Printing Decals

all good advice- I would only add to print off on practise paper at first.I did use this system ,w/out the software ,on my B-17 pilot who is in the current readers gallery .On his parachute and lifevest decals,I tried fading the decals in the computer ,didnt werk , so I scrathed up the printed decals w/8o grit prior to the clear coat.For the 8th air force patches on the jacket I printed on paper ,punched out with a leather punch and 'ragged' the edges then clearcoated several times to build up thickness. The decals  settled nicely with a little decal solution ,I even did very thin ones for the harness ticking. i now have a decal set for this fig that would be good to go.

fantacmet

The decal paper is fine, it's the same stuff you are going to buy anywhere else, just in ALOT smaller sheets.

The software that comes with it, is pretty much worthless.  I'm a horrible programmer and Icould probably do something better.  MS Paint will work better then that, or download a copy of TheGiMP which is free and full featured.

The overcoat is just testors glosscoat.  You can use almost anything.  I like to use future, and spray it through the airbrush.

In short I wouldn't buy the kit, the extra cost is for the software which as I said is useless.  I'd grab other software(either of the ones I mentioned above are fine but if you have photoshop use it).  Then if you like the smaller sheets(hard to print with, but nice if you don't have large amounts of decals to print).

Use ytour favorite clearcoat to overcoat the decals a couple of times.

Before you clear let them dry quite awhile, where they won't be disturbed, or the ink can smudge.  You need high quality print settings, but not too high, or it will deposit too much ink(ask me how I know with 3 ruined sheets), and they will look terrible, as it will tend to spatter.

That's about all I can add.  I may do a tutorial on creating decals in the near future using photoshop.  Just ther design process.

fantacmet

The decal paper is fine, it's the same stuff you are going to buy anywhere else, just in ALOT smaller sheets.

The software that comes with it, is pretty much worthless.  I'm a horrible programmer and Icould probably do something better.  MS Paint will work better then that, or download a copy of TheGiMP which is free and full featured.

The overcoat is just testors glosscoat.  You can use almost anything.  I like to use future, and spray it through the airbrush.

In short I wouldn't buy the kit, the extra cost is for the software which as I said is useless.  I'd grab other software(either of the ones I mentioned above are fine but if you have photoshop use it).  Then if you like the smaller sheets(hard to print with, but nice if you don't have large amounts of decals to print).

Use ytour favorite clearcoat to overcoat the decals a couple of times.

Before you clear let them dry quite awhile, where they won't be disturbed, or the ink can smudge.  You need high quality print settings, but not too high, or it will deposit too much ink(ask me how I know with 3 ruined sheets), and they will look terrible, as it will tend to spatter.

That's about all I can add.  I may do a tutorial on creating decals in the near future using photoshop.  Just ther design process.

HawkeyeHobbies

It does, but don't hold out the same expectations as you would for professionally printed ones. If they didn't work they probably wouldn't be able to sell them.

Remember, you cannot print WHITE as most home/office printers don't have the capacity/have white ink/toner to print white.

You CAN, however, buy white decal paper.  To keep from having to be super-precise in cutting out the decal, I change the background color in my drawing program to whatever the color that surrounds the white areas.  Then I trim close, but don't need to trim super close (like inside letters). It works pretty well. I always stock both clear and white decal paper.

The decal paper is fine, it's the same stuff you are going to buy anywhere else, just in ALOT smaller sheets.

The software that comes with it, is pretty much worthless.  I'm a horrible programmer and Icould probably do something better.  MS Paint will work better then that, or download a copy of TheGiMP which is free and full featured.

The overcoat is just testors glosscoat.  You can use almost anything.  I like to use future, and spray it through the airbrush.

In short I wouldn't buy the kit, the extra cost is for the software which as I said is useless.  I'd grab other software(either of the ones I mentioned above are fine but if you have photoshop use it).  Then if you like the smaller sheets(hard to print with, but nice if you don't have large amounts of decals to print).

Use ytour favorite clearcoat to overcoat the decals a couple of times.

Before you clear let them dry quite awhile, where they won't be disturbed, or the ink can smudge.  You need high quality print settings, but not too high, or it will deposit too much ink(ask me how I know with 3 ruined sheets), and they will look terrible, as it will tend to spatter.

That's about all I can add.  I may do a tutorial on creating decals in the near future using photoshop.  Just ther design process.

It does, but don't hold out the same expectations as you would for professionally printed ones. If they didn't work they probably wouldn't be able to sell them.

Remember, you cannot print WHITE as most home/office printers don't have the capacity/have white ink/toner to print white.