Decal problem

I haven't started using my pack of decal paper yet, but there appears to be a relevant quote on the instruction sheet pertaining to inkjet printing:

"...Also, you must apply a few thin, but thorough coats of Mocro-Mark #82858 Clear Acrylic Sealing Fixative Spray to seal the inkjet printed image on the decal paper; otherwise it will smear and/or wash off."

The spray they sent me is Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating 1303a, for what it's worth.

---PCJ

Mike,

When I make decals I spray the entire sheet of decal paper with the Krylon Crystal Clear spray.  You can get it a Lowes or WalMart.  I spray 3-4 coats and let the paper dry for a while before cutting the decals off the sheet.

My problem is getting something like a yellow decal dark/opaque enough to be seen when applying on a black steam engine.  I recently tried to do a SAl Heart Of The South decal for a steamer, but when I put it on I couldn't even see it, ruined a whole sheet of decal paper.  I think I can change the setup on my printer, but that was the last sheet of clear decal paper I had.

I gave up on homemade decal projects a long time ago.

I tried all the sprays yielding poor results.

Unless white ink is available and you can get the same quality as Microscale, it’s pointless at least for me.

Even today, I have yet to see homemade decals equivalent to Microscales made at 100% success by someone.

If anyone has a step by step pro way, I’d love to learn how.

Might want to try M.S. office excel and Photo Paper!

I had convincing results printing custom freight car signage using thin photo paper and blending it onto the car.

I will be shortening a Railking bay window next week and printing an entire paper sheet in orange to cover the side for a LIRR caboose with grey lettering.

After applying clear matt I can add the Dashing Dan decal logo. Or I can scan or find an internet logo and have it incorporated into the sheet.

The large block lettering and car number is positioned in the areas needed and it’s ready to print.

We shall see what happens depending on rivet patterns.

Any of the custom decals I've ever made were off of my ink jet and the 1st few I had the same issue with the colors running...when they were dry I took a piece of tape and ripped them off and coated the rest of the sheet with clear lacquer and the problem wasn't nearly gone{like 95% gone}. At the time I was applying over a flat finish and using solvaset to get them to hunker down...might have distorted the decals when doing so, and I had only one coat of clear over them. I'd suggest that the ink your new printer is using is more sensative and will require 1-3 top coats of clear to seal them...lacquer dries pretty thin so don't worry about thickness. If the decal still bleeds

then pre coat the empty sheet before printing to seal that end of it too...then top coat.

I remember seeing that someone had issues with transparent decals...some are that way and require a white base to bring out the colors...one can either paint an area that the decal will go on or do what I've done- grab a sheet of white blank decal paper and cut out a base decal slightly smaller than what the actual decal will be...yes, you'll be double decalling but I think that's easier than painting a spot.

Just finished an REA container that the decals were known to me to be thin and let the underlying color show thru...what you see is the base white decal and the end decal over that...shows nicely. The Q container has microscale decals and wasn't an issue...the REA has white sub decals behind all 4 sides decals.

First issue as stated is ink jet decals require a good coat of a clear over spray to seal the water based colors to the paper. (clear carrier really) Ink jet decals will not be as sharp as your laser decals as the ink will blur to an extent when coated. You may want to take your art to a printing place and have them run on a laser if you don't have access to one.

Ink jet or laser decals will never work on a dark surface without a white backing. There are a number of ways to do this....many have been posted here before.

Decals printed at home can be better than Microscale if done correctly. Microscale decals are nice. I have used them and I have had decals printed by them. But they use a screen print method that has it's limits. My laser printer I use has a higher DPI than Microscale prints at. So my decals can be sharper and just as clear. It boils down to the artwork. Unless you use vector art software you can never get good clear decals.

I am at an advantage as I have an APLS printer that prints white. But there are ways to get around this. But as fewer and fewer decals are made and/or available making your own my be the only alternative. These are decals I made myself......THX

My plans are to print dark blue and black, to be applied over a silver surface (Amtrak "Auto-Train" logo, car numbers and reporting marks on silver autoracks)

I can create the text in Inkscape, a vector-image application. Should that be sufficient from an inkjet?

---PCJ

I don't know Inkscape but if it's vector that should give good results. If at all possible I'd take the art someplace that can print it on a laser printer. Good laser ink has a small amount of iron in it and that really bumps up the level of opaqueness with the image. I've done Amtrak logos on laser w/o white and they work fine. Inkjet may bleed a little. THX

I will try krylon crystal clear and see if it works for me.  If not I will obtain more laser type paper and find someone with a full color laser printer. 

If all fails I will try commercial, if any around, decal manufacturer.  With 20 cars the costs for commercial could be substantial. 

Like someone said, whatever works

mikeg

Tried Rustoleum Crystal Clear Enamel and it worked like a charm.  It was quick and easy and no running of colors.  Decals look great. 

mikeg

Not only is Inkscape vector-based, it's also freeware.

I've converted numerous pencil drawings to ink by tracing them in this program. The output can be scaled to any size without losing quality.

---PCJ