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Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut





And making your own. Possible? Anyone know how or what I'd need? I'm building the materials for making my own unique group of Marines and want to design a symbol that is just as unique as they will be.
   
Made in us
Lone Wolf Sentinel Pilot




San Diego Ca

There are various products out there that you can print your own waterslide decals on (google is your friend).
These blank waterslide sheets come in 2 flavors...ink jet and laser jet. They are NOT interchangable.
Each of those comes in 2 types; clear and white.
The clear is better for use on lite colored backgrounds like white, yellow, bone, sky blue, etc. A darker color (Purple, brown, black, blue, etc) needs the white sheet so the decal ink has a base to 'pop' on. Unfortunately the white edging will also show up so you'll have to trim pain the decal after its on.
Testers actually makes a little kit that you can pick up for under 10 USD at most train stores.
So, down and dirty:
Pick the type of paper you need.
Create your symbol and resize it so it is about 1/4 to 3/8 inch size... small enough to fit on a shoulder pad.
TEST PRINT THE SYMBOL FIRST!!!
Dont waste the decal sheets until you have a clean master that your happy with.
Print the decal per the instructions on the pack.
Spray with a coat of clear varnish...real lite. The printer ink is laid on top of the decal sheet...not soaked into the paper like normal printing.
wait and hour and spray a second lite coat.
Wait 24 hours, then cut them out and apply like any other waterslide decal.

Their are also garage companies that can take your design and produce the decal for you...for a price. Again..the Goog.

Life isn't fair. But wouldn't it be worse if Life were fair, and all of the really terrible things that happen to us were because we deserved them?
M. Cole.
 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut





Thanks for the reply! Doesn't sound overly complicated, I'll have to shop around and see if I can find these blank sheets, pretty sure my printer is a ink jet, but I'll double check first LOL
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




Kelly hit a lot of the big issues with printing.

Don't try and apply them like any other waterslides though, they are a little more fragile and picky about how they are applied.

When applying them, put em in water for 5 seconds. No more. Then take em out and just hold it for a good 20-30 seconds, give the glue time to really activate. Then Very Very gently apply them. I've found it's almost better to slide a good sharp hobby knife in between the decal and the paper and slide it over to the model almost like you were sliding an sunny side up egg onto a plate.

On flat surfaces that will usually do. For curves you'll need some Microsol. Just take a droplet of it on a brush and VERY VERY GENTLY dab it onto the decal. The testers decal react very well to carefully applied microsol (better then manufactured decals if you ask me), so the end result will be a decal that comes out looking almost like it was painted on.
   
Made in us
Lone Wolf Sentinel Pilot




San Diego Ca

Sorry, 1 more little tidbit.
When you create your symbol (remmber, its going to be about 1/4" square...so small details will wash out and make it look like poop, so don't get complicated and overthink the project) do a copy-paste so you get an entire decal set for dudesmen and vehicles in one printing.
The water slide paper can not be used again once you have sprayed the varnish/sealant onto it. And if you try to run it through a printer a second time (prior to varnishing), the original print will smear all over the place and ruin the whole thing.

Another trick that i thought about (but too late to avoid alot of paint work) is that while your creating your symbol, if your going to use the white transfer sheet (ie: you have a dark paint scheme and a lite colored symbol) surround the symbol with a small area of color that closely matches your paint color.
This will give you a bit of cutting room around the decal and mask the white background...especially in hard to reach spots.

Life isn't fair. But wouldn't it be worse if Life were fair, and all of the really terrible things that happen to us were because we deserved them?
M. Cole.
 
   
 
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