Scanning and scaling up decal tips?

[RMP2]

I wasnt too sure where to post this, but as the decals in question relate to a modern aircraft, Ive gone for this section, apols if I should have posted somewhere else.

 

The decals I want to use are not available in 1/48, but are available in 1/72. I have both white and clear decal paper that I have printed onto in the past with a fair degree of success, but it was a right pain getting them the decals the right size. I seen to have issues with resolution of the scans and the size they end up printing as.

Im fairly sure this is a PICNIC issue (Problem In Chair Not In Computer) so wondered if you guys may be able to point me in the direction of a trouble free Idiots Guide? I think I ended up using MS Word/Open Office last time around after much faffing about, was that at all a sensible idea?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

[BritJet]

If you draw lines 10cm long on a sheet of A4 at right angles to each other leaving space for the decal you want to scan. Place the decal sheet on your scanner and then the A4 sheet so the lines will be scanned as well. In your graphics software enlarge the image 150% (72/48) and print it onto normal paper, check the length of the lines is now 15cm. Adjust as necessary and then crop the artwork to remove the lines before printing on decal paper.

 

Steve

[RMP2]

Of course, just cut the software out of the equation, back down to the basics.
Thank you, sometimes the simple stuff escapes me... Its beers fault.

[BritJet]

I like to keep things simple, I can usually understand them then......

[RMP2]

Much the same here. I forgot to keep it simple, hit the "what software to use?" query and got all wrapped up in that and left to the mercy of printer drivers and other such "helpful additions" to mankind...

 

Cheers, I appreciate the kick towards the blatantly obvious, old school, no messing, techno-bypass.

[Giorgio N]

If you scan a 1/72 sheet and then change the size to 1/48, you will still have resolution problems. The best solution would be to use the picture as a template to draw your own, prefereably with a vector drawing software like Inkscape, but this may not always be easy.

A solution may be to adjust the resolution whenever you change the size of the file, depending on your software you may be able to get better results.

I should also mention that sometimes the correct size of a marking looks wrong on a model for the simple reason that models are not always accurate. Personally I always print the completed artwork on normal paper and cut the main markings to check if they fit fine on the model, sometime I have to shave or add a mm or two here and there...

[RMP2]

Thanks, Giorgio. I shall see what I can do and post up any helpful results.

[andyf117]

Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another...

Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117

[busnproplinerfan]

i use an old Coreldraw7 which is for making vector drawings. Took awhile to learn. i have drawn decals, it's just complicated figuring out colour order when printing on an ALPS printer(very rare, but only one that w print white).  Also use it because my built in ms editor is useless and hard to use.  i also would like a simple old school(hate that term) approach, what do all the kiddies use?. The idea of scanning on the best resolution should work. i also thought of when you print on decal paper, draw up, if you can, a super fine outline on white paper, if you need a white backround, put that on the model first, then the decals. Maybe get ahold of one of the decal printers, Drawdecal, V1 etc, they can sometimes print from a jpg if it's good. Also just thought, the colour of the decal paper when scanned will show on the print afterwards, like the blue paper and may have to be edited somehow. i hate computers, so the less i use them the better, but i have to live with them. Want to see what happens with this.

[Caerbannog]

I also scan and use this as a template for a vector program (Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw). At the needed 50% scale up the 1:48 decals will not look too sharp if you only scale up the decal sheet.

 

Stencils can be tricky if you do not have the font - but there are free fonts available. Amarillo is a well known one for US serials for example.

 

Roundels are easy to make - even star and bars are no rocket science. You only have to draw them once and then copy and scale them as needed.

 

Logos of any kind can be found on the web, even as vector files. It gets more complicated when it comes to nose arts and such. Maybe your scanned file will be the best option - although modern aircraft are usually not blessed with graphics like these.

 

Colours according to Fed Standard etc. can be "mixed" in those programs - just search for the rgb values of the original colours you like to dublicate. Maybe the printer will not get them 100% correct but it should be in the right ballpark.

 

One more hint: If you can print on a laser printer you do not need a protective clear cote on the decals.

 

René

[busnproplinerfan]

2 minutes ago, Caerbannog said:

I also scan and use this as a template for a vector program (Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw). At the needed 50% scale up the 1:48 decals will not look too sharp if you only scale up the decal sheet.

