Help with printed decals

[brdavis]

Hello,

I need some help with some home-printed decals I'm trying to do.

I'm using Testors white decal paper and an inkjet printer. I'm using white because the decals themselves have white areas in them. I printed the decals and let them dry for a couple of days, then sprayed a few coats of Pledge/Future floor polish and let that dry for a couple of days. I have a good coat of Pledge/Future on the model to apply the decal to. When applying the decals, it took a very long time for the backing to soften up enough to remove the decal. I set the decal in the water so that only the backing is touching the water and not the printed side. I've usually read to let the decal sit in water for 15 seconds or so, but after sitting for over 60 seconds, these gave no signs of coming off of the paper backing. I ended up using a hobby knife to separate the two, which worked okay. In positioning the decal on the model, the color right at the edges of the decal bled out and I was left with the white paper showing through at the edges. After the decal dried I applied Micro-sol / Micro-set, which completely ruined the decal, ink running everywhere. I scraped it all off and now I am back to square one.

I suspect I need to use a different sealer on the decals rather than Pledge/Future, but at this point I'm wondering if even that will prevent bleeding at the edges of the decals? Should I cut of the decals and then spray the sealer? I also wonder if I should be using clear paper so I can leave a border around the edge of the decal, but then how to you handle the areas that should be white? Do I paint the white on the model in the appropriate areas and then apply the decals printed on clear decal paper over it? Do I need to paint the white areas regardless of which decal paper I use so they will actually remain white?

Do I spend some more money on another coating or do I cut my losses in the DIY arena and just pony up for some professionally done decals? (I wanted to print my own because all decals I would like can't be found from a single source, shipping is in some cases twice the cost of the decals, and some of the decals available I don't quite like the look of).

I know the decals from Reviresco, Dom's, or 144 Direct have great reviews, but it seems like some of you have also had success doing your own.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks for reading.

[Teaticket]

I've had success coating with Krylon Clear and Matte spray. I have not used Testors white decal paper. I used their clear and it worked fine for me. I painted white beneath where I placed the decals. See the Dragons "HERE" on the Zeros. I have just purchased some white decal paper but have not used it yet. It is not Testors though so I can't compare results when I do use it.

Hello,

I need some help with some home-printed decals I'm trying to do.

I'm using Testors white decal paper and an inkjet printer. I'm using white because the decals themselves have white areas in them. I printed the decals and let them dry for a couple of days, then sprayed a few coats of Pledge/Future floor polish and let that dry for a couple of days. I have a good coat of Pledge/Future on the model to apply the decal to. When applying the decals, it took a very long time for the backing to soften up enough to remove the decal. I set the decal in the water so that only the backing is touching the water and not the printed side. I've usually read to let the decal sit in water for 15 seconds or so, but after sitting for over 60 seconds, these gave no signs of coming off of the paper backing. I ended up using a hobby knife to separate the two, which worked okay. In positioning the decal on the model, the color right at the edges of the decal bled out and I was left with the white paper showing through at the edges. After the decal dried I applied Micro-sol / Micro-set, which completely ruined the decal, ink running everywhere. I scraped it all off and now I am back to square one.

I suspect I need to use a different sealer on the decals rather than Pledge/Future, but at this point I'm wondering if even that will prevent bleeding at the edges of the decals? Should I cut of the decals and then spray the sealer? I also wonder if I should be using clear paper so I can leave a border around the edge of the decal, but then how to you handle the areas that should be white? Do I paint the white on the model in the appropriate areas and then apply the decals printed on clear decal paper over it? Do I need to paint the white areas regardless of which decal paper I use so they will actually remain white?

Do I spend some more money on another coating or do I cut my losses in the DIY arena and just pony up for some professionally done decals? (I wanted to print my own because all decals I would like can't be found from a single source, shipping is in some cases twice the cost of the decals, and some of the decals available I don't quite like the look of).

I know the decals from Reviresco, Dom's, or 144 Direct have great reviews, but it seems like some of you have also had success doing your own.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks for reading.

[Dom S]

Home-made inkjet decals absolutely need sealing with a spray fixative *before* applying. Ideally a few very light coats rather than a single heavy one. I suspect any gloss spray will do, but when I was inkjet printing many moons ago, Humbrol Crystal Coat was my weapon of choice. You will always get a little ink "bleed" at the edges, but it shouldn't be anything major.

As for your decal paper, clear paper is rarely useful. It's great for black decals, or for anything going on white model, and OK for dark colours going on a light coloured model, but that's it. Remember that printer inks work by being translucent - the white paper is an essential component of the final colour. (If you're not sure what I mean, try printing something on a sheet of coloured paper.) That limitation is basically the big reason why commercial decals exist - home made decals always involve working around the fact that you can't print white, not just for white designs, but for undercoating everything else.

[brdavis]

Sounds like my next step is going to be to try a different sealer other than Pledge/Future, which seemed to just dissolve when it came in contact with the micro-sol. I'll pick up a can of Krylon Clear and try again. Thanks guys.

