I need to make a few signs and adhere them to brick styrene in HO. I've made signs before on my ink jet printer, printing them on regular paper and taping/white gluing them to the surface. I've heard of making traditional water slide decals with decal paper but I don't know how well it works. Any tips?
Thanks
Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.
Daniel G.
My experience was satisfactory but barely. The first decal paper I tried wrinkled as i tried to slide it off the paper backing and nothing I tried. (Sorry, I don't recall the brand.)
I then tried paper from decals.com. I was able to get the decals to slide off the paper withour much wrinkling and what wrinkles I had were fairly easily eliminated. But the film (plus a couple of coats of clear coat to keep the ink from running) makes the decals fairly stiff. I was unable to get it to snuggle down in the cracks of the HO scale brick surface. It left some silvering where it was unable to make contact with the surface. I finally wound up putting another decal on a plain piece of sheet styrene which I then cut out to the shape I wanted.
This is not a process I will repeat ofter--only when a commercially made decal for what I want/need is not available.
I've just tried a few. The first one was on clear background, where I needed an oil company logo on a gas tank and the kit provided a red letter sign on white paper that looked impossible to cut out well. I used Testors paper and sealer and my HP inkjet and was quite satisfied.
The next was on a brewery, where I wanted a black background and lighter (chose gold) lettering and that came our barely ok. I found the lighter colors were not very opaque and one had to choose a color where the wall color did not show through significantly. A compromise. This last one I tried the Evans Designs paper, where you can let the backing remain clear, or treat it to become towards white. But I recall that as I pushed the background towards more white, it diminished the opaqueness / depth of the darker colors a bit, best as I recall. http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/decalpaper.html I'd say most attempts were a bit compromised but others may have learned how to do it well. On another building, with ribbed sides, I wanted a flat sign, so elected to put it on paper. I noted that the colors on copy paper were blah, but when printed on glossy photo paper had some nice color depth. So, give various methods a try.
The next was on a brewery, where I wanted a black background and lighter (chose gold) lettering and that came our barely ok. I found the lighter colors were not very opaque and one had to choose a color where the wall color did not show through significantly. A compromise.
This last one I tried the Evans Designs paper, where you can let the backing remain clear, or treat it to become towards white. But I recall that as I pushed the background towards more white, it diminished the opaqueness / depth of the darker colors a bit, best as I recall. http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/decalpaper.html I'd say most attempts were a bit compromised but others may have learned how to do it well. On another building, with ribbed sides, I wanted a flat sign, so elected to put it on paper. I noted that the colors on copy paper were blah, but when printed on glossy photo paper had some nice color depth. So, give various methods a try.
This last one I tried the Evans Designs paper, where you can let the backing remain clear, or treat it to become towards white. But I recall that as I pushed the background towards more white, it diminished the opaqueness / depth of the darker colors a bit, best as I recall.
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/decalpaper.html I'd say most attempts were a bit compromised but others may have learned how to do it well. On another building, with ribbed sides, I wanted a flat sign, so elected to put it on paper. I noted that the colors on copy paper were blah, but when printed on glossy photo paper had some nice color depth. So, give various methods a try.
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/decalpaper.html
I'd say most attempts were a bit compromised but others may have learned how to do it well.
On another building, with ribbed sides, I wanted a flat sign, so elected to put it on paper. I noted that the colors on copy paper were blah, but when printed on glossy photo paper had some nice color depth.
So, give various methods a try.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
I bought both white background and clear decal sheets from Micro-Mark, but I found my HP inkjet printers couldn't do the job on the clear film. The ink pulled away from either the edges or the middle, depending on whether it was black, where it either puddled and skipped, or colors with black outline, where it pulled away from the middle. I ordered the paper intended for use in laser or other dry process ink and will take it to the local print shop. I doubt the cost will be too hefty and besides, I have heralds to be printed in black on the white film and several multi-colored logos for beer reefers and such, along with custom reporting marks for the Mineral Point & Northern and the Platteville & Calamine, real roads that I'm "prototype freelancing" in about 1912. My advice: try it and see if it comes out right, then think about taking the job to a print shop. Also, I have three pages of masters on a flash drive to make it worthwhile--another thing to think about.
Deano
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I used Testors white decal paper, sealer/fixer to make the logo on my BRVRR F-7 #1116.
I used the Testors clear to make the NYC lettering on this baggage car and many others in my streamlined consist.
