RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Has anyone done this? Apart from the Peddinghaus decals others are difficult to come by in the UK, so I am thinking of getting hold of some paper and doing my own. They would need to be the waterslide type, but if someone else has done it, where did you get the paper and what were the results like?

Hi Rob,

I looked into this when I did my excavator build last year. Basically paper is available matt and gloss, clear or white paper backed versions, if you use an ink jet printer I think you also need to spray a coating so doesnt bleed when put in water. Laser printers are print and go, these are common at work place offices so I'm sure you could ask someone to print a sheet for you.

Now the big draw back, printers cannot print white, so this limits what you can produce with light colours. So for example if you wanted a white US star you would have to print on white backed paper then cut out the shape of the star, okay that's doable. But say you need text to put under it, can you imagine the fun cutting out those letters and applying in a uniformed fashion! Now if the same details where black you use clear paper print black star and text simple square cut out and apply.

Then the clear paper and light colours like yellow wont show on dark or strong colours either.

I ended up using vinyls from callie graphics (US) I think from memory cost between £15-20 with shipping back but well worth it compared to all the messing around buying transfer paper then messing up a sheet with a slight misprint etc.

Ian

Thanks for the info Ian, having read your comments I have just been reading up on 'white' printing, and it isn't possible, which is a bit annoying as most tank letters and numbers are precisely that.

For my current need, I may as well print on plain paper, stencil onto thin styrene, and then cut a stencil from the styrene. I can then use that to airbrush some numbers on.

I was hoping to do white background/red numbers, and German black crosses on a white background, which I have done by hand on a flat surface in the past but that will present a challenge on milliput zimmerit.

When I am not building Tanks I build 1/9 R/C Aircraft, I have recently completed a DHC 2 Beaver in British Army Camo and markings, It is a specific aircraft (XP806) and while modern British Army Air Corps markings are in black the timeframe I was concerned with used White,
I bought a pack of 20 sheets of "Clear A4 Decal paper" from ----
http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk
as well as a 400 ml aerosol can of "Keen Crystal Clear Varnish" which you use as a fixer.
I then went to ----
http://www.cassart.co.uk
for "Liquitex" INDELIBLE ink markers, they come in 2 sizes and a wide choice of colours including WHITE,
The nibs are easily trimmed to suit the shape you want using a craft knife.
And so armed with that I made up a number of decals using different size stencils,
They are two sizes of "ARMY" & "XP806" Large for upper and lower mainplane and smaller for both sides of the fuselage,
It takes time, Practice (on scrap paper) and a lot of patience but it is certainly doable.
People boast that Zimmerit is a pain but worth doing so why not try making your own decals?
Of course if you are printing in Black or most other colours a Cheap "EPSON" Dot Matrix printer will save you a lot of hassle and does produce some very good results.
Shaun.

Wibbs, I have both clear and white decal paper, got it from MicroMark, I believe, and one of these fancy Epson printers that takes five different colors (I don't really have to write "colour" just because it's RCTW, now do I? ) plus the black cartridge, and the best advice I can give you is to get a nice flat sheet of styrene and paint it exactly like you will the tank, and do several practice runs. At least that worked well for me, and by about the third time I finished up a practice decal, all the way through final clear coat, I had a pretty good idea of how it would react and the best way to approach it.

Sounds like good advice, I found some waterslide decal sheets, clear and white on the link that Shaun gave, so I might order some and see how I get on.

Wibbs, Hi, Please do make sure before you immerse the Decal in warm water that you have "FIXED" the Paint/Ink otherwise the hard work you have put into the decal will float away
Shaun.

I watched the video that they have on the site, it shows the sealer, and mentions how critical it is. Rest assured I will follow the instructions to the letter,

Thanks for the help chaps, much appreciated.

I just checked and mine is the Micro mark paper. Take a look at this page and you may get some new info. This paper also uses a "fixative" but it's just a clear coat, and they recommend Testors or Krylon.

http://www.micromark.com/clear-on-white ... ,7942.html

Then there's the "alps" printer, which DOES print white, but I've heard they can get pricey.

Hey, Wibbs, would you like me to scan and send you the instructions that come with my paper? It may give you some useful info, so let me know if you'd like to see it. It's just one sheet, 8 1/2 x 11 and it's pretty informative. Maybe, as a mod, you could look and see if we'll have any copyright trouble if I post it here for guys to see?