be better of printing from the vector graphics program. I don't use pdf as I am never sure that I am getting the maximum possible resolution. I can save from my graphics program to PDF at 1200dpi but i do not see any advantage in doing another conversion to the graphics. If I was working from scratch I think I would also use vector graphics as they are so easy to resize but would not do any conversions before printing.

Frederic, no seria millor imprimir des del programa de gràfics vectorials. No faig servir pdf ja que no estic mai segur que obtindré la màxima resolució possible. Puc guardar del meu programa de gràfics a PDF a 1200 dpi, però no veig cap avantatge en fer una altra conversió als gràfics. Si estigués treballant des de zero, crec que també faria servir gràfics vectorials, ja que són tan fàcils de canviar la mida, però no faria cap conversió abans d'imprimir.

Dave, I remember doing that back in the day but not always very successfully, even painting varnish on to plain paper then painting trying, normally not very well, a design and then doing the same trick.

GDSlot, you don't need a fancy, read expensive, graphics program as most of the free download ones will work fine. While layers are nice again you don't need them of if available you don't need to use them. The main advantage of layers is that the can save a lot of extra work such as when making my white backgrounds but they are completely optional. Most graphics programs handle text very well and a lot will let you drag to resize so not limited to point font sizes and other effects can be added.

Not having used Word, other than for text based documents, how do you change the output resolution?

 

[GDSLOT]

Not having used Word, other than for text based documents, how do you change the output resolution?

I have not idea mate 😁, the fact is that also use Word just for writing legal docs so mostly of my work when doing decals is just copy and paste and adjust the size.

I suppose than when printing I could try adjusting printing settings in the printer 🙄

Cheers

 

[beardy56]

One other, in theory, advantage with most graphics programs is that you can adjust the colour base used so the out put colours can be set to match the on screen colours you see if you have loaded the matching monitor driver files or even match the colours to set printing colour sets used by print shops. I haven't tried any of this yet and have just used sRBG as it seems to be the default for most programs.

GD, give it a go, down load a graphics program and have a play. Nothing to lose apart from a bit of time. The only things you need to know are the maximum resolution of your printer so you can set the page resolution to match, or as close as possible, when creating a new page in the program. 😇

 

[EMPO_Z102]

Frederic, would you not be better of printing from the vector graphics program. I don't use pdf as I am never sure that I am getting the maximum possible resolution. I can save from my graphics program to PDF at 1200dpi but i do not see any advantage in doing another conversion to the graphics. If I was working from scratch I think I would also use vector graphics as they are so easy to resize but would not do any conversions before printing.

Aixó de que hi haguin dos temes que parlin del mateix... T'he fet alguna pregunta a l'altre.
El pronblema es que no tinc impressora i allá on me les puguin imprimir (amics) no tenen el prgrama instalat. A mes, es que sempre m'habien dit que ho fes amb .pdf.
Salut

That there are two topics that talk about the same thing ... I asked you a question to the other.
The problem is that I don't have a printer and where they can print them for me (friends) they don't have the program installed. Besides, I've always been told to do it with .pdf.
Health
Frederic

 

[beardy56]

Hi Fredric,

Real problem have both threads running at the same time.

If they are running Windows then jpg or bmp are suitable formats that they will be able to print from any graphics program or the default windows viewer. The same should apply to Apple although I believe the default option is png.

If you are happy with the results then there is no need to change but are you getting the best resolution from their printer?


Hola Fredric,

El problema real és que tots dos fils s’executen al mateix temps.

Si utilitzen Windows, jpg o bmp són formats adequats que podran imprimir des de qualsevol programa gràfic o des del visor de Windows per defecte. El mateix s’hauria d’aplicar a Apple, tot i que crec que l’opció predeterminada és PNG.

Si esteu satisfets amb els resultats, no cal que canvieu, però obteniu la millor resolució de la impressora?

 

[RichD]

Here is some info on making your own decals: Print Your Own Decals Rev1.pdf