making your own waterslide decals - templates

[r377]

I am trying to make my own decals for 32 scale. Have followed advise but still look pixelated. I have taken down to a print shop and it only looked slightly better than my home printer.

I have used big images and small images, shrunk them down with no luck.

I used Irfanview, couldn't get ms word to paste. Just downloaded GIMP but looks complicated. I liked Irfanview as it was basic.

Has anyone got any templates I could use please ? Any other tips ? thanks

[RexCadral]

Hi! If you're using a Windows PC, you can download Paint.NET or just use the "Paint" program that came with Windows. MS Word is not a good choice for graphics. To get the best results possible on a Laser printer, you want to go with 600 pixels/inch. For an inkjet printer, 300 pixels/inch is about the best you're going to do. If you're shrinking down logos you found online, keep in mind that most web images are a maximum of 120 pixels per inch unless they're specially marked by the website as "high resolution". To get 'em to 600 pixels/in you're going to have to make sure they're 5 times smaller in your graphics editing program. - Depending on the size of the original, that's not that hard.

You can message me if you want help.

[RichD]

You will get better results if you save your graphics as .tiffs, rather than as .jpgs. I often use PowerPoint to create my graphics and save them as .tiffs for printing.

[RexCadral]

Or PNG <-- This is a more modern common format for "lossless" images.

[slothead]

Over the years I've downloaded a bunch of logos and images I might want to use for decals sometime.

Thought this would look good on the trunk of a Legend or Jalopy.


Last year I found a website where you could select a font and color formats to create banners or whatever. Now I can't remember what it was. Any suggestions?




Depending on the intended use, I can try things like this on decal paper or stick on vinyl.

[slothead]

I'm getting some decals printed to build this car. Where do you builder get Micro Set and Micro Sol? They're out of stock at Tamiya where I was going to order the Mica Red paint.

[WB2]

In stock at Walthers. Any hobby shop should be able to get it.

[r377]

Thanks for the feedback and replies, I don't come on here much (working with a young family) but i will have another go with your tips and let you know how i go.....

[RichD]

You can get Microset and Microsol via Amazon.

[REL13]

I always try to support local shops first, when I need decal supplies.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I thought the sainted old guy who invented and sold both products died a few years ago. He was a legend in model train circles. I bought six of each as soon as I heard it was not going to be available anymore. I'm glad somebody is still making the stuff.

[RichD]

Recently I discovered that things print better directly from PowerPoint, rather than from a presentation that has been saved as a jpeg or tiff. It is also better to re-size things using your printer software.

[Mickey thumbs]

I have always printed directly from Keynote, Apple’s free version of Power Point because I didn’t know any better. Easy to adjust size of image, select font and type size, color and bold/italic etc. when creating the slide.