Custom Decals

[peteski]

There are enough custom decal companies out there, even willing to do small runs for reasonable cost that trying to match the background color for white lettering or color logos seems like a big chore.  Then of course there is the vintage Alps MicroDry printer which can print in white, metallic and spot colors, but those have became rare and very expensive on the secondary market, and do not play well with the current versions of Operating Systems.

Of course this all assumes that you can design your decal artwork in vector format, since the decal companies need it in that format to greatly reduce the artwork design charges.

[randgust]

What I have done with my Ricoh laser printer is set up an Excel spreadsheet and then just color in blocks of cells with various shades of typical colors I need and put the color number beside them.   I did that a while back.   In my case, it's mostly been the reds, blues, etc.

I've printed that out on one reference decal sheet I keep, and have applied to some white styrene background so that I have a quick compare to pick the right matching color to existing paint.   You pretty much have to do it that way because of the differences in monitor colors and ink colors, what you get out is not necessarily what you think you are getting when you look at it.   For instance, my Ricoh CONSISTENTLY runs dark, I automatically lighten everything color background a couple percentages.   That's just experience.

I may live with C80 rail and MT coupler knuckles, but I'm a little compensatory anal on color to offset that.

I get rather annoyed when paint colors have been 'changed' at times.  I have a batch of SP Daylight Orange that is borderline brown, and some ATSF blue that is more like Conrail blue, and some B&O colors for a custom job that was WAY off.   Everybody has their thing, mine is color.

I first expirimented with this on my 13-ton Climax decals, the 'advertising' style logo by Climax was just so darn cool I scanned it, lifted it, reversed it over black, and put it in my standard kit decal set.   Still one of my favorites.  No white ink involved, just a .JPG resized.

Link:  http://www.randgust.com/Clim130201_right_side_hires.jpg

And I was absolutely STUNNED when I got to work on Climax A313 restoration at Corry to discover my assumption on the light gray stock paint was absolutely spot on, the surviving front panel was that exact shade of light gray.  I'd only guessed.

[carlso]

Thanks guys for the excellent discussion. I have a couple of questions, but 1st let me list my procedure for making my own decals. My equipment is an HP desk top, win11, and an HP Inkjet Pro 8600 side printer. I obviously use white and clear inkjet paper.

1. I search the internet for logos of sponsors, owners, drivers, what ever I can think of.
2. When I find one I download onto my PC and if necessary vectorize the image.
3. I then load into an Excel file and go to work massaging the image to get proper size.
4. When I get a page full I print with my inkjet, let dry for a day or so and then spray with a clear sealer.
5. I can then cut and apply and after all are applied I seal the entire piece with a spray.

Here is an example of what I do. I did not have the Earnhardt tractor yet so I used the Loves unit. You guys know the size of the doors on that N scale tractor so I was really happy to be able to get the "Front Row" logo on there. PS, the black side of the trailer is only one decal. Easy to do with Excel. These trucks are resin 3D printed by Royale Models.



I would appreciate any suggestions or comments but be easy as I am 84 and find hands and fingers don't work as they used to.

My question is how do I reverse image an image. I tried Excel and the race car reversed but all of the writing was backwards.

Be well,
carl

[samusi01]

My question is how do I reverse image an image. I tried Excel and the race car reversed but all of the writing was backwards.

I'd probably break the image into components (the text, race car, etc.) and then reverse only the applicable portions. I use Illustrator (free alternative: Inkscape) or else Photoshop (free alternative: GIMP). Preference for a variety of reasons is Illustrator... I use Photoshop only when necessary.

[randgust]

My old version of photoshop just has an image\adjustments\invert function, and on any black and white or two-color image, reverses them.  So black lettering against white goes to white lettering on a black background.

Photoshop also has the ability to 'flop' an image and reverse it, that I constantly use when making photo backdrops of just hills.  You can print 11" chunks of an image and just keep flopping them and printing them so that the edges line up precisely from sheet to sheet.

And I use Photoshop because I have it and learned it.  I'll be the first to admit that it's hard to learn, and I'll be darned if I'll pay an annual subscription for a newer version that's even harder to use.   

I've been making decals for 20+ years now and never vectorized anything.   I had Dan's Resin Casting make me decals for a while, he had to vectorize JPG's to print them, same with text, and what I'm doing now is just as good and clear mostly because the quality of my color laser printer is just so good.   It's really stunning compared to the old days.

[peteski]

Excel is a spreadsheet software not really designed for graphic design. I don't know how to mirror or rotate graphic objects there.
Suggestions to separate parts of the image and text for manipulating them seems like a best thing you can do.

When designing decal artwork it is really beneficial to use graphic software. Gimp and Inkscape are freeware versions such software. But it makes image manipulation like rotating and mirroring objects very easy.  This software also makes a breeze to accurately size  the decal images without needing to experiment. I also understand that at your age Carl, learning is probably not something you want to do.

I use older versions of Corel Draw and PhotoPaint - software designed for graphic manipulation.  But I've been using Corel for about 30 years, so it comes easy to me. I wouldn't know how to use Excel for artwork design.