SlotForum banner
Cancel

Making Waterslide Decals

5209 Views 35 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  GDSLOT, 
N
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.
Reply
Save
Like
1 - 2 of 36 Posts
4
NZKevin said:
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.
Click to expand...
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
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 1
4
That looks like a useful set of decals and well-made, too.

I usually make my decals the full width of A4 paper, or around 20cm wide, but I keep the depth as short as possible. Something like 4cm is plenty for most 1/32 cars. I can then feed the full A4 sheet of decal paper into the printer without worrying about changing paper size settings. After printing, I cut off the printed decals and reuse the shorter paper left over for the next time. I find my (Canon inkjet) printer will still feed and print the paper down to about 10cm. If I’m really short of decal paper, I’ll tape the last strip of unprinted decal paper to a plain paper sheet to make it long enough to feed into the printer.

Mike
Reply
Save
Like
  • Like
Reactions: 3
1 - 2 of 36 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
SlotForum
A forum community dedicated to slot car owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about collections, racing, displays, models, track layouts, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
1:32 scale Cars Tracks & Scenery Scratch building Scalextric Digital (APB, ARC PRO) The Pit Lane
Top