I was hoping to find out what would be the best printer to use for making decals. I thought I heard of one particular printer that actually printed white?
Also, does anyone have suggestion on whats the best “art” software to use to create actual decals?
Thanks!!
What’s wrong with starting with white film? I’m not being a wise guy. It’s something I want to do in the future, but my inkjet, cheap but brand new, has decided not to print blue, even though the cartridge is half full.
I’ve not seen a printer in our price range that prints white… even the 800 dollar plus inkjets (photo quality, print 17x14 or some such size paper) and have 6+ ink cartridges don’t… actually I haven’t seen one period, but that doesn’t mean anything… my IT dept is stingy and won’t let people buy stuff like that…
They do make white film for printing decals … that would be the best place to start… you would want to look for a very high print resolution, preferrably not software enhanced… the more the printer does for you the better. My vote is the Epson… Lots of ink, usually a higher print resolution than the others in the same price range (something like 5400x1600 right now) and they have a better distrubution of ink overall… plus the price is nice…
basically what you want is not a deskjet, but a photo deskjet… they usually have the higher resolution and better colors when printed…
my three votes would be Epson, Canon then HP in that order… probably wouldnt consider another one unless I had more detail on it… of course I will probably make someone mad, and I am sure there are other brands that do wonderful… but those are the main three that I have either used or heard about…
try usiing a Qtip dipped in sterile (or at least clean) water… gently clean the heads where you see the ink comes out at… then go into the printer maintenance software, usually you can get to it by right clicking the printer icon in “Printers” then either printing preferences or properties will get you there… try the ‘clean print head’ utility like 2 or 3 times then try to print again… I had the same thing happen and it was that the color had a lot of residue left after a print and dried… once I got it off it printed fine!!! make sure there are no fibers left over from the Qtip when you are done…
oh yeah a Qtip dipped in alcohol and clean the copper colored contacts works good too… just to make sure…
I think the best printer to use is an ALPS. They are out of production, but still show up regularly, especially if you get on the Yahoo Group dedicated to ALPS decals. These printers use a thermal wax to print the images, and they do print white. You can use white as an underlay to make the decals more opaque. It has trouble with grays and fleshtones, but overall, does quite well! This link has a Christen Eagle I built for a friend, and all the feathers are ALPS decals
As far as I know (just from what I’ve read) the ALPS was the only printer that actually printed white. All others will have to be printed on either white or clear paper.
For me the issue was paper, not the printer. I’ve got an old Lexmark Z52 that does quite a serviceable job, but I tried many different manufacturers’ papers before I found one (Micro-Mark’s inkjet version) that worked. Since the papers are available in either white or clear, so you’ll have to keep that in mind when laying out your artwork, and allow for either close trimming, “background color” borders for stuff printed on white, or the need to edge markings with paint.
I presume that “Photoshop” is probably the program of choice, but I use Corel’s “Photo-Paint” (which came bundled with my computer) and it works just fine. Any program will have to be used and experimented with until you learn what you can make it do.
The biggest keys in producing small images (I do mainly 1/72 markings) are:
a) clean print heads (any computer’s manual should tell you how to do this, though “tho9900” has a good rundown of the basics above); and
b) play with the settings on your printer. I often have to do multiple runs of artwork to get usable decals, since some colors (blacks in particular) seem to print with different intensities than others.
It can be a long haul to get everything to work right (if you’re neither particularly artistic or computer-savvy, as in my case), but once you get it down, a whole new world of neat schemes opens up. Good luck
This is embarrassing, but where are the little holes on my Lexmark color cartridge with the ink comes out?
Tom
Tom:
Don’t be embarassed. I stared at mine for five minutes (without enlightenment) until I actually pulled out the instruction book and looked.
The nozzles are at the very bottom of the cartridge, somewhere in the “printed circuit”-looking foil. Dampen a paper towel and wipe it gently across, and if it turns black (or colors, whatever), you’re in business.
Greg
As far as “art” programs, I’ve tried just about all of them, being a graphic artist for 12 years before switching professions a few years ago, but I will highly recommend Macromedia Freehand. There’s just about nothing you can’t do in this program.
I have a copy of that, just never played with it… guess I am going to have to find it and try it out!
