Colored decal paper

[Chris333]

To do the old trick to print black over a colored decal sheet to get what you want what paper do you guys use? Will testors decal sealer work if I print with an ink jet?

I see the Microscale "trim film", but it looks out of stock.

Is there another company?  I'm looking for Yellow, Erie Yellow to be exact.

Thanks.

[3rdrail]

Chris, I print on white decal paper, using yellow for the lettering and the car color for the background. The only problem is the possiblility of a white line at the edge of the decal. A thought, use clear leaving the letters clear and the background car color and apply over a strip of yellow decal (white with a yellow background) or yellow paint perhaps. Haven't tried this yet, though.

[Chris333]

Gregg,

Do you use a laser printer or ink jet?

I just made the artwork with CAD and printed it to a clear transparency sheet. The sheet has a special coating for printers and it came out perfect.

I tried it on a small square of decal and the ink sort of beaded up and all the lines were broke up.

[Nelson]

Chris, try setting your printer to "glossy photo paper" and make sure there are no fingerprints on the decal paper (the oil will make the ink bead up)

[3rdrail]

Chris, as Nelson, said, be sure to print as if on "glossy photo paper" I use a Canon BJC-2000 inkjet printer that has been around since 1999. Had to change the printhead once.

[Chris333]

The only settings I have is semi-gloss, matte, or "other".

On semi-gloss it came out like so:
[img width= height=]http://lh4.google.com/ErieChris333/RpP4OPcAh3I/AAAAAAAABIc/eqjmu18RQXM/s800/IMG_4457.jpg[/img]
The wings are 9/16" wide.

I'll run to the hobby shop and see what type of decal papers they have.

[Chris333]

Now with Testors clear decal paper it came out 100% better. Now to do some test to see if I can paint the back ground yellow.

Thanks!

[Sokramiketes]

Now with Testors clear decal paper it came out 100% better. Now to do some test to see if I can paint the back ground yellow.

Thanks!

Yeah, just spray the decal paper with the yellow of your choice and then send it through the printer for the outline.   

[Fotheringill]

Unless you know the RGB mix for the paint on the car underneath and the RGB mix for the decal color you will not get close to a color match. I tried for about two months last summer and gave up. If someone knows how to do it, please enlighten me.

[3rdrail]

Unless you know the RGB mix for the paint on the car underneath and the RGB mix for the decal color you will not get close to a color match. I tried for about two months last summer and gave up. If someone knows how to do it, please enlighten me.

The end reporting marks on this reefer were printed on white decal paper. Perhaps boxcar red is easy to match, but hit it first time.

[ednadolski]

I know very little about this, but does anyone know of any good decal printing services?  ie, send them a .jpg, .bmp. or .tif, and some $$, and they send you back the printed decal sheets?   Or is that the sort of thing that only becomes economical if your name is Microscale?

Thanks,
Ed

[Chris333]

OK after playing around a bit...


Mike's idea to spray the paper sounds good, but I wonder if the ink will stick to the paint?

So messing with the idea of the clear film. First this whole thing is to try and make Erie decals for a Z scale AZL (scale width hood) GP7:
http://www.ztrack.com/AZL/amerzlines.html
The idea is I will paint the whole shell black, then paint the nose area yellow. The yellow wings at the upper curve to the roof will be masked off, but the nose face will get this black decal. All white areas are clear:
[img width= height=]http://lh6.google.com/ErieChris333/RpV6jPcAh4I/AAAAAAAABIw/sQWMMDumOAU/s800/IMG_4460.jpg[/img]
There should be enough wide black around to let me be a bit careless with the yellow mask.

I still have to coat this decal and try it on a test shell. Basically I'm not going to spend $180 on a Z scale GP7 if I can't make it into "Erie"
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/erie1221w.jpg
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/erie1231alb.jpg

[Nelson]

Basically I'm not going to spend $180 on a Z scale GP7 if I can't make it into "Erie"

But that is the only way that you can be sure that MTL's next announcement will be for an Erie GP7 ;D

[Chris333]

Nelson,

MTL is making a GP9 for around $140, the hood is wide like a old Athearn HO GP35. To help hide this the walkways are also wider.

The AZL GP7 uses the same sized motor (8mm), but has a etched sheet of thin metal on either side of it to allow the plastic hood to be way closer to scale width along with the walkways. Not to mention the AZL has a closed pilot with body mounted coupler, while the MTL has a big ol' 1970 Tyco truck mounted coupler with a Lionel sized hole for it to swing. 

I am a cheap a$$, but I will pay the extra $45 bucks for a scale appearance.

So MTL can do a Erie GP9 all they want. Also helping me decide, Erie had about 51 GP7's and only 6 GP9's.