Homegrown Decals (old topic, from March 2005)

[Anonymous]

I'm going to bump up this topic. What computer program might be required for creating your own decals? I want to try.

[dragenrider]

Nope, wasn't being sarcastic. I saw it right after it was posted and before it was ZZAAAPPPEDDDD by a six year old! Great job and good info!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dale Trongale

Ken,
Just hope you found some of the replies (retorts) a little amusing! [:D] By the way, that is one beautiful SD you're modeling!

Dale,
Thanx for the affirmation, glad you gave it a 2nd chance[;)]!

[Anonymous]

Ken,
Just hope you found some of the replies (retorts) a little amusing! [:D] By the way, that is one beautiful SD you're modeling!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FundyNorthern... I'd do as you suggested, buy a package of Microscale stripe decals, even if you had to wait for a while to get them... I also have some of their smaller stripes like used on the pilot, but mine are in white; I assume they are also available in black.

Bob, you're right - these particular ones ARE commerically available. I just figured I'd share about the custom printing for the benefit of modelers who wanted a more unusual pattern of their own, but thought the only way to get it is by masking/spray painting.

QUOTE: FundyNorthern (continued):
BTW you CAN edit and/or delete your own posts on this forum. I've just edited this one to include this line.

That is true with Replies (you can delete those, I've done so a few times), but Topics - those can only be edited but not deleted (except maybe if nobody has replied to it?)

[Anonymous]

Nice job, but sure seems like a lot of work. I'd do as you suggested, buy a package of Microscale stripe decals, even if you had to wait for a while to get them. I have a set of their black stripes that are just under a half inch wide. Don't have the set number as I've removed them from the package and keep them in plastic sheet protectors in a three-ring binder. I also have some of their smaller stripes like used on the pilot, but mine are in white; I assume they are also available in black.

But whatever turns your crank I guess!

Bob Boudreau

BTW you CAN edit and/or delete your own posts on this forum. I've just edited this one to include this line.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TEFFY

Dear Ken:
Nothing personal - this is a good idea and I'm glad for you but it's also a good reason for ME to stay with steam.

Bob, whaddya mean by that!? I think your Pink Panther's tender would look FANTASTIC with [i[white[/i] stripes on it![swg]

[Anonymous]

Dear Ken:
Nothing personal - this is a good idea and I'm glad for you but it's also a good reason for ME to stay with steam. I did like your teckneque.

Bob

[Anonymous]

Ahh kids, you just gotta love 'em. Until they royaly F something up on you.

Anyway... I just wanted to add my 2 cents in here. I work on computers all day long and have thought about making my own decals. If anyone is using the newer Epson printers with DuraBrite ink, they should not need the decal setting spray. Epson DuraBrite ink is not water soluble. (Print a color picture, wait for it to dry, then drip some water on it The ink won't run). I haven't had a chance to test this out yet since my LHS wants way too much money for just a few sheets of decal paper (or they only have Laser paper).

Just thought this might push some people into homade decals since they shouldn't have to buy the extra can of setting spray.

[Anonymous]

no worries mate

we all make mistakes[:)]

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pavariangoo

[:(!]

You Just wasted 10 seconds of my life that i can never get back

And if you hadn't of used the [:(!] it would have only been nine seconds![:D]

Be at one with the rail!

[cmurray]

QUOTE: Originally posted by MisterBeasley

See? This is what happens when you mess with Quantum Physics. I suspect someone scenicked a turntable pit with artificial coal, then weathered it and made it even darker. This formed a black hole, and the post collapsed into a quantum singularity, which is why all you can see is that tiny dot.

ROTFLOL '[(-D]' '[(-D]' '[(-D]'

[Anonymous]

thanks for clearing that up mister beasley

now i can sleep at night

[MisterBeasley]

See? This is what happens when you mess with Quantum Physics. I suspect someone scenicked a turntable pit with artificial coal, then weathered it and made it even darker. This formed a black hole, and the post collapsed into a quantum singularity, which is why all you can see is that tiny dot.

[Anonymous]

[:(!]

You Just wasted 10 seconds of my life that i can never get back

[FRITSCHSR]

Most fascinating item I saw for along time.

[soumodeler]

I think he was

[ericsp]

The strange thing is that the post appears to have been relevant to model railroading, unless Randy (dragenrider) was being sarcastic.

[Anonymous]

Almost missed the post. All I saw was a REAL tiny period. I clicked on that and got the replies of others but nothing else of substance. I've heard of air guitar before but air computer??!![%-)]

[jwr_1986]

Maybe I'm nuts but I see nothing. I need a new eye glass prescription but this is rediculous.

Jesse

[Fergmiester]

Ken! Are we missing something?

[dragenrider]

Wow, great job! I'm struggling with decals right now, so your info is very timely.

[Anonymous]

Home-Grown Decals, Part 1: Diagonal Striping

OK, so you want to put tiger stripes (or zebra stripes, candy-cane stripes, whatever...) on your modern-era hood diesel? And you do NOT want to go the old "masking-and-spray-painting" route? Well I don't blame you, and what's more, you DON'T HAVE TO! Decals are a cleaner [and saner] option, and I'll show you how I went about doing that on an HO scale Kato SD38-2, factory-painted for the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern (EJ&E, a.k.a. "The J").

