Custom Decals........

Check out this link. I found it on the Yahoo plasticscratchbuilding group website. (Thanks Woody!) It's a photo how-to for using your PC and scanner to make sure your custom decals will fit on your model.

http://geocities.com/~500xl/Decal_Stuff/Page_1x.html

There are lots of different methods. If you have artistic ability, (like I wish I had) you can draw / airbrush directly on the blank decal sheet. You can use whatever drawing programs you have on your PC to create what you want. Or take a photo, scan or upload it and modify it for size in Photosuite (or whatever) and print it on the sheet. Might be cool to take a photo of your wife or girlfriend (cheesecake of course ... LOL) and use that image for your own unique nose art.

What method do you use to do your art work? For example if you wanted to do some unique nose art, how would you go about doing it?

Micro-Mark sells 8 1/2" x 11" decal sheets in clear or white for either ink jet or laser printers / copiers. Just order the type compatible with your PC's printer and you can create whatever you like with your PC's drawing software; it works well. And Dick is right - be sure to use a clear overcoat.

I've used blank decal sheets for about 2-3 years. My first attempt was for a custom decal to depect a fictitious medical supply company using my cousin's last name and his two married daughters to apply on an old time railway freight car. I made up the decals, which were to be black, on the computer, printed them out on paper, and then put the decal paper in a Xerox machine at my wife's office. I Xeroxed the computer made logo onto the decal paper and it worked fine. I then needed some 1960s USAF lettering and numbering for a 1/144th B-52G. This time I used a HP Laserjet printer to print directly on to the blank decal sheet. The trick I soon learned was to spray the decal sheet immediately after printing with a coat of either gloss, semi gloss, or dull coat clear spray to affix the printing to the sheet. Again the finished decals were as good as any I've used from kits. I've not tried to print anything up in color, but understand individuals with an ALPS printer have had good luck.
Hope this helps.
Dick McC