Home made Decals?

[turbos86]

I'm making a Initial D EG6 from a Hasegawa kit, since Fujimi never came out with the ID EG6. I need to make some custom decals for it (Spoon, 5ZIGEN, Night Kids..etc) Recently, I've brought a blank decal sheet from a local hobby shop, but I know nothing about making decal from scratch. I would like to know how would be it possible to transfer the designs from a computer onto the sheet. Would a clear coat be needed to seal the design?? Many Thanks!

[Jay!]

Alex (ales) has been banging his head about this for months.

Some sets require an topcoat seal, some don't, and I'm sorry to say I don't know which is which.

My hobby store has some kind of all-in-one DIY decal set, but I haven't looked at it too closely yet.

Are your decal sheets clear or white? What colors do you need the logos to be? And what color is the car?

Edit: Here's Alex's thread:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t5188.html

[pkw1]

I'd paint them on if I were you.. careful masking and time will give you awesome results

what I also tried was cutting up old decals that came in other models, put them together, and make something out of them that works for ya.

[turbos86]

hummmmm.....my blank sheet is clear (blue backing kind)
ok, here's what I need

5ZIGEN x3
Spoon x2
Dspeed x2
GReedy x2
DOHC VTEC x2
SiR x1
Night Kids x2

since the blank sheet is A4 size, it would be a waste to leave the other parts blank, so I'm thinking of putting other design on it

Maybe I would be able to get a office supplies store to print it for me, but would the decal sheet go through the copier is another problem

[ales]

You need the top coat if you use ink-jet printer. And the paper itself *must* be designed for ink-jet printers

If you use a laser printer, there is no need for top coat. Any decal paper should work with laser printers

If you use a laser copier, there is no need for clear coat and you can use any paper. If you don't have a laser printer, the best way, probably, would be printing the decals on a normal paper with your ink-jet (highest possible quality) and then taking it to a copy shop to have a laser copy taken on the decal paper.

You should, of course, note that there is no way to represent white unless you have an ALPS (?) printer. You probably don't. hence there are three types of decal paper: clear (no white necessary), white (obvious), and blue (for use with ALPS printer).

Hope this helps.

You should feel lucky, because your hobby shop has the stupid paper!

Jay: :finger: j/k

[Jay!]

Originally posted by ales
Jay: :finger: j/k

What did I do? I'm helpful!

[ales]

You were laughing at me!

Originally posted by jay@af
Alex (ales) has been banging his head about this for months.

[Jay!]

Originally posted by ales
You were laughing at me!

I was laughing at the common plight of all modelers, including myself, who want custom decals. :right:

[turbos86]

Oh yeah! I do feel lucky, I brought their last sheet too!
I guess I'll just paint a white backing on the model before applying the decal for anything white. My model will be painted red, so no biggy

Maybe I'll spray a clear coat just incase (the instruction that came with the sheet say to seal it right after printing)

ok, thanks!!

[Jay!]

Originally posted by turbos86
Oh yeah! I do feel lucky, I brought their last sheet too!
I guess I'll just paint a white backing on the model before applying the decal for anything white. My model will be painted red, so no biggy

A good technique, if you can get all the materials together, is to do the decals in layers. So you'd put down a white square decal first, then the black text decal over the white. This would mean you need to find a sheet of white decal paper somewhere, though. But it does look good.

[ales]

Originally posted by turbos86
Maybe I'll spray a clear coat just incase (the instruction that came with the sheet say to seal it right after printing)

No you won't!
As far as I know, it's not just a simple clear coat that you need to spray on the paper. And you won't need it if you use some sort of laser machine!

Gimme a minute I'll find a good link for you...

[ales]

http://www.tangopapadecals.com/page2.html

read the 101...

[ales]

Originally posted by jay@af
A good technique, if you can get all the materials together, is to do the decals in layers. So you'd put down a white square decal first, then the black text decal over the white. This would mean you need to find a sheet of white decal paper somewhere, though. But it does look good.

dunno, m8... it would be too thick...

P.S. sry for the ":finger:"

[turbos86]

OMG

that's like pages and pages of instructions.....!!!!!

[Jay!]

Originally posted by ales
dunno, m8... it would be too thick...

Thickness can be disguised.

Originally posted by ales
P.S. sry for the ":finger:"

Oh, I know. :angel: