I have a sheet of Microscale's Clear Trimfilm that I'd like to try making a couple of decals with. The instruction sheet says, and I paraphrase here..., that after you've printed the decal on your inkjet printer to overcoat the decal with their Liquid Decal Film, which I have a bottle of. This seals the decal so that it won't run when dipped in a water bath to remove the paper backing. The instructions say that an overcoat of Testor's Dullcote or Glosscoat will not work in this application.
Now... we're putting on the liquid decal film solution with.... what, a small brush very gently? I tried it after letting the inkjet decal dry for over 24 hours and wasn't exactly pleased with the result. The ink didn't run all over the place but I did get some reddish color 'bleeding' (from black letters) and I think it may be enough to make the decal not look good in the end. Evidently Microscale doesn't put much faith in overspraying with Glosscoat but, and I'm no expert here, that seems to be what most people do.
What have you learned in making decals with these products? I plan to experiment with both methods of sealing the decals but would like to know others results, or if you did something entirely different.
Jarrell
I used to print my decals on an old HP 722C inkjet printer. I replaced that with a Canon Pixma model. The Canon makes better decals.
At the same time, I stopped using the Liquid Decal Film and switched to Krylon clear spray. So, I can't say whether the order of magnitude improvement in my decals was the result of the Canon or the Krylon, but I'm much happier.
I used to have the same "red bleeding" problem that you described. I don't have that anymore, and my printed edges stay sharp and clean.
Get a can of Krylon. I use satin finish. I've found that a single coat of spray is best. When I used 2 coats, the decals came out too thick and had more problems with curling.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I used to buy decal paper at my secondary LHS, which is a bit further away. Last year inkjet decal paper became hard to find for some reason. I ended up ordering a bunch from decalpaper.com. I now have about 3 lifetimes worth of the stuff.
Still, I'm a Scotsman, so I conserve it. I set the page margins high and wide, so I don't waste a lot of space on this expensive paper. After I print a row of decals, I cut the paper with a flatbed paper cutter, so I've still got a clean, square top edge, and I can put the paper back into the printer and do another row. So, you don't have to use a whole sheet of decal paper for a test. You can use as little as an inch or so off the top for each batch of decals.
Go ahead. Print a few test decals, spray them with Krylon, and put that Liquid Decal Film into a box where you'll find it 10 years from now and chuckle.
George, Mr. B... thanks for the tips and suggestions! I now have a bottle of almost unused Liquid Decal Film for sale.... cheap!
Below is the decal which I tried to gently coat with Liquid Decal Film solution..
Mr. B, how much drying time do you give a decal after giving it the Krylon overspray before dunking it in water?
MisterBeasleyStill, I'm a Scotsman, so I conserve it.
As mentioned above, I usually print the image on plain paper, then cut a piece of decal paper that will fit over the image with a little to spare. I tape this over the image with Scotch tape, and run the whole thing through the printer to print the decal. I end up with a lot of odd pieces of decal paper which I save for the future. This way I can print off a single decal without wasting a lot of a sheet
As to the drying time question, I let things dry overnight, or a bit longer if it very humid.
When you spray the decals with Krylon, you can spray Dullcoat over that. I did this on decals I made with Micro Mark paper. This helped cut back on the sheen of the decal after it dried. Joe
I would wait overnight before using a Krylon-sprayed decal, but that's probably longer than necessary. Usually, I make up decals days or even weeks before I need them, somewhere in the early stages of assembling a kit.
What is the difference between Inkjet decal paper and the plain paper that Microscale sells ? I have a friend who occasionally prints bits and pieces for me and swears you have to use the decal paper MADE for inkjet printing. (?)
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
I have always used inkjet decal paper, so I do not know for sure; but I expect the ink would tend to puddle and run on plain decal paper.
I tried using Microscale Trim Film with my inkjet printer. The ink puddled on the paper and was still wet 24 hours later. Even if it had dried it would have been a very unsatisfactory decal. I thought about asking a friend for use of his laser printer but then I decided I wouldn't want to buy him a new laser printer so I went with inkjet decal paper from decalpaper.com. The film is a little on the thick side so doesn't "snuggle" very well into crack and crannies but otherwise the decals are fine.
Inkjet paper is for inkjet printers, and laser paper is for laser printers. They aren't interchangeable. It's not a matter of getting "better" results. It's a matter of getting any results at all.
MisterBeasleyInkjet paper is for inkjet printers, and laser paper is for laser printers. They aren't interchangeable. It's not a matter of getting "better" results. It's a matter of getting any results at all.