I always scan my decal sheets into my computer.
That way if one doesn’t work for some reason I can replace it.
an added benifit is I now have several seat belt styles I can scale up or down in size as needed, and print on paper.
I just cut them out with the ol exacto and there ya go…
easy seatbelt for kits that didn’t come with any.
As for Art programs I use Coral Draw/paint for detail work, then import them into the testers decal software to print.
its easier to scale them in that program.
you can do it in Coral but its more of a process, where in Testers I grab a corner and pull. A nice measuring guide appears and I just expand or shrink it to the size I need and print.
Hi all,
It seems that the conventional wisdom really is conventional. I bought the Testors decal making system kit that comes with two sheets of white decal paper, some software, and a spray can of decal fixing solution.
I scannned some decals, and made some decals, using Photoshop. If I’m going to create insignia or something like that, I’ll use Freehand.
Anyway, the decals printed out beautifully from my Epson 777 and the decal fixing solution seemed to have gone down pretty well. I let the decals dry overnight before spraying the solution, and I’ve let that dry overnight now too.
I’m going to try placing a couple of my new decals tonight. I’d like to get some clear paper as well, but I’m going to see how this goes first.
Regards,
Here’s the update: the Testors paper looks white, but it just serves as a recepticle for the ink. The carrier film works well and the ink from the inkjet stays togeter, but everything is pretty translucent.
I made a wood pattern decal for the cockpit floor of the bomber I’m working on. The plastic is a dark green and that color showed right through the decal. I quickly took the decal off and I plan on painting the floor white before
I put the woodgrain decal on it. I’m glad I printed more than one decal for the cockpit floor. [:D]
Regards,
guys, my hp 2110 aio does the job perfectly with a photo cartridge. tusk tusk tusk… and it only cost me $220 brand new, canadian dollers.
I always dry brush my wood decks… ship or otherwise… I wouldnt even trust my decals to do that… although if they could that would look good, interesting note though, I almost bought the testors system tonight… maybe I will wait till something better comes out… (it always does)
Isn’t that like monopoly money\/// hahah… just kidding… no I didnt mean to mock the HP’s… some of them are very good… it’s just the Epsons (IN MY OPINION) work better… clearer…
Tho9900,
My homemade wood decals look good, are in scale, and, well, look better than I could do with a brush. [:)] I just need to put a light grey or white on the plastic underneath them. Actually, a light tan may work best. I’ll have to do more experimentation.
Regards,
All,
I finally got around to putting my homemade cockpit floor decals down. I primed the cockpit floor pieces with Testors enamel spray, then painted them (after the enamel had dried) with Testors MM Acryl radome tan. After that, I put a coat of Future floor wax down.
After the Future dried, the decals went on just like any other decals, except they’re just a little more fragile. I used Micro Set to help put them down, but I didn’t use Micro Sol.
A light background paint is definitely needed for the decals to look good.
Regards,
Hello everyone,
With regards to decal printing here are my results over the last 18 months or so.
I used to use a solid decal sheet as the base from mircoscale etc and as these are usually gloss finished, pre sprayed with a misted coat of matt varnish to help the inks to grip. I would allow 12 hours for the varnish to dry, and another 12 for the printer ink then top this of with a coat of suitable varnish to match the paint finish. If the colour scheme of the model would permit then the decals first coat would be the same as the colour scheme, this avoids any trouble with silvering on clear decal sheets.
All of these airbrushed coatings needed to be as thin as possible otherwise the decals would end up rather thick giving problems forming to complex curves etc.
A new system that I have been using lately is to either scan the kits decals or obtain stuff of the net and to print this onto clear overhead projection paper. This I then turn into stencil masks fixed to the model with a low tack photomount spray, and airbrush the makings directly onto the model avoiding the need for decals altogether where possible. This sounds awkward but I have had some quite good results in 1:72 scale and practice is making near perfect.
The printer I use is an Epson C42+ and the programs vary from Paint shop pro 7 to
MGI 3 . This was intended as a short note but seems to have become a novel but is hoped to be of some use.
I just bought the Testors system and I have a Lexmark X-75: haven’t tried it yet but will let you know how it turns