Finding or creating decals for 3D printed models?

[Wonderer]

Apologies but I cannot find an alternative thread although this must have been discussed before?

 

Basically I am trying to work out how to v=create my own decals for more obscure 3D printed models that are now available out there. The 3D movement has allowed me to grab some printed models of movie ships that probably would never see the light of day from Revell and the like. My last two purchases have been large scale versions of Firefly's Serenity and Red Dwarfs Starbug. Both great models but alas they do not come with decals.

 

I have decided I would rather not paint names and logos as much as possible and have printed a few simple decals before in the past so wanted to go that route. However I dont know where to begin regarding creating decals for these builds? I am also unaware of the legalities of doing so? Any advice as to how one goes about this would be most appreciated.

 

regards

 

Rich

[Niall]

Old school - spray gloss varnish onto the gummed side of a gummed luggage lable - draw and/or paint you design over this, even with Letraset type rubdown letters/numbers. A final coat of varnish to seal everything. cut out and use as waterslide decals.

 

You can buy clear(only good for black markings) and white transfer film for laser or inkjet printers. Draw your design on a vector drawing program like Gimp or Corale Draw.

 

I 've bought clear and white inkjet film from, this company(they seem to have changed from a separate retailer to an Amazon seller) -

https://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/9-best-water-slide-decal-sheets-reviewed/

 

When printed seal with a gloss acrylic varnish(a matt or satin varnish can be added over this).

[Crayons]

I am certainly not an authority of any sort on this matter. But try getting high resolution screen shots of the markings on the various ships then load that image into something like Photoshop and tweak/resize. Print test runs on normal paper to see size fits and such, I wouldn't bother with colour at the test stage, more about getting the proportions right. Then once you are happy, load a clear decal sheet suitable for your printer and print away. If the logo you are printing has white on it, then use white decal sheet (few home printers can print white), if it has both white and transparency, then I would suggest printing the decal in two stages as separate items then decal over decal. And remember, once you print the decal, you need to seal it, inkjet or laser regardless.

 

Hope that makes some sort of sense.

[Niall]

Crayons method is OK to get sizes but the pixels of a bmp or jpg file look too jagged or blury for decals. Having got the size right "trace" it in a vector drawing file to produce the design. I did this for the unit markings I've made(1/72nd scale) in this photo -

[roymattblack]

Just a small add-on here.

You don't need to seal laser printed decals but you might want to clear coat the model when the decals have been applied.

[Rob de Bie]

On 4/19/2021 at 3:18 PM, Wonderer said:

Apologies but I cannot find an alternative thread although this must have been discussed before?

 

Basically I am trying to work out how to v=create my own decals for more obscure 3D printed models that are now available out there. The 3D movement has allowed me to grab some printed models of movie ships that probably would never see the light of day from Revell and the like. My last two purchases have been large scale versions of Firefly's Serenity and Red Dwarfs Starbug. Both great models but alas they do not come with decals.

 

I have decided I would rather not paint names and logos as much as possible and have printed a few simple decals before in the past so wanted to go that route. However I dont know where to begin regarding creating decals for these builds? I am also unaware of the legalities of doing so? Any advice as to how one goes about this would be most appreciated.

 

If you already know how to design your decals (in vector graphics, very preferably), and your problem is how to have them printed, I have two lists of custom printers on my Alps decal website:

 

https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm

 

Plenty to choose from. I've used SpotModel in Spain most recently. Not as sharp as Alps decals, but very nice otherwise, and with individual decal films.

 

Rob