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Designing your own decals


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I have never done this before but would like to for a project.  How would one go about this?  What program is best for designing them and does anyone know of some one that can print costum decals?  Also with that is there limits to what colors I can use?  For example would it be possible for them to print gold as a color?  

 

Thanks for looking. 

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I'm learning this process right now. I've been able to print my own stencils and some simple airliner liveries with a laser printer. It takes time and patience to learn how to use the software to get it to do what you want it to do. I'm still at the "rank amateur" stage.

 

First, you need a scale-able vector graphics program to draw up the artwork. I use Inkscape, which is an open source freeware. It is supposed to be able to do everything the expensive professional software, like Adobe Illustrator, can do. With this type of software, you can draw pretty much anything, depending on your skill level, and scale it to your needs. The vector graphics allows you to increase or reduce the size of the artwork without it pixillating, like expanding a jpg will do. The Inkscape website has a lot of good tutorials and there are a couple of good Inkscape books available from Amazon.

 

For printing, you can use an inkjet or laser printer, if your background color will be white. Laser is better than inkjet, since the inkjet ink isn't waterproof and has to be sprayed with something to protect it. You'll need decal paper specific for either type of printer. If you need white, or if the decals need to go over a dark color (which will require an underlying layer of white) you'll need to find someone with an ALPS printer. Those can also print some metallic colors. There was a thread earlier this week in the General Discussion forum about people who do custom printing with an ALPS printer.

 

Someone with a lot more knowledge about this will probably stop by soon, and can give you more/better info. 

 

HTH.

 

Ben

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On 7/30/2017 at 8:24 AM, achterkirch said:

I have never done this before but would like to for a project.  How would one go about this?  What program is best for designing them and does anyone know of some one that can print costum decals?  Also with that is there limits to what colors I can use?  For example would it be possible for them to print gold as a color?  

 

Like Ben said, you need vector graphics software: Inkscape (free), CorelDraw (80 euros here) or Illustrator (expensive AFAIK). The learning curve is probably steep, but you will never regret learning vector graphics. It is so versatile that I use it one way or the other for every modeling project: for decals, for making jigs, for measuring photos, for checking line drawings. Very, very recommended.

 

The printer is the difficult bit. You need white for nearly every decal, to go under the color inks, because they are transparent. Therefore laser and inkjets have severe limitations. The famous Alps printer has white ink, but it's a dying breed. You can print absolutely great decals with it, until it breaks. I wrote an extensive webpage on that subject, including 50 custom Alps printer companies:

 

https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm

 

Alternatives are popping up slowly. Indycals found or developed a printer that can do white, and they have a printing service. Decals.nl also print white on a big printer, and do custom printing. I think that is the way to go if you don't have a printer yet.

 

Rob

 

Edited by Rob de Bie
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12 hours ago, Rob de Bie said:

 I wrote an extensive webpage on that subject ...,

https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm ... .

That's an absolute masterwork that greatly helped me get started with my Alps any moons ago. Thanks very much.

 

There's also a great site here,  and Yahoo discussion groups here and here:thumbsup:

 

Gene K

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6 hours ago, Gene K said:

That's an absolute masterwork that greatly helped me get started with my Alps any moons ago. Thanks very much.

 

There's also a great site here,  and Yahoo discussion groups here and here:thumbsup:

 

Thanks for the compliment! I spent a lot of hours on it, but I liked learning to understand that strange printer :-)

 

Rob

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I use Illustrator and have been drawing my own art for stuff for a little while now. I print using a regular laserjet printer, though I've been tossing back $10s and $20s here and there to save up for a good, used alps printer so I can print white.

 

Illustrator has a steep learning curve, but once you learn how to use it, there's pretty much nothing you can't do.

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On 8/2/2017 at 11:51 PM, Skull Leader said:

Illustrator has a steep learning curve, but once you learn how to use it, there's pretty much nothing you can't do.

yes, but Inkscape was a little easier for me ... and it's free:thumbsup:.  There are many good video tutorials available on line. 

 

Gene K.

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I had Kinko's do that many years ago, before I bought a laser printer. As for the white, I design a separate sheet with white only and then hire someone with an ALPS printer. I used to send the artwork to Fireball, but he's gotten out of the decal business. I haven't found a replacement, yet.

 

Ben

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2 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

I had Kinko's do that many years ago, before I bought a laser printer. As for the white, I design a separate sheet with white only and then hire someone with an ALPS printer. I used to send the artwork to Fireball, but he's gotten out of the decal business. I haven't found a replacement, yet.

 

Here's my list with ~50 Alps custom printers:

 

https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm#custom

 

Not all are active most likely, so you have to shop around a bit.

 

Personally I'm very curious about the new printer of

 

http://www.indycals.net/

 

that can do white too. 40$ for a Letter sheet, or 4$ per vertical inch. The owner prints his own decal line on this printer too.

 

Rob

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