making your own waterslide transfers for various uses

[deepfat]

Hi I have seen a few posts on waterslide transfers but they are quite old. Soo has anyone had a go at designing and printing transfers either on buildings or on rolling stock.  I have the graphic skills but I wondered how well the inkjet paper you can get moulds to contours even if applied with say Decalfix or similar.  I might for example create renumbering decals ,private owner logos for wagons or billboards for buildings.

thanks for reading

[Lee-H]

I’ve done a few for my son’s diecast vehicles and they turned out quite well, considering they were done with a cheap printer. The carrier film was good to work with.  I’ve not done any railway items (yet) as I don’t think I would get a crisp enough finish for small details. I use transfers made by the specialist suppliers for rail.

[Hal Nail]

have you seen this thread?

 

 

[Ragtag]

I've been making my own for a few years, primarily for road vehicles. I'm quite pleased with the results but would say the carrier film is a little thicker than most commercial efforts. 

[mikeflan33@gmail.com]

I've done one or two of my own renumbering locos and making the cab side numbers, the black is easy but the Brunswick Green can be a 'B'....I have managed it though , the problem is with inkjet you have to use white backed transfer paper so the edge needs to be coloured so the best is to do a whole cab side so no edges are too visible......on this Johnson 2F the cab side is one I've done and also the bus coat of arms transfer.

 

[Bristol_Rich]

I’ve made my own in the past using various brands of decal sheet and sealed inkjet print.
 

All have printed exceptionally well - inc the depth of yellow - however one thing to consider is the weight of the decal film. This can be much thicker than commercial prints and the hard edge becoming obvious once applied to the model.

[Hal Nail]

38 minutes ago, Bristol_Rich said:

however one thing to consider is the weight of the decal film. This can be much thicker than commercial prints

I may be over simplying things but if i had the ability to design my own decals accurately, I'd just give the artwork to someone like railtec to execute at that point.

[njee20]

And you’d wait several years for it likely!

 

There are plenty of companies who will print, but I like the versatility (and cost saving) of DIY. 
 

I changed to a laser printer a couple of years ago, they’re easier because you don’t need to seal the prints, but that’s about it, the results were perfectly good on inkjet. The only issue I had was blacks bleeding slightly to purple, which I think was probably the solvent in the varnish I used. Visible here slightly on the “Drax” lettering on the bottom wagon. 

 

I design in PowerPoint and use Mr Decal Paper papers, both the clear and white backed - both used on the wagons above. 

Edited July 18, 2022 by njee20

[DIW]

Hi, I've recently restored the pictures in my layout thread, and waterslide transfer printing of carriage liveries starts here.

[Barclay]

I made the number on this reefer using my inkjet printer. The carrier film is noticeably bulkier than the rest of the transfers, which are by Microscale and go on like a coat of paint. Nevertheless it was acceptable. Anything other than black though, I have found lacks sufficient opacity to show up clearly on the model - I tried making custom transfers for my industrial line with yellow characters, shaded red. They looked great on the sheet but were barely visible on a green loco!