Most of the signs on buildings were made by printing on white paper. Then, to make them more flexible, I sanded them on the front and back with fine (No. 400) sandpaper until I got to the thickness I needed. They were then applied with white glue or Tacky Glue and pressed into the details of the siding etc.
I've used both Testors and Micro-Mark decal papers with good results. The key, I believe, is a very light coat of sealer/fixer on the decal before wetting and application.
Remember its your railroad
Allan
Track to the BRVRR Website: http://www.brvrr.com/
This guy is more into model rockets, but sells decal paper and does custom decals as well. I have bought the decal paper from him in the past and used it with my old ALPS printer. Maybe give him a look-- www.tangopapadecals.com
These are two of my favorites:
Both were downloaded and sized on the computer. For these, I used "Experts' Choice" decal paper and an HP inkjet printer. To get the right color balance, I painted a white rectangle on the buildings. I added rectangular borders on the edges of the artwork so that they would overlap and hide the edges of the white rectangles. I apply the decals with Microsol (blue bottle) and then use Microset (red bottle) to soften them and get them to settle into the brick surface.
I've switched to paper from decalpaper.com, since my other sources have all dried up. I also like my Canon printer better. I used to use Microscale's Liquid Decal Film, but that caused the ink to bleed so now I'm using Krylon spray.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I have used Micromark ink jet decal paper, both clear and white. One thing to remember is that inkjet ink tends to be transparent, so for some colors white decal paper may be a better choice, or paint a white background as Mr B has done.
For a sealer I use Krylon acrylic spray, I think the part number is 500. Look at hardware or craft stores. I tried a number of clearcoats when I started, and in many cases the solvent in the spray ruined the decal. This Krylon spray is what Micromark includes in their decal starer set (or at thest they did when I started home made decal a few years ago).
Most inkjet inks are water solubable, so they will run or bleed if they are not sealed. Also leave at least 1/16" decal paper outside the printed area. If you cut too close to the edge of the print, water will penetrate under the clearcoat and the ink will bleed when the decal is soaking.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I have achieved very good results using Evan Designs decal paper on both buildings and rolling stock. Although Evan Designs recommends using lighter fluid as a decal solvent, I have had good results using Walthers Solvaset. I'm not sure what "peahrens" meant by "pushing the background towards white" as this decal paper comes with an opaque white background that remains opaque when top-coated using an acrylic clear. If you want a clear background, just use a solvent based clear coat. This means you can produce both white and clear background decals from the same sheet of decal paper. It is also unecessary to apply a sealer over the Evan Designs decal paper as this paper has a special coating to absorb and lock in the printer ink. The only trouble I've ever had using this decal paper was when I tried to top-coat the decals using an aerosol acrylic clear. Something in the aerosol propellant turned the decal backgrounds clear ruining the white background decals I desired. From now on, I will only use my airbrush to apply acrylic clear coats when I want my decal backgrounds to remain white. I also use this decal paper to create white/light lettering decals for my rolling stock. Find a color that matches the rolling stock paint and assign that to the decal background. Then type in your white lettering (assign a white color to the lettering on your computer). When the printer prints out the decal, it prints no ink where the white lettering occurs which allows the white decal paper background to show through your printed background color. Seal with an acrylic clear (not aerosol) and the lettering stays nice and opaque white.
Hornblower
tommymr This guy is more into model rockets, but sells decal paper and does custom decals as well. I have bought the decal paper from him in the past and used it with my old ALPS printer. Maybe give him a look-- www.tangopapadecals.com
Tango Papa was the supplier I used when GMCRail Custom Decals was a going concern Very reliable, puts out a good product. I used my ALPS MD-1000 to print them, but they're as "scarce as hen's teeth" now(to quote the old saying).
If you're looking for a sign for the side of a building, there's the old trick of printing your sign on tissue paper, then sanding down the back of the paper as thin as you can, then gluing the sign to the building with thinned white glue.
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Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
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"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
I have been making my own decals for years and sell graffiti decals on the internet. For best results you have to use a laser printer. Use white laser paper for solid patterns and anything containing white. Use clear paper for text or line drawings. Remember that decals are slightly transparent and sharply contrasting colors underneith will show through. To get the paper to soften up and sink into the brick texture you need to use a product such as Micro Sol or Micro Set (one is extra strength). Seal with dull coat.