Model Forum / General / Models / December 2006

inkjet decals fade after several months, no printer decals can print white,
light colors are not opaque. You should make your own silkscreen decals.

I have tried some Bubblejet decals, and they are still fine after two years,
but the model is not in the sun either. Most vere dark colour on light
background. Main problem is they need several thin layers of clear in order
to survive the water to set them on the model.
Some problems could be solved with the white by using a white film as
baskground or to print on. But my guess is that laser printed decals are
easier as they can stand the water without the clear. Also the opasity may
be better.

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You could do what I do and buy the decals first, then find a model to match
them :o)

(kim)

I have a good supply of Alps cartridges and working Alps printers
and hope to keep at least one in service for many years yet.  

    I'll do custom printing from printer-ready vector artwork or
high-resolution _monotone_ bitmaps, or will redraw high-resolution
scans as vector art.  The former isn't too expensive but the latter
can be substantially higher depending on how much time I have to put
into them.  Contact me at the email address below if interested.

Rob de Bie ha scritto:
 > My advice: don't buy a printer, but let someone else print your decal

Thank you Rob and all the modellers who helped me to understand that
only old Alps printer or better silkscreen printing produce good quality
decals, so I will not waste my monet buying a laser printer as I was
going to do.
I know that in Italy Luca Beato can print decals with Alps printers; I
sent him several e-mails on the last two or three years but he NEVER
would reply one!
I wonder if Alps/Oki printers will be avaliable one more time...I live
in Sicily and we use to say "manna, cumanna e vacci tu" that if literaly
translated (I hope!) sonds like: send someone (to do something), order
to someone and make it by yourself!
Pietro

Frank,

First of all, anyone who checks out the DecalPro site should be sure to
watch the video so they fully understand the process.

I ordered the transfer paper and have been doing some experimenting as
time allows. This paper is not the ordinary decal paper most people are
familiar with. This paper has no film on it. It is coated with dextrin
which is a starch that easily washes off.

Since the three copy centers near me refuse to run any decal paper
through their copiers, my first experiments were done using permanent
ink markers. So far I've done this;

1- After marking the DealPro paper, I put a piece of 2u mylar over it
and used an iron with as much pressure as I could press on it. The iron
was hot, but not all the way to the highest heat. Then I soaked the
paper and the mylar came off. The markings transferred to the mylar. The
transfer on the mylar was a little bit weaker, but not by much.

2 - I made a decal and this might be of interest to those who like to
experiment. After marking the DecalPro paper, I gave it three coats of
Future with about 30 minutes drying time between coats. Then I soaked it
and slid the Future decal off onto a piece of dry paper. The dry paper
kept me from seeing if I could re-position the decal. Next I will try
this method using Minwax's Polycrylic. I mentioned Polycrylic in my Nov.
15 post titled DIY Future Decals.

I'll scan my test and put it on the photo binary page.

Stewart