DIY waterslide decals.

[mb86]

Anyone have any experience of making their own waterslide decals? I want to have a go myself but unsure if a couple of things. Plenty of videos on YouTube to show how to do it but my computer knowledge is poor to say the least. 

Aparently they will print from an all in one inkjet printer that will print photo quality on photo paper. Now there are hundreds of different printers available, will a sub £100 one do the job, I don't want to spend loads as I will only occasionally use it for decals so the cheaper the better. I know these won't print white or metallic but I can work around that. 

What design/ photo editing software will I need? There are free to download ones available, which is my kind of price . Can the decals be accurately scaled in the program prior to printing or is it a case of trial and error?

 

[Stabliofarmer]

7 hours ago, Janval said:

Might be a bit difficult, maybe I'll find something similar off ebay. Or I could of course contact Artisan to check if it's indeed usable for this purpose, as you I also interpreted it as a decal film for custom made ones. So basically a spray can with top coat, which I use when painting models, could also work then?

Yes the top coat you are putting on a painted model is perfect for the job!

[Stabliofarmer]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F141536001831

This is the paper I use, never had issues printing too it, have had the decals shrink overtime though if not laquered over after applying to the model, not sure if thats down to the paper or my printing

[Janval]

49 minutes ago, Tractorman810 said:

i havnt done to much on clear paper like that, but even with my home printer i dont recal getting that issue, a bit see through yes, but not washing/smudging like that, to be honest i did sort of give up on the clear ones and get someone like mandy at hlt to do mine in the end, i did do all the sizing and design work , but mandy seems to be able to print out on clear decal paper fine 

 

1 hour ago, Stabliofarmer said:

I can't say I've ever seen that either. I'd be tempted to say its the decal paper at fault.

I've been thinking in that direction as well. Might try some more expensive/proper paper. And if I cannot get it right I'll order some printed.

[Tractorman810]

i havnt done to much on clear paper like that, but even with my home printer i dont recal getting that issue, a bit see through yes, but not washing/smudging like that, to be honest i did sort of give up on the clear ones and get someone like mandy at hlt to do mine in the end, i did do all the sizing and design work , but mandy seems to be able to print out on clear decal paper fine 

[Stabliofarmer]

I can't say I've ever seen that either. I'd be tempted to say its the decal paper at fault.

[catkom3]

That's a mystery to me Jan Erik,???

Regards

Joe.

[Janval]

1 hour ago, catkom3 said:

Did you " seal " them first with varnish,( lacquer ),??

Regards

Joe.

Yes, tried with both one and two layers of clear coat sprayed on (Have previously tried another kind of varnish). The photo is the decal with two layers on it, same result as with one though.

Most of the ink sits on the paper itself, not the decal, mind you - this might be what it is supposed to do, I don't know since I'm really only trying it out

[catkom3]

Did you " seal " them first with varnish,( lacquer ),??

Regards

Joe.

[Janval]

Just to give you a sample of what happens when it contacts water:

Is this supposed to happen?

[Janval]

I will have a look at it. It might be that the paper itself is just bad quality as well. Just experimenting now, one layer of clear coat on the decals and it washed out when submerged into water, the strange thing was that the colors seemed to be stuck to the paper itself, not the layer that slided off in the water. 

Did another layer of clear coating today, so I'll see how it goes. When I test it later on.

[Stabliofarmer]

Try having a play with your printer settings. Ive found the standard print cones out too quick and smudges in places, while not getting enough ink down in others. Equally a 'Best' or 'Photo' quality puts down alittle too much ink and again, smudges. Somewhere in the middle seems to work best 

[Janval]

Printed a sheet of decals tonight, but unfortunately had some issues, the larger ones (black color) came out a bit smudged form the ink printer. Would use a laser printer if I had access to one though. A bit of a set back as I was hoping to create a lot of decals I will need in a while.

The small ones however, which I had made completely from scratch just using paint and InkScape turned out quite good, no smudge.

[mb86]

1 hour ago, Tractorman810 said:

Best finish with water slide decals is a colour laser jet , gets way better finishes , i used to do them via the wifes one at work, sadly shes left now ,so stuck. Never sealed them once fitted but must try it as the ones on my petitt trailer keep lifting 

That was inconsiderate of her Sean.   will the cheapest laser printer you can find do the job or does it need to be a high end fancy one?

[Tractorman810]

Best finish with water slide decals is a colour laser jet , gets way better finishes , i used to do them via the wifes one at work, sadly shes left now ,so stuck. Never sealed them once fitted but must try it as the ones on my petitt trailer keep lifting 

[Janval]

1 hour ago, Stabliofarmer said:

From the roughly translated text it sounds like that is designed for the application you are using it for. Maybe try a few more coats its my only recommendation there.