[tusekine]

Sounds like my next step is going to be to try a different sealer other than Pledge/Future, which seemed to just dissolve when it came in contact with the micro-sol. I'll pick up a can of Krylon Clear and try again. Thanks guys.

I also make my own decals and have used Testors clear and white. As others have said, the clear works only if you have a light color background.

I use the Testors matte coat as cover and apply at least two, sometimes three coats. I have found that hot water helps with decals that do not want to separate. I no longer use Microsol or Microset for homemade decals because it ruins them. Instead of Microset, I use white glue, and I skip the Microsol step--most of the decals are so small on WoG planes, it makes little difference.

[Boney10]

I have used, with success, another sealer from the same family as Microsol and microset, cant remember the actual name, will look when I get chance, but its the same company and same type bottles.
You paint this onto your decals with a brush, a couple of thin coats and works ok.
Using white decal paper i always have to touch up the edges of the decals to hide the white

[Guntruck]

I use Testor's Dullcote, which seems to do the trick.

[Pseudotheist]

Inkjet printed decals can be very finicky, and this is not the first time this has come up. Maybe there should be a sticky on this subject. Anyway, I'll repost what I think is my most relevant point here...

Don't trust that your sealant spray is actually waterproof. When cutting out your decals leave as much border around the actual printed decal as you can. Do not drop your decal in the water like you would with professionally printed decals. Instead, gently lay them face down and paint water onto the back of the decal paper until it is saturated. Give it plenty of time to loosen the glue, and once the decal slides free, inspect the leading edges of the decal for any attached strands of backing paper (particularly if you're using clear decal paper). If you see any, you should be able to gently lift them off by running a moist brush along the back of the edge. Once your decal is positioned, try to avoid using microsol or another setting solution on the printed surface of the decal. You can brush around those unprinted edges to try to blend them in a little. If you have any edges lifting off the surface, those solutions will work better if you get some on the back side of the decal paper, against the plane. If you're placing multiple decals in close proximity, you may want to paint a gloss coat over your first decal before attempting to apply the second (you put a gloss coat over your paint job before starting the decals, right?).

In any event, it sounds like you're attempting to do something extremely precise with your decals, which may push the limits of their practicality. While Dom says clear paper is rarely useful, and all of his reasons are precisely correct, I personally think that white decal paper is rarely worth the effort. the difficulty there comes down to color matching. You are pretty much always going to have to print a color match on your white decal paper, and color matching with paint mixing is hard enough. Beyond matching a simple black I expect color matching your printer to the paint scheme is exceeding exacting and tedious.

Perhaps if you elaborated on the exact scheme you were working on there might be an alternate solution based not necessarily on improved technique, but an alternate method.

[Captain Chum]

Brian, I have been printing my own decals for quite some time. I use the Testors white and clear paper. I seal them with Testors decal bonder spray.

When printing out my decals I set the printer to best printing application.....printing photo option. After I let the ink on the decal paper dry I spray on a coat of the decal bonder and usually let it dry overnight. I have never had a problem. I did have some ink dissolve on me once but that was caused by me not getting the decal sheet completely covered with the bonder.

When I just want a white decal I invert the image. In other words you must have a close color background to what you are painting. Example:



I use mirco sol/set. Then touch up around the decal with paint.

I spend more time scaling images down and doing test prints on regular paper.

[brdavis]

Thanks for all the helpful replies guys, I picked up a can of Krylon Clear and that made all the difference. No more ink bleed-out at the edges and micro-sol/micro-set worked as expected. I ended up painting the edges of the decals where the decal background color didn't quite match the base color, and that turned out pretty well. Without painting the edges, the decals looked more like stickers. I'm quite pleased with the results so I'll be posting pictures in the Dr.1 and Sopwith Camel re-paint threads soon!

[Teaticket]

Thanks for all the helpful replies guys, I picked up a can of Krylon Clear and that made all the difference. No more ink bleed-out at the edges and micro-sol/micro-set worked as expected. I ended up painting the edges of the decals where the decal background color didn't quite match the base color, and that turned out pretty well. Without painting the edges, the decals looked more like stickers. I'm quite pleased with the results so I'll be posting pictures in the Dr.1 and Sopwith Camel re-paint threads soon!

After the decals and edge painting is dry make sure you use some kind of clear coating to seal and protect the decal.

[Jager]

Thanks for all the helpful replies guys, I picked up a can of Krylon Clear and that made all the difference. No more ink bleed-out at the edges and micro-sol/micro-set worked as expected. I ended up painting the edges of the decals where the decal background color didn't quite match the base color, and that turned out pretty well. Without painting the edges, the decals looked more like stickers. I'm quite pleased with the results so I'll be posting pictures in the Dr.1 and Sopwith Camel re-paint threads soon!

So you sprayed the clear on before cutting out and placing them on the plane?

Karl

[Captain Chum]

So you sprayed the clear on before cutting out and placing them on the plane?

Karl

He sealed the decals before cutting and placing.

Looking forward to seeing your end results Brian.

[brdavis]

So you sprayed the clear on before cutting out and placing them on the plane?

Karl

Yes, that is what I was missing. Or rather I was using the wrong coating.

Final results are here and here.

Thanks again everyone