 

Stencils can be tricky if you do not have the font - but there are free fonts available. Amarillo is a well known one for US serials for example.

 

Roundels are easy to make - even star and bars are no rocket science. You only have to draw them once and then copy and scale them as needed.

 

Logos of any kind can be found on the web, even as vector files. It gets more complicated when it comes to nose arts and such. Maybe your scanned file will be the best option - although modern aircraft are usually not blessed with graphics like these.

 

Colours according to Fed Standard etc. can be "mixed" in those programs - just search for the rgb values of the original colours you like to dublicate. Maybe the printer will not get them 100% correct but it should be in the right ballpark.

 

One more hint: If you can print on a laser printer you do not need a protective clear cote on the decals.

 

René

i have a laser printer and did not know that. Thanks. But even on the transparency  setting, i can't make anything larger than 1 square inch. it still gets very hot and makes a mess of the decal paper meant for laser printers. Maybe it's the paper, i now have microscale but haven't tried it yet.

[Caerbannog]

I found that using the normal paper setting on our laser printer was best to avoid melting the paper. All fancy settings let to damaged carrier film, so I went back to standard settings.

One paper I used sugested to start the printer just before the printing to avoid that it is too hot. I did not see the point for our printer, but maybe other printers have this problem.

[Bozothenutter]

scan them with a ruler and colour chart next to them?

clean up in computer

convert to some kind of vectorgraphic (these scale very well I've been told)

 

[Giorgio N]

18 hours ago, busnproplinerfan said:

i use an old Coreldraw7 which is for making vector drawings. Took awhile to learn. i have drawn decals, it's just complicated figuring out colour order when printing on an ALPS printer(very rare, but only one that w print white).  Also use it because my built in ms editor is useless and hard to use.  i also would like a simple old school(hate that term) approach, what do all the kiddies use?. The idea of scanning on the best resolution should work. i also thought of when you print on decal paper, draw up, if you can, a super fine outline on white paper, if you need a white backround, put that on the model first, then the decals. Maybe get ahold of one of the decal printers, Drawdecal, V1 etc, they can sometimes print from a jpg if it's good. Also just thought, the colour of the decal paper when scanned will show on the print afterwards, like the blue paper and may have to be edited somehow. i hate computers, so the less i use them the better, but i have to live with them. Want to see what happens with this.

 

If you're using Corel Draw 7, IMHO you're alrady using a very good software for designing and printing decals. It may be more difficult than other approaches but in my experience the results are way better. With Corel Draw you should also be able to import a bitmap like the scan of a decal sheet and either use it as it is or convert it automatically to vectors.

I used a mix of all these techniques for a 1/72 Hobbyboss P-51B a while ago and this was the result:

 

 

The checkers on the tailplanes, the small serial numbers and the individual numbers "90" are drawn using Corel drawing tools. The pin-up is a bitmap imported in Corel Draw, cleaned with Corel Photo Paint (part of the same package) and then resized. The name "Sweet Clara II" was a bitmap imported in Corel and then converted into vectorial drawing, improved a bit and finally resized.

All were printed on Bare Metal Expert's Choice laser decal paper using an Epson C1700 laser printer. This printer does not really feature the highest resolution and the pin-up shows some pixelation. I should add that the pin-up was printed on clear decal and this was applied to a white decal circle cut to the same size

[thorfinn]

I use a self-created 'idiot's guide'...as a card-carrying idiot, myself, of long standing.

 

I do most of my artwork in MS-Paint. Crude, but dependable...and surprisingly flexible, once you work out a few tricks. I always start with as large and clear an image as I can find, and do whatever tweaks are necessary. The key 'trick' in using this program is to save the image in a format that won't degrade every time it's opened...like a JPEG. [I save all mine as TIFF files, which seems to work very well.]

 

I then paste the images into an Open Office file for convenient resizing. Through experimentation, I've determined that the image 'zoomed' to 104% view on my laptop screen is the exact 'real' size that will print...so I can measure kit parts and screen images and get an exact correspondence. I simply use the 'handles' on the screen image to 'drag' it to the correct size, and it's good to go. [Make sure you're maintaining the original ratio as you're doing this bit.]

 

By sizing the image separately from the drawing program, I've found the image stays clear and sharp whether it's dragged to a large size, or shrunk down to 1/72 data-plate size. It may look blurry on the computer screen...but it prints perfectly.

