captain Van Plastic episode 7 making your own decals

making decals

[@michaelcooke2559]

Nice video. Very informative. Great tips. Thanks for sharing.

[@robertsienko3576]

I use an ink jet, but you have to use the bonder or a clear coat no matter what, it's a must.

[@EdsAttentionToDetail]

New subscriber here. Great video. I have tried my hand at printing my own decals before and met with varied results. Love your builds, again Great video!

[@kimskustomgarage9578]

Nice stuff 😀 I make my own decals too, basically the same way as you do, except I print them on a laserprinter at my job. I dont need to use any bonder at all, since they are printed on a laserprinter. Its fun to do your own decals 😀

[@DayTwo-w8n]

Love the ambulance! Such a nice way of doing that kit.

[@robertsienko3576]

Thanks

[@ForDemoPurposesOnly]

I do appreciate the time and effort you put into this video, and I am in no way disparaging your work in it my little novel of a comment (Apologies in advance for the long read). My only hope in telling you my previous experience in doing decals this way is you take away some information for improved decal making in a future video. *WHITE INKJET DECAL PAPER* Your surface for your decal has to be the same color as the paper (white) or you have to be REALLY good with scissors when cutting out the decal. A possible workaround for a different colored surface (such as red) would be to have a similar colored background under your graphic as the surface you're applying it to help it look like it blends in better. *CLEAR INKJET DECAL PAPER* While solving the problem of blending the graphic into the surface, your decal won't look as crisp and sharp (and darker), even on white. Plus it will also unfortunately blend in TOO good. This is because the graphic retains the same transparency as the paper (clear) I did a Hot Wheels Greyhound bus and on the white part, the decals looked darker. Also did a Hot Wheels Supervan as a Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, and the decals looked very muddied, even on a light colored (teal) surface. *MAKING AUTHENTIC LOOKING DECALS* The key is having a white background for just your decal on clear decal paper. You can really only do this with clear decal paper on a laser jet printer that has a white cartridge. Paul Youdelis (Fat Guy Productions on youtube) has a video demonstrating this process. You basically print the decal in all white, put the paper back into the printer in the same alignment as it was before and print the decal in color over this (hoping the color graphic lines up with the white one you previously printed). *CREATING DECAL GRAPHICS* First, while using a word document program *does* work, you need to use a graphics creation program (like Photoshop) to truly make your own decal graphics. There are free alternatives out there (like Krita and Gimp), but they do have a learning curve especially if you're not used to using that type of program. There's also online graphics creation websites out there that aren't *as* daunting to learn, but don't have all the bells and whistles as stand-alone programs. Just type "online graphics editor" in the search bar and several will pop up. *TIP FOR SIZING YOUR DECAL GRAPHIC* Scan the surface you're applying the graphic on using a regular flatbed scanner (some inkjet printers already have a scanner built in on top of them). This way, you can use the scan as a template to size and place your decal graphics, so you're not having to measure the surface and not necessarily printing out the graphic on regular paper to see if it's the correct size. A key to doing it this way is your decal graphic has to be the same dpi as your scan (or vice versa) or else the decal will come out bigger (or smaller) than you originally created. The only problem I've come across doing it this way is curved surfaces (like the hood on a VW Bug). While it will work for the most part, you either have to "roll" the curved surface with the scanner light or use the SWAG (Scientific Wild A** Guess) Method to eyeball it.

[@deanlewis8083]

very nice tutorial. I was wondering which type of printer you were using for your decals. If I'm not mistaken, when you use a inkjet printer you need to clear coat the decals but if you use a laser printer you do not need to clear coat. Do you have any info on that? thanks again for a good informative video. subscribed.

[@hasbeengood]

Waw! Pretty cool

[@robertsienko3576]

Thanks

[@donwheeler1683]

Any suggestions on how to make white numbers w/out any outlines for train car numbers on dark color backgrounds? I've got the clear and white papers and have made quite a few black number decals that work great. But how do you get white numbers?

[@robertsienko3576]

I have never tried to attack that, usually I use dry transfers or use decals from professional decal makers.

[@donwheeler1683]

@@robertsienko3576 where are you sourcing those? My source never came thru for me

[@CrappyBuilder]

Awesome video! I don’t have access to the type of equipment that you have. Would it be an imposition to ask if you might make a couple of custom decals for a kit that I built but didn’t like any of the decals that came with it? I’m not asking for anything free, I’d more than happy to pay. LOL! As long as they don’t bankrupt me. I know time and materials cost money. Just thought that there’s no harm in asking. If you don’t ask the answer is always no.

[@robertsienko3576]

I would live to help you. Send me a friend request on Facebook, Robert Sienko, then we can message back and forth. You can send me the images and I can see what I can do with them.

[@CrappyBuilder]

@@robertsienko3576 Sorry I don’t Facebook. Thanks for replying back though.

[@robertsienko3576]

Send me an example of what you want through messages, I will see what I can do.

[@modelspeedshop]

Very nice show rod ambulance! Just subbed ya 👍🏻 #under1000gb24 If you feel like it jump in the group build. Its for channels under 1000 subscribers 👊🏻