Anybody here do decals?

[Puddlejumper]

I need a one off set of decals. Unfortunately it seems that the decals I need are copyrighted and will be hard to get made professionally. They are extremely simple decals, I have the artwork done, but they are white so I need someone with an Alps printer to make them for me.

Anyone? Of course I will pay a fair price.

Dave

[Gary S]

No Alps printer, and don't know if this will work, but when I needed white seagulls for Galveston Wharves boxcars, I took white decal paper, outlined the seagulls in an orangish color which was a close match to the boxcar, printed them, did the normal homemade decal routine, and then blended the orange of the decal into the orange of the boxcar with some paint. Didn't turn out too bad. Especially with a bit of weathering and then dullcote.

[Puddlejumper]

I have an HP ink jet printer. Will this work for printing decals? Thanks for the tip. Now I just need to find some white decal paper.

[nachoman]

I have done a few decals the method Gary outlined, and depending on the situation, I consider them "usable" at best. They won't work for "contest quality", but for a3 foot rule they are fine. Before you try, I suggest making sure there are no commercial decals available for purchase, or that there aren't any commercial decals that you can modify for your project. Some things like lettering sets and stripes are available. If your design is really simple, perhaps masking and painting is an option, especially if you are only making one of something.

If you are using the white inkjet paper, here are some tips:
1) It is really difficult to match the color of your decal background to your model paint. I have gotten close through much trial and error, but the finished product always required blending using a fine brush and paint.
2) Between the thick layer of ink and the bonder spray that makes the decal waterproof, these decals are rather thick. They won't settle well into an irregular surface. The edge of the decal can almost always be seen if you look close enough
3) The cut edges of the decal will bleed a little during application, exposing the white paper. You will need to blend the edge with model paint and a fine brush afterwards. The good thing is, it help hide the decal edge and helps blend the colors.

You can see my result here:
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and a tutorial/discussion at the Z site here:
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[Gary S]

I also had the issue of the car color showing through the white decal paper. This was fixed by brushing a bit of white paint over the white of the decal after it finished drying on the car.

[Russ Bellinis]

I also had the issue of the car color showing through the white decal paper. This was fixed by brushing a bit of white paint over the white of the decal after it finished drying on the car.

If this is a common occurrence, you could paint a "blob" of white on the car just big enough to totally fill the white area of the decal. When you apply the decal, you will only get white bleeding through the white decal.

[Puddlejumper]

For clarification, basically what I want is the slogan "JUST DO IT." Printed a scale 3 HO scale feet high. the problem is that Nike has a copyright on that slogan. As far as I know, nobody makes Nike decals. I may try the method you guys described. thanks.

[Gary S]

Russ, that reminds me that I did use that technique on some GERN covered hoppers. I have also done similar for other decals - for example, a portion of the decal background needed to be white on an "experimental" freelanced Santa Fe car I did. I painted a white rectangle and then applied the clear film decal over it with the white showing through. (note: the weathering looks better when the 3 foot rule is applied! )



And here is the seagull done on white paper with an orange border and painted. The seagull was photoshopped from a photo of the prototype.

[Gary S]

For clarification, basically what I want is the slogan "JUST DO IT." Printed a scale 3 HO scale feet high. the problem is that Nike has a copyright on that slogan. As far as I know, nobody makes Nike decals. I may try the method you guys described. thanks.

Is there a particular letter style you want? How about individual decal letters? How about the words "Do" and "Just" and "It"? Nothing copyrighted about that.

[Puddlejumper]

Is there a particular letter style you want? How about individual decal letters? How about the words "Do" and "Just" and "It"? Nothing copyrighted about that.

Wow. That is perfect! Why did something so simple NOT occur to me!

So I need to get one off decals of JUST, and DO IT. That is perfect. Thanks for the idea.

Now, for those of you who are wondering what the heck I am doing. Conrail let Nike paint JUST DO IT. on the side of GP15-1 1621 for one day. That is why nobody knows about this special Conrail paint scheme, it only lasted one day as a Nike promo during a marathon. I want to model each of Conrail's special units, making this one a necessity. I have already procured the unit, will paint it CR blue, and want the JUST DO IT. for the hood.

Thanks for all your help guys.

[doctorwayne]

You don't even need to hunt for decals of those words (it's unlikely you'd have much success). Instead, use an alphabet decal set from Champ or some dry transfer alphabets from Woodland Scenics. Both offer a range of fonts and sizes.

Wayne

[Puddlejumper]

Well the font is Futura SH-XBold Con.

Don't know that i'd find that font, but i'm looking.

[nachoman]

You don't even need to hunt for decals of those words (it's unlikely you'd have much success). Instead, use an alphabet decal set from Champ or some dry transfer alphabets from Woodland Scenics. Both offer a range of fonts and sizes.

Wayne

I agree. Your longest word is 4 letters, and the only duplicate letter is T. That shouldn't be difficult to keep things lined up, and you won't have to buy multiple sheets because you used up all of one letter!

[doctorwayne]

I agree. Your longest word is 4 letters, and the only duplicate letter is T. That shouldn't be difficult to keep things lined up, and you won't have to buy multiple sheets because you used up all of one letter!

Kevin's right: it's not like you've picked a stupid road name that uses-up more "G"s than come on a single sheet just to letter one car.


Mind you, with dry transfers, you'd be surprised by how many different letters can be used to create "G"s (or most other letters, for that matter.)

Wayne