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For transit build - printing decals.


Andy350

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I am building the Ford Transit mark 2 for a family member.  I want the company name, so was looking at printable decal paper, can anyone recommend any?  I have found this on Amazon.  What I am not sure about is, it looks like you have to seal the ink in before it goes to water, would this be just a gloss lacquer?  Advice welcomed please.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inkjet-Water-Sheets-Transparent-Printer/dp/B06WRPSGCX/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=Clear+Inkjet+Waterslide+Decal+Paper&qid=1588142198&sr=8-5

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Any inkjet decals will need sealing before you use them, otherwise the ink will just vanish when you place them into water. Laser printed decals don't need to be sealed. To seal them you can use acrylic clear coat or Microscale Liquid decal film which you can brush on with a large flat brush. If the logo you make has any white in it or the decals are going over a dark colour you need to use white decal paper. If you use clear you won't see them over a dark base color.

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Thanks Steve, I've ordered clear decal sheets. Can I just paint underneath where the white text should be?   It's going to be white text over gloss black. 

Edited by Andy350
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25 minutes ago, Andy350 said:

Thanks Steve, I've ordered clear decal sheets. Can I just paint underneath where the white text should be?   It's going to be white text over gloss black. 

Yes you probably could do that. It depends on the logo and how complex it is. The problem is that sometimes when you use the clear decal and place it on a dark colour the inks are very thin/translucent and the decal just disappears. If you can make a white background to place your decal on then it will work just fine. If you have some white decal paper, just cut a piece to go under the decal and it will be fine. Home made decals tend to need a solid background on darker colours. If the car you're building is white then no problem to use clear paper and the white of the car is the background..

Edited by Steve Noble
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6 minutes ago, Steve Noble said:

Yes you probably could do that. It depends on the logo and how complex it is. The problem is that sometimes when you use the clear decal and place it on a dark colour the inks are very thin/translucent and the decal just disappears. If you can make a white background to place your decal on then it will work just fine. If you have some white decal paper, just cut a piece to go under the decal and it will be fine. Home made decals tend to need a solid background on darker colours. If the car you're building is white then no problem to use clear paper and the white of the car is the background..

The van will be black, the decal is just text, that's it.  Part of the text will be "HEATING & PLUMBING" 

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What colour is the "heating and plumbing" text? My experience is that any home made decals placed on a black surface will struggle to show. I'd normally print the text onto white decal paper and print a black border around the letters. Then when you cut the decal out you can cut close to the letters but leave some black edge showing and when placed in the black background the black edge blends to the colour of the vehicle and disappears.

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1 hour ago, Steve Noble said:

What colour is the "heating and plumbing" text? My experience is that any home made decals placed on a black surface will struggle to show. I'd normally print the text onto white decal paper and print a black border around the letters. Then when you cut the decal out you can cut close to the letters but leave some black edge showing and when placed in the black background the black edge blends to the colour of the vehicle and disappears.

The text was going to be white but doesn't really have to be. They are in the process of updating, and this was a previous letter head.  I should have purchased mixed decal paper. 

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That will work, when you print onto the white paper an have clear coated, cut up to the black rectangle no closer than about 0.5 mm. If the printed area gets cut into then the ink will bleed.

 

As you've got to leave a border around the printed area there will be a white line all the way around. You can either touch this up with the black paint or maybe you could incorporate it into the design?

 

Steve

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