For lacquer I just use Halfords Clear lacquer, but I expect you wont be able to source that to easily in Norway! any Acrylic automotive lacquer would do the job, infact I think any lacquer of any type should do it. All its doing is creating a waterproof barrier between the ink on the decal paper and the water when you dip the decal, at the moment you aren't creating the barrier, hence the ink is washing off.

Might be a bit difficult, maybe I'll find something similar off ebay. Or I could of course contact Artisan to check if it's indeed usable for this purpose, as you I also interpreted it as a decal film for custom made ones. So basically a spray can with top coat, which I use when painting models, could also work then?
 

1 hour ago, mb86 said:

Still fully intend to try this myself but I find that I much prefer spending time building the model to trying to get a computer and printer to cooperate with me. Intrigued as to how you get on Jan Eric. What program are you using to design the decal?

If I succeed it will open up a world of possibilities, so I'm pretty excited about it  Will post updates along the way! For the decals I tested now I used Inkscape, I actually just imported a jpeg of an old logo I found (Firstly I cropped it just using paint), within Inkscape I simply resized it to the mm length/width I wanted and saved the file as svg. I was expecting the pixels to look a bit off, but it handled it very well! The program allows for making everything from scratch as well, but I'm not that skilled with all the functions yet.

You can also find a lot of svg logos from here: https://worldvectorlogo.com/ if you find what you're after here they would be the ideal choice to import into Inkscape and resize

[Stabliofarmer]

52 minutes ago, Janval said:

You might be on to something there, here's the one I used:
https://www.artisan32.com/gb/decalque-et-photodecoupe/293-vernis-micro-liquid-decal-film-.html

It might seem like this is primarily for after treatment. Do you have any lacquer to recommend?

From the roughly translated text it sounds like that is designed for the application you are using it for. Maybe try a few more coats its my only recommendation there.

For lacquer I just use Halfords Clear lacquer, but I expect you wont be able to source that to easily in Norway! any Acrylic automotive lacquer would do the job, infact I think any lacquer of any type should do it. All its doing is creating a waterproof barrier between the ink on the decal paper and the water when you dip the decal, at the moment you aren't creating the barrier, hence the ink is washing off.

[mb86]

Still fully intend to try this myself but I find that I much prefer spending time building the model to trying to get a computer and printer to cooperate with me. Intrigued as to how you get on Jan Eric. What program are you using to design the decal?

[Janval]

9 minutes ago, Stabliofarmer said:

Sounds like the liquid isn't sealing the ink to the paper, maybe try a few coats or a sibgle heavier coat. Got to say Ive never heard of a liquid for fixing the print to the paper, I've always used clear lacquer in a spray can. 

It isn't called decal fix is it? as that's to fix the decal once applied to the model.

You might be on to something there, here's the one I used:
https://www.artisan32.com/gb/decalque-et-photodecoupe/293-vernis-micro-liquid-decal-film-.html

It might seem like this is primarily for after treatment. Do you have any lacquer to recommend?

[Stabliofarmer]

Sounds like the liquid isn't sealing the ink to the paper, maybe try a few coats or a sibgle heavier coat. Got to say Ive never heard of a liquid for fixing the print to the paper, I've always used clear lacquer in a spray can. 

It isn't called decal fix is it? as that's to fix the decal once applied to the model.

[Janval]

Thought I'd breathe some life into this thread again as I have begun printing decals now. I use transparent water slide decal paper, and this liquid from Artisan32 to make it waterproof. The first test didn't go as planned though. After waiting a reasonable amount of time after brushing the liquid on the decals I put it in water - Then the paint washed out really fast.

Anyone of you experienced this?

[mb86]

Thanks Sean, did you find the premium white decal paper was thick enough to stop the surface colour showing through? I won't be getting a laser printer, I just won't use it enough to justify the cost. Local computer shop sells cannon inkjet printers for £75 so will have a look in there.

[Tractorman810]

have dabbled in waterslide decals for a few builds, always best to buy the premium decal paper if you can, especially the white ones ,as others can be near on see through, not good if you want white text, also both are thicker so less likley to split, all be it hardly noticeable feel wise . 

using the photo setting on your printer  will aid no end quallity wise , and i got some pretty good ones out of my hp printer i used , but if you can use a laser jet printer, i used to get the wife to print mine at her work,but have now lost access to that ,  and laser printers, especially colour ones , ain't cheap for a home user .

 i for the life of me cant remember the brand of sealing spray i used but again it wasnt the cheapest ,and came recomended highly from model train groups as it didnt "bleed"  the colours ,which i found the cheaper one i first got did. 

[mb86]

15 minutes ago, R0BERT said:

no you simply just stick the photo paper on, maybe a good way to start with then work up to waterslide

Great thanks. I'm looking at printers tonight. 

[R0BERT]

no you simply just stick the photo paper on, maybe a good way to start with then work up to waterslide

[mb86]

Thank you both. Extremely helpful.

Robert- I hadn't thought of using photo paper, do you still spray that afterwards?

James. I get what you mean with the scale, but photos would be good if you could please. 

Thank you both.