Print your own decals advice wanted.

**BB401** · 02-14-2017 09:47

Recently dipped my toe in the Print Your Own Decals water. Not happy yet. I am looking for recommendations for paper / printer combinations that yield good resolution, rather than uneven pixellated blurs.

**Carl_Brisgamer** · 02-14-2017 11:57

Hi Bob,

I use Testiors white and clear decal paper. For black images I use a laser printer and a HP inkjet for colour. When printing decals I select best quality print settings on the inkjet to get the fine details. Once printed I leave the sheet to dry, at least two hours but often overnight. Then I spray with Testors decal bonder to seal the ink images and leave for another couple of hours before application.

Is that what you are after Bob?

**BB401** · 02-14-2017 12:58

Yes thank you. I found that my HP ink jet allowed some blur and beading of color, which I was not happy with. I will experiment with settings while hoping to find a magic bullet...;-)

**brdavis** · 02-14-2017 14:38

Originally Posted by BB401

Yes thank you. I found that my HP ink jet allowed some blur and beading of color, which I was not happy with. I will experiment with settings while hoping to find a magic bullet...;-)

I found that setting the printer for the "photo paper plus glossy" paper type gave the best results for my (Canon) printer on Testor's white decal paper, so try different paper settings in your experiments too.

**OldGuy59** · 02-14-2017 19:14

I had a bit of trouble printing my own decals. Testors decal sheets were the only things available locally. All my trials and tribulations can be read here: Official Hawker Hurricane Painting Thread

I had to go deep into the printer driver settings, and match up the printing software settings, to get results I liked.

I hope you have easier success.

PS: Epson Photo Stylus 1400, a near-commercial, wide-format photo printer, using 6 ink colors.
Adobe Photoshop CS 6 (when I printed the decals, now Photoshop CC. I can only hope I don't need to redo the settings)

**tusekine** · 02-15-2017 05:31

I use a cheap Epson four color inkjet and white or clear Testors paper. I find that I cannot reproduce really small details, but since the scale is so small anyway, much of the detail does not survive all that well anyway. I use "photo glossy" and "fine" settings, but not the highest quality since that seems to make the details more blurry--I think that is because the Testors sheet can absorb less ink than the photo paper. I encounter the occasional smearing from the printer (especially on the highest setting) so I print usually six versions of each decal and pick the best one or two. I find that the clear version takes the print better than the white, but since I cannot print white I end up using the white sheet more often.

My biggest complaint is that the Testors paper is a bit "gummy" or rubbery and does not always cut or sand nicely but instead stretches like a bit of gum. Has anyone else used any other decal sheets?