Well, I tried using the Microscale trim film clear... printed the decal and waited a couple of days til I thought it should be dry, then sprayed it with Krylon's Clear gloss to seal it and waited a little over 24 hours. When I dipped it in a saucer of water the ink ran all over the place so I must've done something wrong. Evidently the ink just isn't going to dry on this decal film (it's not paper, though the backing is), or the clear coat didn't seal it like I thought it did. Maybe it takes many coats.
I'll print some more and keep trying.
the trim film is made for laser or photocopiers if you want to use a inkjet you have to spray it first with dull coat run it thru your printer then coat it with the liquid decal film (MI-12) as per the instructions on microscales site
http://www.microscale.com/epubs/MSICatalog/index.html#?page=210
Jarrell,
As I mentioned in another decal post, you don't need a sealer if you use the Evan Designs decal paper in your inkjet printer. I have made dozens of decals with this white background paper and only one has ever smeared (entirely my fault as I couldn't get the round decal correctly aligned and kept hitting it with multiple coats of Solvaset to try to realign it). Another really big advantage of this decal paper is that you can make both white background or white lettering decals as well as clear background decals from the SAME SHEET OF DECAL PAPER!!! If you want the decal to keep its white background, use only acrylic based clear coats over your decals (recommend airbrushing Model Master Flat Clear Acrylic). If you need a clear background decal, use a solvent based clear coat and the white background will turn clear and stay clear. The last time I ordered this paper, it was $15 for five, 8 1/2" by 11" sheets. Not too bad when you consider that you can skip the cost of a clear sealer and that one type of paper is good for both white and clear background decals.
Hornblower
mikeGTW Jarrell the trim film is made for laser or photocopiers if you want to use a inkjet you have to spray it first with dull coat run it thru your printer then coat it with the liquid decal film (MI-12) as per the instructions on microscales site http://www.microscale.com/epubs/MSICatalog/index.html#?page=210
Mike, I did spray it with dullcote so that the ink would have something to hold on to, and I tried a couple of decals using the Liquid Decal Film but the ink bled on those also (but didn't completely ruin) It's difficult to put the LDF solution on with a brush without screwing up the decal. I'll print some more and let them dry for a week or so before putting the solution on and see if it works better. It seems that decal 'film' is essentialy like plastic so getting inkjet ink to stay on it at all is a challenge.
This sounds like the best option all around. I think I'll order some!
hornblower Jarrell, As I mentioned in another decal post, you don't need a sealer if you use the Evan Designs decal paper in your inkjet printer. I have made dozens of decals with this white background paper and only one has ever smeared (entirely my fault as I couldn't get the round decal correctly aligned and kept hitting it with multiple coats of Solvaset to try to realign it). Another really big advantage of this decal paper is that you can make both white background or white lettering decals as well as clear background decals from the SAME SHEET OF DECAL PAPER!!! If you want the decal to keep its white background, use only acrylic based clear coats over your decals (recommend airbrushing Model Master Flat Clear Acrylic). If you need a clear background decal, use a solvent based clear coat and the white background will turn clear and stay clear. The last time I ordered this paper, it was $15 for five, 8 1/2" by 11" sheets. Not too bad when you consider that you can skip the cost of a clear sealer and that one type of paper is good for both white and clear background decals.
According to several review I read, the Evans paper is somewhat thick, even more so than Testors. (Micromark isn't all that thin either).Man, after all these years and decal types, still there doesn't seem to be a inkjet based decal paper that consistantly:
1) Works with regular home ink-jet printers - no special printers needed.2) Absorbs inks well enough to prevent color run and bleed over with just a single coat or two of commonly available clear coating3) Has a film that is thin, is almost invisible, and responds well to solvaset or Microset to conform to the model surface.
I realize that I represent only one opinion but I have found that the Evan Designs decal paper does indeed work well with regular home inkjet printers (I use an Epson Stylus NX430) and it absorbs inkjet ink and does NOT require a sealing overspray to keep the inks from running/bleeding. Although the manufacturer recommends using lighter fluid as a decal softener, I have produced very good results using Solvaset. As chutton01 noted, this decal paper is a little on the thick side although there are a few tricks that can be used to hide the decal edges. One trick is simply to size the decal edges to line up with panel edges or rivet lines on the model. Another is to spray the first coat(s) of clear on the dry side to create a little texture. A final wet coat of clear will then blend everything together. One final problem I have run into but only on the last sheet of decal paper I used (about five years old) was that the edges of some of the decals rolled up as the decal dried. I found that simply rewetting the decal edges with a little diluted white glue or Testors Clear Parts Cement held these edges down nicely.