Before I start this discussion, I just want to mention: You can purchase "stripe" decal sheets, including the large CN style, at some hobby stores. But what if your LHS or online distributor doesn't carry them or hasn't had them in stock for awhile - then what? That's where my Home-Grown Decal approach comes in.

[HINT: If you already purchased your stripe decals, you may now skip to the paragraph immediately after the photo of the newly-printed decal sheets.]

Aside from a model loco already painted in the base color (mine is orange), you will need blank decal film. I strongly recommend the Testors Decal System - that is especially tailored to people like [most of] us modelers. All you need is a desktop computer, a graphical editing tool (MS-Paint will probably suffice), and an inkjet printer - NOT a laser printer. Here is a picture of their Decal Paper and an aerosol spray can of their Decal Bonder solution:

I bought these at my LHS. If you want more info on either of these fine products, you may goto:
http://testors.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=2288 for the clear film paper,
or
http://testors.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=2293 for details about the bonder spray.
[A word-to-the-wise: Always buy these items separately, NEVER buy the 'starter kit' - the decal paper is rolled-up inside the box, and regardless of how much you try to re-flatten it, decal ink will NEVER adhere properly to it - and you don't want to make this discovery at 10:30pm on a Saturday night![banghead] ]

Next, you need to have an electronic [preferably '.GIF'] image of at least one side, plus the front and rear end views of the paint scheme you wi***o create. A friend of mine here at Trains.com showed me an excellent online source of scale locomotive drawings: the Railroad Paint Shop, operated by railfan.net. They have a broad range of blank drawings of side- and end-views of diesel locomotives made by EMD, GE, Alco, and others. As long as you agree to include a link to their web site (http://paintshop.railfan.net/), they allow you to download, modify, and publish online* any of their drawings free of charge.
[*Different rules apply to hardcopy printing or commerical publication.]

Here are the side and front/rear end drawings of an SD38-2 decorated in my private scheme, the Iron Belt:



As you can see, these drawings contain the base [orange] color, plus a lot of blue lines to indicate the location of grilles, access hatches, etc.; these will have to be removed from the target pattern, using your graphical editing software. In my example below, I only plan to use the black diagonal striping. Hovever, to give myself the option of being able to apply a single large sheet instead of smaller individual pieces, I am 'whiting out' the adjacent areas as well. These will be invisible if clear decal film is used instead of white.



After solidifying the desired decal areas, I cut-and-pasted a copy of the entire image, 'flipped' it horizontally, and positioned it exactly beneath the original drawing. Since the walkway on the right-hand side of any 2nd- or 3rd-generation EMD hood unit is ~6 inches lower than the left, the diagonal stripe sections all had to be increased to the same length as the last two stripes at the rear.



The end target areas also needed to be blacked/whited-out. Even though a single copy would be sufficient, I decided to copy-and-paste a clone of the two drawings since (1) I knew I could fit that onto a single blank decal sheet, and (2) it's always good to have spare copies in case something gets messed up.



Now I was ready to begin the decal printing process, except for a minor problem: The Paint Shop images I used are 1:55 scale, not 1:87 as I actually needed. To workaround this size mismatch, I would have to adjust the output properties of my printer (an Epson Stylus Color CX4600) to make the printed image appear at the same size as my locomotive.

One important note to consider: A sheet of the Testors decal paper measures 5.5" by 8.5", exactly HALF the length of a standard 8x11 letter sheet. The decal image document must always be printed in PORTRAIT mode, never in Landscape - otherwise you will not be able to correctly position the decal paper in your printer.

The next thing to do was see exactly how much of the locomotive's surface area could fit across an 8.5" sheet of paper. When I placed my model on a blank sheet (Portrait mode, remember!), I noticed that the end platforms were overhanging (see the image below). Nada problem, the area I wanted to cover does not include them - so I simply 'cropped' the platforms out of the image. (An upside-down piece of Testors decal paper is also shown to illustrate the sheet size comparison.)



After a half-dozen test printouts on plain paper - with adjustments to the output size-scaling property - the image sizes were visually identical to the model locomotive, as shown in the following two photos:




The images were now ready to be committed to decal film, which I did; and immediately afterward, I sprayed on a heavy layer of Testors Decal Bonding solution to protect the ink from water.



[** If you are using store-bought stripe decals, HERE is the place to jump over to....]

The next thing I did was to cut out an inclusive pattern of all the diagonal stripes on each side, and place each one on its corresponding target area to ensure proper size and alignment. (Remember this is [un-processed] clear decal paper sitting on the unit, not a CN wannabe![:D])



If I had wanted to use a single large sheet to cover the entire area, I could have done so; but I prefer to avoid any unnecessary obscuring of detail, so I cutout each black stripe individually:



Next - and I didn't HAVE to do it this way, but I chose to, in order to avoid a last-minute discovery that the stripes were not properly spaced apart - I applied the stripe pieces starting at the opposite ends. Then I placed the center stripe to split the target area in two, applying the remaining stripes after that. IMPORTANT - Do NOT apply ANY Solvaset (or similar decal-setting solution) UNTIL you have placed EVERY stripe section in its correct position!


NOW, you may carefully apply the Solvaset...


For the end surfaces, I decided to keep the stripes together on a common sheet of film. However, a certain amount of 'jigsaw' style cutting was necessary to ensure that the decal sections would fit onto their respective target areas...



...and they did:



Here are some views of the semi-finished model [still needing lettering/logos] in the next four image frames.