Home made decals

[tunnan]

Hi Guys

I'm sure this has been covered before but I will ask again (It will save hours searching through the mags):

What reduction do I need to apply to reduce 1/32 decals to 1/72 (I have a 1/32 kit but want to do the colour scheme in 1/72)

Once reduced can I print them out on a standard, home, inkjet printer (and presumably seal them with varnish).

Thanks

[bunthornesbride]

44% (actually it's 44.4444, but I doubt that you'd notice.) It's a simple system, really. Ignore the 1/ part of the fraction, then divide what you have (32, in your case) by what you want (72,) then multiply by 100. 32/72 x 100 = 44.44%.
Inkjet printers can cope with decal film, but make sure that you use the right type of paper. Hobby's (for instance) supply two papers, one for inkjet, one for laser, printers. Inkjet inks will "ball" on laser papers. Experiments are, really, the only option, and you'll find, probably, that an aerosol varnish is best, for covering the printed work; when I tried it, brush-applied Microscale decal film dragged, and blurred, the ink.
Patience

[tunnan]

Cheers. Thanks for that.

I still have the freebie decal sheet that came with the IPMS mag (or was it one of the bought ones?? - can't remember now) a couple of years ago so was going to use that.

Ken

[Lonewolf]

I kept that sheet for ages then tried it. It printed OK on my inkjet, but the film went white. Had it not been on a white background luckily, it would have been unusable.

Anyone know where to get blank decal sheet for inkjets??

[Ted Taylor]

Wolfie go to

www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk

It is cheaper than anyone else, there is clear or white,

and I have used it so I know it is good

it is the same paper that comes from Experts choice decals.

[Ted Taylor]

tunnan said:

Hi Guys

I'm sure this has been covered before but I will ask again (It will save hours searching through the mags):

What reduction do I need to apply to reduce 1/32 decals to 1/72 (I have a 1/32 kit but want to do the colour scheme in 1/72)

Once reduced can I print them out on a standard, home, inkjet printer (and presumably seal them with varnish).

Thanks

to make life easy for reductions do the following

take the measurement of the longest item on the sheet (or draw a 100mm line across the bottom) multiply it by 32 then divide the answer by 72 to give the correct size then reduce your art work on the computer to that specific width.

[Lonewolf]

Cheers Ted, 10 sheets ordered.

Wolfie

[Biggles]

The 'freebie' sheet that came with your magazine all those years ago was from Lazertran (www.lazertran.com/products/lazertran_products_inkjet.htm) and works brilliantly. If you leave it to dry for 30 minutes after printing, the inkjet inks become waterproof and will not run. The decal film is white, but if you give it a coat of a clear varnish it becomes clear.

Like all inkjet decals, however, the inks are translucent, as they are designed to be used on a white background. Over a dark background, the colours become almost invisible if you have rendered the decal film clear. The paper is not unduly expensive. At the Lincoln branch, we made a club order, and the members buy it - one sheet at a time - at cost.

Ian

[Lonewolf]

Over a dark background, the colours become almost invisible if you have rendered the decal film clear.

Aaaargh this is not good news

[rd49]

could anyone advise what the best computer software to use to produce the artwork, I am a complete luddite when it comes to this sort of thing so something very user frendly would be useful

[merlin]

what artwork is it you want to produce , im doing a lot on the pc at the moment so if it wasnt too much i could sort it for you and send the file for printing , unless you want to do it yourself that is . as for software it depends what you want to do really , can you not use ms paint the one built in to the pc

[Lonewolf]

OK I can report having tried this stuff out now that it works a treat on a white background and not at all on coloured backgrounds GRRR.

So I'm back to square one. I need summat that I can make decals on that for instance will work on a red background.

Anyone want 10 sheets of decal paper LOL.

Wolfie.

[Bri]

Be glad to take them off your hands, wolfie, and I won't charge you a penny!

Seriously, I'm struggling with this too. I use a CAD system - TurboCad 12 is the one I happen to have - and things are going well at the front end. By choosing a font you can get close: then by ungrouping, adding flourishes, and generally messing about you can edit names to near perfection. I've done the art for B-26-1 "Sourpuss" - very stylised and tapered - in yellow on an OD background, and it looks good in 1/72. ("Glamorous Glennis" is taking a bit longer!) The kana-plus-number for my Rex, white on dark green, went similarly well - you have to make the kana characters from lines & arcs but it came out fine. I haven't tried importing a scanned bitmap and scaling that, but it ought to work (though my mates at YDPMS recommend Paintshop Pro for this.)
My efforts so far have printed well on the Lazertran paper. I experimented with this when it was new, but found that (even after long drying) the art ran when overvarnished. I tried all sorts, too - but in fact it was the brush which did it. After a tip from the Unofficial Airfix Forum I tried Halfords clear gloss spray lacquer, and that works now. However ---- you need Ronseal PU plus turps to lose the white, so I'm still snookered for serial numbers. It's blooming thick film, too.
On the other hand, it's possible with this system to match the background colour quite well, so white or yellow serials and names are not hard. However, though my HP Deskjet 690 does a cracking Medium Sea Grey on paper, it won't do greys at all in the photo mode needed to give good definition on decal film. Further, you get a change of colour when you go to photo mode and also when you go from paper to film, so all the fiddling about with Munson wheels, printing of samples, cutting of holes in same, overlaying of painted surface, and fiddling about with Munson ...... (gasp) ..... goes on for even longer, especially for light colours. But I think my white-on-Blue Gray "Bubbles" for my F4U-1 has turned out well, too.
Don't even try Aeroclub's clear decal film. Not even a hair-dryer will touch the ink on that. I don't think the ink would dry after a year on Mercury.
I wish I'd read this thread half an hour earlier (ref. http://www.craftycomputerpaper.) I came to it immediately after ordering a 3-pack of clear Expert's Choice from Hannant's. Ho Hum!

Regards and good luck, each ---- Bri.

[Lonewolf]

Bri, I got some acrylic spray from that Range shop near Monks Cross. Works a treat on the craftycomputer paper. My decals went fine onto a white background (see pics on Martins site) but did not work on a coloured background.

I am going to take a disc into work and print it on their Laserjet printer. I am told this finish is opaque.

Wolfie.

[rd49]

having printed the artwork, i tried to overspary with johnsons claer, but ending very badly with heavy bleeding (the decal sheet not me!). can anyone advise the best way to seal the printed artwork?
I, m using the expert choice claer inkjet paper and an epson printer