Duplicating old decals

Hello, I recently purchased a Tamiya Lotus 99T on eBay, and the decals are brittle and virtually unusable. Do you think I can scan the old decals and print it myself on some inkjet decal paper, or will it look like crap? Thanks.

Welcome :wave:

You may find it a lot easier to purchase a set of the decals available in the aftermarket as a replacement - Tabu is one company I can think of which makes a complete set for the car with all the sponsors.

Not worth the hassle of making new ones when there are good aftermarket alternatives available.Tabu Design decals,as Ray already mentions,are an excellent choice.I used their decals on my McLaren Mp4/5B recently and they are superb quality.Very thin with hardly any excess carrier film and fantastic print quality throughout the whole sheet and reasonable pricing as well.I would also recommend FMD decals.They do a full sheet with all the markings and you also get a seperate sheet with all the tyre markings as well.Also very keenly priced.
I would only make your own decals if there was simply no alternatives available.

Link to FMD decals Here (http://www.mediamixhobby.com.sg/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4763)

Link to Tabu decals Here (http://www.hlj.com/product/TAB20028)

Hope this helps and welcome to the forum :)

I have this same problem, I have a ZZtop hot rod, I tried looking for new decals, but turned up with nothing. Any help?

I have this same problem, I have a ZZtop hot rod, I tried looking for new decals, but turned up with nothing. Any help?

As mentioned by Steve, if there are alternatives in the aftermarket then it's the best way to go.

In your case you won't find any alternatives in the aftermarket - your best bet is a post in the classifieds or contacting the kit manufacturer.

Thanks for the replies :) I'm curious though, has anyone tried this? The reason I'm asking is because I have some decal paper and I'd rather not have to wait the 2 weeks it takes for stuff to ship from HLJ.

give it a go, just make sure you have print settings bumped up to max resolution. good luck!

Depending on whether replacement decals are available, making up your own new decals might be your only choice.

I scan the old ones using a pretty high resolution - 1200 ppi. Then I look at the scans in Photoshop at high magnification and clean up any problems.

I print them at about 300 dpi on "Experts Choice" paper from my LHS. I think it's the same stuff you buy from Bare Metal Foil. Anything over the maximum inkjet resolution, 240, makes no difference, but it can't hurt. The tricky part, at least with the inks my printer uses (it's a Canon i9900) is keeping the printed image once you've made it. Gently take the sheet out of the printer and let it dry, at least overnight. If you touch an untreated image at any point, it will smear.

Whatever you do, don't try to touch, cut or apply the decal until it's protected with Microscale Liquid Decal Film. Either airbrush the LDF, or use a soft brush to glop it on. Move it around just enough to cover the image, avoiding contact between the brush and the image. Tilting the decal helps. That sounds impossibly delicate, but it works. I've noticed a thin, almost invisible osmosis of purple ink seeping into the Decal Film. Usually it disappears, but make a few extras of each decal, just in case.

Wait 'til the first coat dries before applying a second one. At that point, the image is not really protected, but applying more coats of LDF won't hurt it. I'd recommend four or five coats, since it's very thin, virtually invisible, when it dries. Now the decal is ready to cut - I use curved cuticle scissors - and apply to the model. It goes on like any normal decal.

The LDF protects the image enough to allow you to apply the decal, but not much more than that. Polish, for example, will dissolve LDF. Rub polish on a homemade decal that hasn't been clearcoated, and you may have to start over. You just gotta clearcoat these homemade decals. So wait a couple of days and then clear coat it, using either clear lacquer or clear urethane. (Beware: I had a possible reaction between fresh LDF and clear lacquer - little bubbles - but haven't tested it again. It could have been something else. But there's definitely no problem with well-dried LDF and clear lacquer.)

Apply several clear coats over the decal, polish it up with Tamiya three-step (my favorite), and that'll do 'er.

Good luck.

Diddy

Diddy,

Thanks for the helpful reply. I will try to get some LDF soon. Wish me luck! Thanks again. :)