Printing Decals anyone done it

[971wright]

Hi Guys has anyone tried printing there own Decals ,if you have which is the best type (I have a inkjet printer)Need to have white for stars on Shermans .How do you do it

regards pete

[B_Man]

They are OK but come out a bit thick. Printers can't do white so you will need to get white decal paper rather than clear and print a star shape to cut out. In my experience they are useful for something the decal makers don't do but they are too much hassle for general markings.

[971wright]

Hi That's why I was thinking of printing some myself ,cant find the ones I need .Do they need spraying with a fixing agent ? (have seen some sprayed with acrylic spray)If they do can spray them with Matt finish .

regards pete

[B_Man]

I've only used them once and just put a couple of coats of dullcote over them. They look a little bit like cut out paper if you look closely so a fixing agent might help that. I also used a generic brand I picked up off eBay so it's possible the Testors paper is a better product.

[PainlessWolf]

Good Afternoon,
Rather than use the Mato decals again on the current M4A1 rebuild, I am going to take the decal sheet down to a Sign Shop and have it scanned and replicated in flat white vinyl. A little weeding and some lo-tack and I will have realistic looking graphics to put on the tank. I used to be in the business years ago and know how small and accurate a good plotter can cut. The pieces will be self adhesive with no decal film and workable around small bumps or bolt like protrusions. Just tossing out the idea.
regards,
Painless

[ALPHA]

I have a friend who did it ...He's a Gundam builder and needed specialized graphics for his bots....you need a special kind of printer ... ink ..as well as paper to do it..they come out pretty nice though...I was going to have him print up some for my tanks...but it's difficult to get the ink cartridges so I passed on it... and just go with normal printing... all of my tanks have printed markings... Once printed... I clear coat it with a suitable acrylic so the ink doesn't run ...then glue it on he surface.. I then semi gloss coat it... and chase the outline with the base color of the tank... I've had pretty good luck with the process... so long the decal is on a relatively flat surface ...and so far you can't really see an edge ..even though it's just plain old printer paper that I'm using

ALPHA