I need some info! I have been unable to find decals I want for my Navy Bug so I’ve decided to try my luck at printing my own decals off my PC. Now my questions are:
Has anyone here ever used the Testors Custom Decal Maker Kit?
How did it work for you?
Does the decal making software come with features selecting scale, sizing to scale and changing colors before printing?
What printers are best for it? ( I have a lexmark Z22 inkjet printer)
The only problem I had with runny colors and fuzzy edges was rectified when I changed the printer setting to “Premium Glossy” photo paper. After that I had good results using the paper provided with the decal maker kit. For images such as fin flashes, squadron insignia, etc, I use the white paper, for numerals the clear. I have made many custom decals using my scanner, PhotoShop, internet downloads, etc. It works great!
You buy the standard kit from the store, but if you want to import your own pictures to make custom decals with, you have to buy an upgrade for it from their website. I bought it, I was not impressed with the very basic choices you have. I have acutally never used it!
Theres away around that, Select your picture right click and copy open the decal program left click the pic and press the delete key on your keyboard and then you can paste your image, and there you have it. I bought seprate decals paper because the paper that comes in the kit is rolled up and i couldnt get it straight enough to feed through the printer the flatter the better.
As for sealing the kit comes with decal sealer smells more like clear coat to me it seals the ink. Ive had issues where the ink bleeds from useing decal setting soulution.
Thanks for the replies! Most decals I’ll be printing will be in the low-vis gray or black scheme as I hate my birds having any color markings or insignia’s so I wont need any white ink or paper but may use it any way just to see how they look.
I called Brian at VF Decals to see if they could print me a sheet for VFA-113 Stingers and after talking to him for 15 minutes there was no way he could do it. I emailed the PAO for VFA-113 from thier web site and requested pictures of A/C NK301. I hope they can send me some walk around pictures of that bug to use for making the decals. If all goes well I should have a classy looking Hornet.
I’ve used the paper and the sealer with good results in the past - just did the images in my own program - never used the Testor’s program.
After you use the sealant spray, it seems like it takes the decals longer to soak free from the paper than “normal” decals, but that my just be my impatience talking.
You can also use the spray on older decals sets that you are worried might disentegrate when you try to use them.
I bought the Testors Decal Maker and tested it. I was able to get my own picture files to show on it.
Now my new question is:
How do I resize picture to make a 1/48 scale decal(s)? There is no option to size to1/48 scale or any other scale in the program. Does anyone have scale demensions for doing this you can send me?
How would I do this using a Photo Shop program like Adobe or Paint Shop Pro? I use Paint Shop Pro 9.
Do I still have to buy the Sure Thing Standard Edition?
i use Paint Shop 9 as well,since i suck at calculating the scale i need,i just keep playing with the size and test print on regular paper before commiting to the limited amount of decal paper
one other trick i have learned is: if you have a decal in that scale for that plane ,but just want to change it to low vis…scan the one you have and then size the other,layer it on top and work it until the size is the same,then get rid of the layer(don’t merge them)…you should now have the correct size low vis
I bought the Surething Decal Maker Standard Edition too. I can import images from my PC to the program and save them, so this is not a problem. I figured out how to resize and you are right, scale is hit and miss but once you get to the correct scale saving the image can save alot of time before printing, especially if your going make a full decal sheet.
Hopefully with updates to the program scale sizing will become automatic later. I think I’m gonna ask Decal Gear about this cause I think features for auto sizing for all scales should be added
This is interesting, I have a similar thread at ARC about making decals. My main problem is paper quality. Sounds like Testors has the best decal paper (inkjet is what I would need). Where can Testors paper and sealing spray be purchased? I have used paper bought from BelDecal and it was bad, then recently used some Bare Metal paper but it looked to be the same as the Beldecal stuff but worked well. I print and sealed with Krylon Kamar Varnish. Any other thoughts on paper brands?
I saw a customer service phone number on Microvision Development, Inc web site, they make the Surething Decal Maker software. I am going to contact them and see if they will update with the features to scale decals to 1/24, 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32. You may want to also.
Another thing I am going to ask for is adding installation of military true type fonts that come in regular, bold, italic and reversed italic, as I spent most of today looking for military fonts. I hope if they do take these suggestions and update the software they will offer free updates to those of us that already use it.