Railroad Pony
Member
Where can I get custom decals made? I'm going to need a bunch of them.
Custom decals.
- Thread starter Railroad Pony
- Start date
goscrewyourselves
I'm the one
Recently, I have made my own but I have heard very good things about a mob called Circus City (I think) Decals:
circuscitydecals.com
I can't vouch for them personally though.
Circus City Decals
Circus City Decals Creating Waterslide Decals for Scale Model Trains, Trucks, Vehicles, Farm Equipment and any other scale models that you might need them for.
circuscitydecals.com
I can't vouch for them personally though.
Smudge617
Well-Known Member
Q
Quite a few members have recommended them to me as well, by all accounts he's very good, I've never had to use them myself yet though.Recently, I have made my own but I have heard very good things about a mob called Circus City (I think) Decals:
Circus City Decals
Circus City Decals Creating Waterslide Decals for Scale Model Trains, Trucks, Vehicles, Farm Equipment and any other scale models that you might need them for.
I can't vouch for them personally though.
ctclibby
Well-Known Member
Railroad Pony:
Few ways to possibly go here depending on the depth of your pockets.
1. Find a local printer ( sign shop might work ) and talk with them about it.
2. Find somebody with a color laser printer.
3. Buy your wife a good color laser.
4. Dye Sub's ( photo printer ) will print 4x6" stuff and they are getting pretty cheap. Note this is NOT an Ink Jet printer.
If there is white in the decal, you need a printer that can do dye-sub -or- You can print white with a laser printer although I have found that unless you are doing a *bunch* of decals it can get spendy. You need white toner, cartridges are made for a few models for HP, Brother ...etc. You basically replace the black toner cartridge with a white one. Means that if there is black in the decal, the other colors need to be combined to print black. My wife's HP will combine the other colors to make black, I have not checked my Brother color laser for this yet. I don't know if you want to try 2 passes; print single color, reload and print the other colors - registration could be a problem. Since we print decals with tiny detail the whole nine yards printed at once is the way to go and registration will not get ya.
In any event, you will need to design artwork for your decals as vector SVG's or the like. This way you can design big, then scale them down to what ever size you want then test print them to make sure they come out the way you want at the size you want. When they look good take them to the local printer and give them a go; or do your own thing.
An Alps ink jet does print white. You can still find them on eBay and such but they now cost ( used ) five to six times the price they were new. Ink jet does not fuse the ink to the paper like a laser so additional hoop jumping is in order for this type.
For me, the local print shop would be the way to go for onsey/twosey stuff as the turn around time is faster and no shipping. Plus you can talk with them face to face to figure out the problems with the design - you will have problems so expect that.
Have fun!
Later
Few ways to possibly go here depending on the depth of your pockets.
1. Find a local printer ( sign shop might work ) and talk with them about it.
2. Find somebody with a color laser printer.
3. Buy your wife a good color laser.
4. Dye Sub's ( photo printer ) will print 4x6" stuff and they are getting pretty cheap. Note this is NOT an Ink Jet printer.
If there is white in the decal, you need a printer that can do dye-sub -or- You can print white with a laser printer although I have found that unless you are doing a *bunch* of decals it can get spendy. You need white toner, cartridges are made for a few models for HP, Brother ...etc. You basically replace the black toner cartridge with a white one. Means that if there is black in the decal, the other colors need to be combined to print black. My wife's HP will combine the other colors to make black, I have not checked my Brother color laser for this yet. I don't know if you want to try 2 passes; print single color, reload and print the other colors - registration could be a problem. Since we print decals with tiny detail the whole nine yards printed at once is the way to go and registration will not get ya.
In any event, you will need to design artwork for your decals as vector SVG's or the like. This way you can design big, then scale them down to what ever size you want then test print them to make sure they come out the way you want at the size you want. When they look good take them to the local printer and give them a go; or do your own thing.
An Alps ink jet does print white. You can still find them on eBay and such but they now cost ( used ) five to six times the price they were new. Ink jet does not fuse the ink to the paper like a laser so additional hoop jumping is in order for this type.
For me, the local print shop would be the way to go for onsey/twosey stuff as the turn around time is faster and no shipping. Plus you can talk with them face to face to figure out the problems with the design - you will have problems so expect that.
Have fun!
Later
wvg_ca
semi flaccid member
there's another way to make your own, it's called an inkjet printer .. cost is maybe ten bucks for five eight by eleven sheets of decal paperer ..drawbacks are two, first it wont do white, and secondly it needs a light coat of clear matte to set the colour inkjet dye into the paper ..
i made a page [all i needed] for my short line, the squirrel creek railroad in probably less that a half hour .. and i used paintdrip.ttf font sized appropriately
i made a page [all i needed] for my short line, the squirrel creek railroad in probably less that a half hour .. and i used paintdrip.ttf font sized appropriately
TLOC
Well-Known Member
I will gladly recommend Circuscitydecals.com. Matt does excellent work, is reasonable and this is a full time job for him not a side gig. I have many of his stock decals and he has done custom work for me. He also is an excellent modeler. I am friends with his dad, so that is how I had first contact. You won’t be disappointed.
I have used Bill Brillinger at PDC. He has a quick turnaround and has been very easy to work with. His decals are very high quality.
logandsawman
Well-Known Member
Bill made custom decals for me, too. I sent him the images of the artwork and he put together a fine set of professional decals. They were white lettering, by the way. Took him about a week.
Dave LASM
westtexjohn
Well-Known Member
If you choose to make your own decals using an inkjet or laser printer, using the "transparency" paper setting will give a more dense print good for lighter blues and yellows. Use the correct decal paper for your printer type also.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
Snowman
Well-Known Member
DIY printing in white? Maybe....
-------------
I've wondered for a while now if one can't use an inexpensive ink-tank printer to print with white ink instead of black ink (in black and white mode or even color). It's not immediately obvious why the printer needs to know it's printing with the wrong color at all, unless mixing CMY, and I'm not sure even that wouldn't work. Perhaps using two printers, inking CMY over a white decal base (multipass registration would be a problem, but that's why we experiment, right?)
Someone may already have tried it, and in case you want to give a go yourself, a printer like this one might be a good place to start:
epson.com
...perhaps coupled with something like this ink:
If you try it, let us know how it works out.
------------
If you contemplate lettering on a larger scale, in terms of sheer numbers, ink-pad printing might be the better way to go...
...unless you really like applying those decals.
-------------
I've wondered for a while now if one can't use an inexpensive ink-tank printer to print with white ink instead of black ink (in black and white mode or even color). It's not immediately obvious why the printer needs to know it's printing with the wrong color at all, unless mixing CMY, and I'm not sure even that wouldn't work. Perhaps using two printers, inking CMY over a white decal base (multipass registration would be a problem, but that's why we experiment, right?)
Someone may already have tried it, and in case you want to give a go yourself, a printer like this one might be a good place to start:
EcoTank ET-M1170 Wireless Monochrome Supertank Printer | Products | Epson US
The EcoTank ET-M1170 monochrome supertank printer, powered by PrecisionCore®, offers worry-free, cartridge-free printing with an easy-to-fill, supersized ink tank. Users save up to 75 percent with low-cost replacement bottles vs. mono laser toner – about 1/3 of 1 cent per ISO page vs. 2 ½...
...perhaps coupled with something like this ink:
If you try it, let us know how it works out.
------------
If you contemplate lettering on a larger scale, in terms of sheer numbers, ink-pad printing might be the better way to go...
...unless you really like applying those decals.