 

Actual printing is the next hurdle...'dialing in' the combination of printer settings that works best with your individual machine. Once that's done...and admittedly it may take some trial and error, though it sounds like you've mostly figured it out, with yours...it's just factory work

 

Good luck!

[busnproplinerfan]

7 hours ago, Bozothenutter said:

scan them with a ruler and colour chart next to them?

clean up in computer

convert to some kind of vectorgraphic (these scale very well I've been told)

 

vector graphics are the best way to go when you can, you never loose resolution, i have scanned with ruler and also scanned the model to(built or not), then did the drawing etc on the model's image.

[busnproplinerfan]

6 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

 

If you're using Corel Draw 7, IMHO you're alrady using a very good software for designing and printing decals. It may be more difficult than other approaches but in my experience the results are way better. With Corel Draw you should also be able to import a bitmap like the scan of a decal sheet and either use it as it is or convert it automatically to vectors.

I used a mix of all these techniques for a 1/72 Hobbyboss P-51B a while ago and this was the result:

 

 

The checkers on the tailplanes, the small serial numbers and the individual numbers "90" are drawn using Corel drawing tools. The pin-up is a bitmap imported in Corel Draw, cleaned with Corel Photo Paint (part of the same package) and then resized. The name "Sweet Clara II" was a bitmap imported in Corel and then converted into vectorial drawing, improved a bit and finally resized.

All were printed on Bare Metal Expert's Choice laser decal paper using an Epson C1700 laser printer. This printer does not really feature the highest resolution and the pin-up shows some pixelation. I should add that the pin-up was printed on clear decal and this was applied to a white decal circle cut to the same size

i feel like i hijacked the thread, hope not. Haven't tried coverting a bitmap to vector, if i did, it looked weird and didn't use it. Have to try it again. Nice to see i'm not the only one using Corel. i have a corel 12 cd copy, but need a number to get it to work once loaded. i have a Xerox Pahser 6280 office printer, wanted something that would last, hopefully it's not overkill. i haven't done much with corel paint, have to learn it, but have no real instructions.

Edited March 23, 2018 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

1 hour ago, thorfinn said:

I use a self-created 'idiot's guide'...as a card-carrying idiot, myself, of long standing.

 

I do most of my artwork in MS-Paint. Crude, but dependable...and surprisingly flexible, once you work out a few tricks. I always start with as large and clear an image as I can find, and do whatever tweaks are necessary. The key 'trick' in using this program is to save the image in a format that won't degrade every time it's opened...like a JPEG. [I save all mine as TIFF files, which seems to work very well.]

 

I then paste the images into an Open Office file for convenient resizing. Through experimentation, I've determined that the image 'zoomed' to 104% view on my laptop screen is the exact 'real' size that will print...so I can measure kit parts and screen images and get an exact correspondence. I simply use the 'handles' on the screen image to 'drag' it to the correct size, and it's good to go. [Make sure you're maintaining the original ratio as you're doing this bit.]

 

By sizing the image separately from the drawing program, I've found the image stays clear and sharp whether it's dragged to a large size, or shrunk down to 1/72 data-plate size. It may look blurry on the computer screen...but it prints perfectly.

 

Actual printing is the next hurdle...'dialing in' the combination of printer settings that works best with your individual machine. Once that's done...and admittedly it may take some trial and error, though it sounds like you've mostly figured it out, with yours...it's just factory work

 

Good luck!

Does ms paint let you accurately erase backrounds? That's one problem i have.

[thorfinn]

1 hour ago, busnproplinerfan said:

Does ms paint let you accurately erase backrounds? That's one problem i have.

Unfortunately no. That's where I have to dip into a 'real' art program...I use paint.net. Also useful for 'bleaching out' color backgrounds from scanned decal sheets.

[busnproplinerfan]

2 hours ago, thorfinn said:

Unfortunately no. That's where I have to dip into a 'real' art program...I use paint.net. Also useful for 'bleaching out' color backgrounds from scanned decal sheets.

can you send a link? can't find it, find a site for real paint.

[thorfinn]

28 minutes ago, busnproplinerfan said:

can you send a link? can't find it, find a site for real paint.

Sure:

https://www.getpaint.net/