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Anyone made their own decals using blank decal paper? Do they come out alright? Been looking at fallout hobbies sheets and they are cool but don't really want to have them shipped from the states.

I think it's better to find company/producer that is printing made to order decals, than to do it on home printer. I was interested in this some time ago, and home maded wasn't too good...

I've made plenty at home, works perfectly once you get the hang of it.

You need a decent quality laser printer, though.

I've printed everything from custom icons for ad mech to highly detailed nose art images right up to an A4 sized photo

Yes, a laser printer is 100% necessary. You see, ink from an inkjet printer is water-soluble...

On the up side, most copy shops will have a laser printer they can use to print files.

Inkjet works fine, you just need to seal it with gloss varnish before you try to apply it. Laser printers are much sharper and better suited for it, but either works fine. It's been a while since I did a project that needed them, but I used to custom print nameplates for my figures on decal paper. Just make sure you get inkjet decal paper for inkjet printers and laser decal paper for laser printers. Set your print settings to the maximum DPI that they can, print the page and seal it with some gloss varnish spray, then cut out the decal (the decal film covers the entire sheet, so you'll need to trim it) and apply it like any other waterslide decal

Pure black designs work best, anything in greyscale or colored needs either the model to be painted white first or you can buy solid white decal paper and you'll need to carefully cut out the design. Either way you can get really clean, professional looknig results with a bit of practice

These nameplates were printed with an inkjet printer on clear film, the beige nameplate field is painted onto the base before applying the decal

This looks like the store/listing I bought mine from years ago. I have a laser printer so chose the laser version, you need to make sure you get the right version and follow the instructions but both should work fine. I used it for decals for my Blood Ravens and was happy with the result, though iirc it did feel a little stiffer than the GW ones, but that could be from me applying too much varnish to seal them on the paper after printing.

 Vulcan wrote:

On the up side, most copy shops will have a laser printer they can use to print files.

Don't count on this. I phoned ahead, said what I wanted, and they agreed, went to the store and they refused to do it in case the decal paper damaged their expensive printer.

I've done it at home on my colour laser printer.

The important thing is getting the RIGHT decal film for your printer. You run the risk of killing your printer (inkjet film gumming up your LP) to it just not working (LP film doesn't hold ink from an inkjet properly) otherwise.

Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and buy the proper ones. I was just planning on using the work printer as I don't have one at home.

I've done it with both laser and inkjet printers.

Laser worked the best for me, initially as I was using the real HP toner; later, I cheaped out and used knockoff toner (can I be blamed for that?), that resulted in it not sticking to the paper and/or jamming the printer.

Inkjet had some nice printed results, but sealing it made it less flexible and Microsol and set didn't work properly on it.

Sounds like a drama. I don't wanna risk messing up the work printer with personal stuff as that would be embarrassing. I'll just bite the bullet and order some from fallout. They're cool enough to base some new projects around buying them ha.

I've used decal paper to make transfers for roman soldiers for historicals, my fleshtearers marines, and all kinds of odds and ends filling out a blank sheet.

I have used it primarily with an inkjet printer with no problems. Although I will say HP worked much better than Canon. So the quality of the printer and inks can have an impact. I also used my laserjet and either its not hot enough to fuse, or it maybe was a bad batch of paper, but it was sub par.

In both cases though, you should use a decal fixative on the paper to hold the decal to the paper so it doesn't bleed when you're applying them.

I bought my supplies from Micromark, which sells a starter set of clear and white paper, decal fixative, and micro set and micro sol. I've used them for years at this point. My learning curve was the printer, printer settings, doing half decent photoshop work, and test printing for size, etc.

I will also add that I've done opaque transfers, as well as white decals (white paper as the void) with the basic printer set up without issue. Just takes some planning for blending the edges to your model and matching the colors.

I've used inkjet decal paper - both clear and white - to make decals for my Salamanders and Deathwatch. They came out pretty well, but it was a bit trial and error figuring out how heavily to varnish them so that they were properly sealed but also not too heavily so that they retained flexibility. They worked pretty well, although certainly not as well as 'proper' decals like the ones you get in the kits. It just needs a bit of careful planning on whether you should use clear or white paper, and if you're using white some consideration for matching it to your model. I usually print a blob of colour around the symbol - e.g. for a white Salamanders icon on a black background, I'd print black all around it, cut the decal out through the black part and then blend it in with the paintbrush after the decal has set on the model.

I print so rarely that whenever I need to print I find my ink has dried out, buy more, print the thing and then don't use it in ages so it dries out again. So if I buy another printer it will be a laser, and I'll give laser decal paper a go.