Making custom stickers

[Godzilla]

I was seeing a thread in the toys section about printing/making custom stickers for your 1/48, 1/60 etc. Now is the ALPS printer the only printer or are there other printers? Would it be better just to ask some of the fellow MWers here like Taka to make them for me?

[Anasazi37]

I was seeing a thread in the toys section about printing/making custom stickers for your 1/48, 1/60 etc. Now is the ALPS printer the only printer or are there other printers? Would it be better just to ask some of the fellow MWers here like Taka to make them for me?

You can make stickers using an inkjet or laser printer, but they often do not look anywhere near as good as professionally printed ones or those made using an ALPS printer. One of the big advantages of ALPS printing is that you can print white. No other printer out there can do it.

[Godzilla]

Thanks. I guess I wont be spending money on a ALPS printer. SO how much do you do customs?

[Anasazi37]

Thanks. I guess I wont be spending money on a ALPS printer. SO how much do you do customs?

I charge MW members $15/hr (normally $60 for commercial clients) for my design time plus materials fees ($5 per quarter sheet, 4.25 x 5.5). Most projects take between 1 and 5 hours, depending on the complexity of the original designs and what you want.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

anasazi

i got an inkjet printer, a imac and adobe ps/illustrator.

How do i go about designing the actual logos and sizing? it amazes me how accurate you guys get your decals down to size. Also what kin of paper do I use?(i am in college so alps is way out my league right now)

[Neova]

Scan in the original decals, trace over them with Illustrator or cleanup as some call it, print it out, compare to the original, test fit, resize, print out again.

Repeat for all other decals.

One you create 1 kite shield of 1 size, you can resize to get the correct scales and recolor for other versions.

It just takes time. If you're using waterslides, you better make sure the ink STAYS on the decal sheet when you soak it. Using a top coat or water resistant ink would help.

I'm working with someone to see if I can get those printers for you guys. If you guys need to print a LOT of decals and stickers, my friend owns a print shop which may help you with high volumes.

Edited March 17, 2004 by Neova

[Rodavan]

Do you get better quality if you do a colour photo copy on the decal paper instead of inkjet print ?- Anasazi37

I just bought a few pages to try out this weekend .

I have seen this in my local hobbyshop - Micro Format's SuperCal Inkjet Decal System

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/reviews/pre_inkjet.htm

[Anasazi37]

Do you get better quality if you do a colour photo copy on the decal paper instead of inkjet print ?- Anasazi37

I just bought a few pages to try out this weekend .

I have seen this in my local hobbyshop - Micro Format's SuperCal Inkjet Decal System

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/reviews/pre_inkjet.htm

Wow, that reviewer doesn't really know what he's talking about. I've tried pretty much every printing technique and paper type out there before I settled on the system I use now. First of all, you should NEVER use ALPS inks on paper designed for inkjet printers. The ink might stay put on small designs, but just try using the decal. Bad, very bad.

There are about five or six inkjet decal paper suppliers out there. The paper is specially coated to "trap" the ink on the surface of the paper. Unlike with traditional paper, the ink is not absorbed into the paper so it can smear or run very easily. You also have to wait for the ink to fully dry before applying the protective coating. This can take hours or even days depending on the humidity where you live. The "fixative" they sell with that kit is nothing more than a clear acyrlic top coat which you can buy from Krylon for a few dollars in a much larger size (Crystal Clear). I'd actually recommend using Microscale's Liquid Decal Film for small decal projects. You can even brush it on by hand.

Laser decals never look as good as inkjet printed decals (most color laser printers max out at 600 dpi whereas inkjets go as high as 2400 dpi), but the advantage is that they don't use water-based inks. The colors are also less saturated.

Here are the supplies I recommend:

HPS PAS/2 laser decal paper (www.papilio.com)

HPS IAS inkjet decal paper (www.papilio.com)

Microscale Liquid Decal Film (www.bare-metal.com)

HPS also sells another type of laser decal paper called PAS/N but it's not for the novice.

Shin, what Neova describes is essentially the process I use to create decals. It can be a lot more complicated depending on the project (like the Minmay Guard sets), but scanning in orginals, rendering new ones in Illustrator, then resizing them to fit properly is the basic process.

[Rodavan]

Thanks for the heads up !

Good to have such experience on this forum.

[RichterX]

Any one knows if the decals of the 1/72 Angel Birds would look alright on a Yamato 1/60?

[Anasazi37]

Any one knows if the decals of the 1/72 Angel Birds would look alright on a Yamato 1/60?

If you're thinking about using all of the decals on the Hasegawa sheet, including the large red and blue ones, it won't work. 1/60 valks are larger and different in proportion. It took me a long time to design these decals to properly fit a 1/60:

Here's how they look on the finished custom: