Making your own decals

No hard and fast answer, since variables of different brands and formulations of ink can give different results. I prefer Testors' decal bonder, but I've had some luck with the Microscale product as well. The key is to keep the first coat as thin and 'dry' (so to speak) as possible---less chance of getting 'blush' from reds and blacks, which can be a problem. I'd recommend experimenting on 'spares,' if you've got 'em.

Good luck.

I use Testors clearcoats for sealing decals, the same stuff I use on rest of model.  Applying first coat thin is still important.

Inks, even from same printer company, vary in their resistance to overcoats and sealers.  At one time I bought a cheap (50 buck) printer just for decals since my main printer had ink that ran in lightest possible sealer coat, but when I bought new main printer about a year ago, I found the inks were fine with sealants.

Since many photographers like to overcoat pictures to reduce UV bleaching, I think printer mfgs are becoming more sensitive to this, and making better inks now.

Well I experimented on a spare decal and Testors Superfilm decalfilm worked fine. I was able to reproduce a small badge on a plane Im working on.

Don

Please pardon my ignorance cuz I'm new to decal printing. Is there any way to get rid of the bluish background as in between letters when printed. Will a photoshop program be capable of making the background white so it shows up clear in the copy? 

As others have said, go with an initial lightly sprayed coat of whatever sort of fixitive you have.  I have had decent success spraying Testors gloss, thinned for the airbrush.

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To remove the blue in the background before printing, you can dial up the contrast slightly (or just enough) until you arrive at white.  It will darken more dense colours at the same time though.  Or, you can always use the eraser tool, or draw the white in of the background if it is a simple design.

regards,

Jack

Jack

again pardon my ignorance on the subject but what editing program is best for removing the blue?

If you use a digital camera, they usally come with some type of photo editing program on a disc that you install to your computer.  If not, there are a lot of free software programs to choose from.

Just looked this one up, and they list their top ten choices, each having a download link.  Again, I'm not familiar with any of these, but for sure virus scan the install file before doing the actual install.

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/best-free-photo-editing-software-10-top-image-editors-you-should-try-1135489

regards,

Jack

Thanks Jack, I will check those out.

For eliminating the blue, I use my regular image editing program. I use Paint Shop Pro, but most image editors have similar functions, so I will try to make this a generic description.

First, I use the select-by-color function, often called a magic wand.  I select the blue areas.  Then, I select my brush color.  Many editors have both foreground and background color. I select a solid, pure white.  Then I use the fill function, which fills all selected areas with white.

You may have to play with the tolerance setting on the magic wand tool so it selects all the backing blue including any variation, while not selecting any blues that are part of the design.  I have never had any problem selecting just the backing blue after the first adjustment of the tolerance one or two times.

Hi Don, yes absolutely that is another method.  Another similar one 'replace colour' function, wherein an eyedroper tool is used to pick the colour (in this case the unwanted background blue), and then you would pick pure white as the replacement.

Again, it all depends on the bells and whistle available with the program.

regards,

Jack

I have a program called "Paint" so I wonder if that will work. I shall look into it. Thanks Don and Jack for both of you input.

You can also use MS Paint and just Erase the offending color.  Takes a bit more time, but will allow you to control the precision better.  Anything that is transparent will not print at all.  You'll be able to tighten your image a bit more manually then if you relied on the Magic Wand method.  I find that alot of times you still end up with a bit of a halo around the image if you use the Color Replacement or Magic Wand.  By just erasing the color (after zooming in close) you'll be able to control exactly what gets erased and it'll make the image look alot sharper and cleaner once printed!