help

[thestickyone]

i'm building a revell 1/32 ec135 eurocopter and want to make it as the west midlands air ambulnce. does anyone know any aftermarket decal sellers that would do the decals or make them and would it b pricey.

thanks
john

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[whiskee]

I think there is a kit you can buy to make your own and print them out with your home computer/printer. I dont know much about this, but i think that would be a much better investment and something you would use over and over again. I am not sure how one would get the sizing right though.

 

[thestickyone]

thanks for the advice i'll have a look

 

[13aceofspades13]

he speaks the truth, you basically get decal sheet, they also sell printer paper sized decal sheet, and you can use basically any printer, but if you have a Ink jet, get some Laquer clear coat and spray the decals with a thin even layer of that and let it dry before dipping in water, this will protect the layer of ink from desolving.

if you have a Lazer jet it does not require laquer spray, i don,t know about a alps, i would also recommend using white decal sheet and not clear unless you have a Alps printer, or your decals details and everything is just straight up plain black, trust me, man of experience, if you use clear, especially with a Ink jet, without a white background, it will mess up the colors.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

You can buy blank decal sheets in either clear or white, and for either Laser printer or Ink Jet printer. Make sure you get the right one for your printer otherwise it won't work that well.

You only need the white sheet, if you have white in the marking that you are trying to reproduce, because regular laser and ink jet printers will not print white (that is where the ALPS printers come in, but printers, parts and ink are getting scarce), otherwise you can get away with using the clear sheet.

If using an ink jet, the ink is water soluble, so the ink has to be sealed to the decal sheet using a clear lacquer or enamel spray. The stuff that comes in the Testors kit is just a relabeled can of Testors Lacquer Gloss Clear.

One thing about making your own decals, because it is sealed with a clear coat, the whole sheet is basically one big decal, so any decal you print has to be cut out very carefully and as close to the decal edge as you can get, otherwise you risk having alot of clear barrier around the decal.

I have done a few myself, mostly just license plates for car kits I have built as I can custom make one using the Acme License plate maker, lots of new and old license plates from all over the US and Canada.

 

[13aceofspades13]

You can buy blank decal sheets in either clear or white, and for either Laser printer or Ink Jet printer. Make sure you get the right one for your printer otherwise it won't work that well.

You only need the white sheet, if you have white in the marking that you are trying to reproduce, because regular laser and ink jet printers will not print white (that is where the ALPS printers come in, but printers, parts and ink are getting scarce), otherwise you can get away with using the clear sheet.

If using an ink jet, the ink is water soluble, so the ink has to be sealed to the decal sheet using a clear lacquer or enamel spray. The stuff that comes in the Testors kit is just a relabeled can of Testors Lacquer Gloss Clear.

One thing about making your own decals, because it is sealed with a clear coat, the whole sheet is basically one big decal, so any decal you print has to be cut out very carefully and as close to the decal edge as you can get, otherwise you risk having alot of clear barrier around the decal.

I have done a few myself, mostly just license plates for car kits I have built as I can custom make one using the Acme License plate maker, lots of new and old license plates from all over the US and Canada.

yep, as i just said... yea that testors decal bonder is basically just clear laquer spray, i think its a better deal too to get a can of laquer clear from meijer or wallmart or something.

 

[Quaralane]

Be careful with those clear laquers, though.
It's a fine balance between usabole decals and ones that curl up on the surface of the model.
Trust me on this

 

[Grendels]

Do trust Quaralane on this, he is speaking from experience!

 

[Quaralane]

--Laughs--
Definitely. Finally found my solution with the MicroScale liquid decal film.
Spray varnishes can be touchy.
And, along those lines, you might also want to test the varnish before working on a set. Some of those can cause the decals to crinkle.

 

[13aceofspades13]

i have a brand that works really good, when i get home ill tell you it, dont know it off the top of my head.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

I have used the Testors Lacquer clear on the sheets that Bare Metal Foil make (or used to make...don't know if they are still available or not) and it worked ok, no curling, but it wasn't a very big item.

When I did the first one, I thought...gloss coat...cool, will just use Future, then I found out the hard way that Future is water soluble (DUH!) along with the Ink Jet ink in the decal, needless to say, as soon as it hit the water, it started to disappear, and within about 5mins or so, there was no hint of any decal on the sheet at all.

Reprint, shoot with Testors Lacquer and viola, right as rain.

 

[13aceofspades13]

I have used the Testors Lacquer clear on the sheets that Bare Metal Foil make (or used to make...don't know if they are still available or not) and it worked ok, no curling, but it wasn't a very big item.

When I did the first one, I thought...gloss coat...cool, will just use Future, then I found out the hard way that Future is water soluble (DUH!) along with the Ink Jet ink in the decal, needless to say, as soon as it hit the water, it started to disappear, and within about 5mins or so, there was no hint of any decal on the sheet at all.

Reprint, shoot with Testors Lacquer and viola, right as rain.

i tried Future too, beacuse i had nothing ells at the time, just to see if it would work, i had a strong feeling it would not, so i took a spare decail i had, and lightly brushed some future on it and let it dry, as soon as it hit the water the future basically Failed instantly, and the Decal would have smudged all over during application...