Experience With VitaCal decal paper anyone???

[RailfanS]

Ok here's the situation: I just bought a Vitacal waterside decal kit to print patches for my freelance railroad. I made the patches in ms powerpoint and printed them on my HP inkjet printer, following instructions exactly. Because the patches are blue with white lettering I had to print them on white decal paper, which I did. After waiting about 2 hours for the ink to dry I applied the sealer coat (Vitacal transfer coat, in an aresol can) as described in the instructions and allowed it to dry overnight. The following day I cut a decal out and placed it in a bowl of tap water... the ink washed right off. I then took the remaining decals and coated them with microscale liquid decal film, which caused some smearing. This works better, but I'm still having trouble applying decals without them being scuffed or scratched. My question is: has anyone used these products before and found any "tricks" for producing decals that don't smear or scratch. Any help would be appreciated,

Jamie 

[MisterBeasley]

I haven't used that particular paper, but I've done a lot of home-made decals.

I also use the Microscale Liquid Decal Film.  I always wait for the decal to fully dry, preferably overnight.  If it's extremely humid, either do this in an air conditioned space or wait for the weather to change.  I have found that the smearing is greatly reduced by weighting down the paper all around the decal so that it is absolutely flat.  This keeps the film from running "downhill" a bit on the paper.  The paper will want to curl up a bit, and you've got to keep that from happening.

I use clear decal paper.  I make sure I've got a good border of film all around the printed part of the decal.  If your decals are leaking around the edges, you may actually be cutting through the film and exposing an unprotected edge.  I've never tried this, but you might be able to paint the edges with film after you cut them, if you can't arrange to have an unprinted border.