Decal Printing

[2027Joe]

Has anyone any experience of printing their own decals for their railway items, (Loco's, Rolling Stock, etc.), ?

 

Whether this has been using an inkjet or laser printer.

 

I know that the papers for this are available, along with fixatives. But it is the end results that I am asking about.

 

Was it worth the efforts ? Would you continue to do so ?

 

Your views would be greatly appreciated.

 

Many Thanks

[Tony Cane]

I have printed decals for several Hon3 models that had no suitable pre-printed source.

The photographs show the results. The green lettering on the white containers is printed on clear decal paper, but any light colour lettering on a dark body has to be done, on a standard printer, by using white decal paper and printing the background. The lettering on the green containers uses this method. If you zoom in you can see where the decal film goes over the ribs on the container.

Going back to the white container the visible side of the flat car is one complete decal. Again done by printing the black, this time on clear decal paper and applied straight on the white plasticard side.

When printing the background the main problem is matching it to the rest of the model. The colour on the screen is different to that obtained from the printer, and changes again when decal paper replaces plain paper. You have the most control over the printed image, so I experimented with different RGB colour combinations the get as good  a match to the paint to be used as possible. An example of a test print in attached.

The decals are produced on a Xerox laser printer. The decal paper is supplied by MR Decal Paper.

The time taken to get the results show still make pre-printed decals easier to use, even if text has to be assembled letter by letter.

[ianLMS]

Several folks have tried this and with great success. I printed my own waterslide decals using an inkject printer and white decal paper off Amazon for a fuel tank I was building as a training aid at work and it really worked well. 

 

Look under the Painting, Weathering and Transfers forum and you will find a few topics.

 

I am not sure I would be able to get suitable results for wagons and rolling stock as the need for correct font, sizes and the ability to print white on clear transfer paper (assume you would need to buy special white ink/toner)

 

 

Here is a link to a topic covering printing your own decals..

 

[Freight Connection]

Would echo all of the above, good advice....

 

These hoods were done as one complete transfer per side. I put them together on Paint, and printed out on an inkjet. As Tony mentioned above I also adjusted RGB settings to match the blue paint I was using. As for definition, my home ink jet was at its limit with the smaller yellow text.

 

Steve

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Freight Connection

[JJGraphics]

One thing that is important to understand is that you cannot print white unless you are using the silkscreen printing process or have access to highly specialised commercial inks which do not work in normal inkjet printers.

 

I've prepared artwork for several people on RMWeb to print their own decals and they have done so successfully, but results will vary considerably depending on both how you go about creating your artwork and the capabilities of your inkjet printer and it's working condition.

 

As has been mentioned, fonts can be a problem but, if you look around online, there are many fonts available to download for free.

 

Have a go and see what you can achieve!

 

John