Online custom Decal printing?

dreadpyrat

Hi all, 

I've designed some decals in Adobe and am ready to print them. Has anyone ever used an online company to print decals before? If so, any recommendations? Thanks!

Hello!

I have used the services of Decalprint from Germany and Melius Manu from Poland - they both did a great job. I have also bought decals from DRAW Decal - their design not mine, but they also used to print custom designs. All those companies print on continuous film, meaning all pattern must be cut out by the modeller - not a big deal but a thing to keep in mind. Decals from all three companies reacted very well to Micro Set&Sol and resulted in nice finishes.

Hope it helps - good luck with your custom decals and have a nice day

Paweł

I've had success designing and printing my own decals, using my inkjet printer and Experts-Choice clear or white decal film, which comes in single or 3-sheet packages. DIY decals, especially the ones printed on white film, do have to be trimmed carefully.

Experts-Choice also makes decal film for use with laser printers.

Another FineScale member has suggested scanning the decals that come with models to use as a back-up in case you damage them during application. You can also use copyright-free images that you fine on-line to create your own DIY decals.

Bob

I have been doing inkjet decals myself for about two decades now.  It is a perfected process, the inkjet decal material is very good.  The only problem is in coating the ink after printing.  One solution is to let the ink dry for several days before coating.

I agree that much of the art needed can be found online.  You can even download the stencil font used by US aircraft and civil aircraft.  Airline logos are easy to find also.

I have even found complete decal images of old kits- I only needed to rescale them for different scale size.

Wrong post

I am solidly in the 'home printing' camp with Bob and Don, having been at it for about the same two decades as Mr. Stauffer. As an example of what can be accomplished with little more than MS-Paint and an elderly HP inkjet (with non-name-brand cartridges), here's a sheet I happened to print just this afternoon, for an upcoming project: the colorful Manx Air markings for the venerable Revell (ex-Matchbox) DHC-6 Twin Otter.

The technology these days is such that, with a decal-friendly printer (alas, they aren't all) and good quality decal paper, a whole world of possibilities for unique and highly-individual projects opens up.

Cheers

Yeah, but if the OP doesn't have a printer, then he has to get one, or find someone to print the decals for him.  I'm not being a smart-aleck.  It's possible that there aren't as many people with printers as there were perhaps 10 years ago.  I used to have one; I went through several, from 1996 to about 2004. When my last printer finally wore out (or maybe became obsolete, sunsetted with no support), I didn't bother replacing it.

With increasing use of email, I had less and less to print.  The last thing I needed to print were invoices out of eBay.  Once eBay acquired PayPal, I didn't need to print those, either.  Whenever I did need to print something, I printed it out at work.  

the Baron

Yeah, but if the OP doesn't have a printer, then he has to get one, or find someone to print the decals for him.  I'm not being a smart-aleck.  It's possible that there aren't as many people with printers as there were perhaps 10 years ago.  I used to have one; I went through several, from 1996 to about 2004. When my last printer finally wore out (or maybe became obsolete, sunsetted with no support), I didn't bother replacing it.

With increasing use of email, I had less and less to print.  The last thing I needed to print were invoices out of eBay.  Once eBay acquired PayPal, I didn't need to print those, either.  Whenever I did need to print something, I printed it out at work.  

 

I have found decal compatible printers for forty bucks.  At that price paying for commercial peopleto print decals could be paid for with about four decal sheets.  I used to have the cheap printer because the expensive one I had didn't have decal-compatible inks.  When I bought a more expensive large format printer a couple of years ago, I found its ink was compatible with sealers as long as I gave it a couple of days of dry time.  I admit it is a lottery finding compatible inks, but when you do buy a printer, give it a try on decals- it may work fine.

Hi,

I think that the Baron makes a very good point.  I think that alot of people may no longer bother with  home printers.  I do have a small B&W Laser printer that I use occassionally, but I haven't used my Color Inkjet in so long (at least 5-7 years) that I'm not sure it is even supported anymore.  As such, for me for the rare occasions that I might want some custom decals I think that payig some one use to do them might make a lot more sense then digging out my old printer, making sure that the ink is still usable and/or replacing it if it is not, and then buying the special decal paper and other supplies.

Pat

Hello!

While I admire what Don, Greg and Bob are able to do with their home printer, I'd like to point out that the printing companies can do some things for you that might be very hard to achieve at home - like printing silver, gold or white pattern. If you have a lot of white inscriptions to print - like the bumper codes and TP markings on the old OD painted US vehicles - printing company might just do the trick.

It also depends on how many decals you need on average - if you just need a sheet once in two years or so, it might be cheaper to pay a company to do a job than keeping the printer up and operational, finding the right paper and printer settings and so on.

Good luck with your decals and have a nice day

Paweł

I use to print my own decals too.  Thing is I don't do it regularly, nore use the printer for whatever even on a weekly, let alone monthly basis.  The ink nozzles eventually dry up with the inks.  In the end, I was either wasting money to unclog ink, or printing stuff that I didn't need just to keep the ink fresh.  Just a big hassle to keep it going and ready for whenever it was needed.

As mentioned there is the problem of not being able to print white, and some online venders also offer metallic inks if required.

Draw Decal offer a slightly different print as they use a digital silkscreen machine.  They do one pass for white, followed by the second pass (CcMmYK) with all colours applied in one shot.  They also charge for a full sheet whether you need it or not, so to get your money's worth (USD$25.00 plus shipping) you want to prepare a full sheet.

regards,

Jack

Is experts-choice made by bare-metal foil??

who makes experts-choice?

 Also, FWIW, i recently have contacted 2 printers and sent them the same sheet to look at.  Ill report back when i get the call.  I cant print them myself they are white letters on clear.