Making your own decals.

I ordered the "Try Me" decal paper package fro laser printer Wednesday and it arrived on Friday when I came home during my lunch hour. It contained a package of both white and clear decal paper along with Krylon brand Acrylic Clear coat. Now I'm gonna take it to work Monday and give it a try printing the letters and numbers for my current Thunderbolt kit I'm doing for my Group Build.

Lucky that I have already an Inkjet printer. I tried making my own decals for the 1st time and it works beautifully.   I bought 12 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 clear decal paper from a company in China on Ebay for $11.00 USD. High quality suff .   Funny how the order from China arrived in 5 days and it takes longer to receive an order from 1 state away.

TIP ;  if your decals have any white color in them, you have to use white decal paper. I printed an American flag decal on clear paper and the white stripes came out clear.

For a fixative coating, I used what I had on hand.  Future works good and so does Model Master Semi-gloss.  I mist sprayed the Future with my airbrush on 1 set of decals , and brushed on the Model Master on another, and achieved the same results.  I also "fixed" some old cracked decals and was able to use them ( with dificulty ) with the brushed on Model Master coating.

I am attempting to grab nose art from the internet for my 1/72 model aircraft and resizing the photos with a free photo shop program called Photo Scape, wich I found online, but I'm still learning how to use it.    I previously used Piccassa wich is useless for making decals just so you know.

OK, I checked out the Micro Mark  website and did find they do have decal paper for both inkjet and laser. I think I'm going to order the "Try Me" package for laser printer. It comes with sheets of white decal paper and blue decal paper and a can of decal sealant called glosscote - a product you spray on the sheet after printing your custom decals.

Shoot! i never thought of looking in Micro Mark! Funny thing, I got my new catalog from them last night. LOL!

I think Micro Mark still carries the laser paper. I have tried several other brands to the brand that MM carries, and keep coming back to them, for both inkjet and laser.

I kinda thought that would happen. I couldn't find any hobby websites that carried laser decal paper but I did find some in a site called decalpaper.com (or something like that). I emailed them asking for a sample or two to try before investing money on them. So far I heard nothing from them. Looks like an inkjet printer is I'm gonna have to get soon. LOL!

No, I have accidently used inkjet paper in my laser monochrome printer.  The results are awful! The result is a very mottled, uneven appearance.  Only use laser paper in a laser printer, inkjet paper in an inkjet printer.

Thanks Don. The reason I'm asking is because I was wondering whether or not decal paper listed "for inkjet printers only" would work on laser printers. I do access to a laser printer at work since I don't have a printer. I've got my sights on a couple inkjet printers and looking to purchase one soon.

In my experience, any inkjet which uses pigmented ink works better. I use Epson with DuraBrite ink but other mfrs make printers that use pigmented ink. Pigmented ink doesn't 'bleed' when overcoated with acrylic (water type) or solvent based clear coats. My Epson is an inexpensive XP-200 and works fine for decals.

The reason is most folks don't have color laser printers- they are still more expensive than inkjet printers.  And, you have to clearcoat laser decals anyway.  It is easier, you can use more different clear coats without worrying about dissolving toner.  But again, until color lasers come down in price, most folks will use inkjet.

Also, even relatively cheap inkjets these days have better resolution than laser printers, and the high resolution is great for small scale decals.  I do have a monochrome laser, and have made black decals from it, but lately doing even black decals on the inkjet- just like the looks better, I think because of higher resolution.

BS214,

Laser decal paper is certainly available. I don't have a laser printer but see no reason not to try it. I think the decal sealer coat might be important if you intend to use solvent (non-water) based clear coats over it. But, no personal experience.