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Making decals


Hypnobear

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Hi

I have just been looking at lots of threads on here and on the internet about making decals, and although it is starting to make sense, I still have some questions about the process.

Making decals for my own use would be very useful, I have loads of kits I could do with better/new decals for, such as a Vietnam B 52, and thought that making my own would be cheaper than buying aftermarket stuff. But I've just realised how complicated it is. :unsure:

Firstly, My dad has a Epson Stylus D92, but I haven't a clue if there is a certain ink I need. Just read one post which says It doesn't matter about the type of ink

Secondly, I don't know what sort paper I should get, there seems to be a lot of choice - another post here says Bare Metal decal paper is best, and wondered if anyone knows where I can buy it in the UK? If I can't buy some over here, I found this on eBay, and wondered if this would be OK:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Inkjet-water-slide-d...=item19b6584535

Lastly, the size thing completely escapes me. Most of the time I'll be doing roundels at 1/72, but I haven't a clue how I should scale them down. I saw quite a few useul designs on this link, especially the D 520 ones: http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com/...es/info/062.htm - would I just copy them onto the program and scale them down to 1/72? Also, could I do text at 1/72 scale too?

Also, is there anything else I sould know? I'd probably be using Inkscape as a program.

Thanks in advance

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Contact Paul at little-cars.com for Bare Metal decal paper. If you have an inkjet printer then you need inkjet paper.

Scaling images depends on which program you are using to manipulate the image, some will do it as a percentage, others you will need to do it by a proportional reduction in pixels.

peebeep

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Contact Paul at little-cars.com for Bare Metal decal paper. If you have an inkjet printer then you need inkjet paper.

Scaling images depends on which program you are using to manipulate the image, some will do it as a percentage, others you will need to do it by a proportional reduction in pixels.

peebeep

Thanks, the paper is in my price range, and I can fit quite a few roundels on an A4 sheet.

As for getting the scaling right, this is what it says on Inkscape FAQS:

How do I scale or rotate groups of nodes?

You cannot yet do it by mouse, but you can do it from the keyboard. When several nodes are selected, pressing < or > scales, [ or ] rotates the selected nodes as if they were an “object”, around the center of that node group or around the node over which your mouse cursor hovers. (And arrow keys, of course, move the selected nodes as a whole.) So, for example, in a single-path silhouette portrait, you can now select the nodes of the nose and rotate/scale the nose as a whole without breaking the path into pieces. Pressing Alt with these keys gives pixel-sized movement depending on zoom, the same as in Selector. Also, you can press h or v to flip the selected nodes horizontally or vertically.

....Which sounds pretty alien to me, I guess I'll just have to play around with it.

Don't suppose anyone knows what file I need to download, it gives a few options on the site, but neither me or my dad doesn't have a clue which one to go for:

Stable release 0.46 intended for production use is available:

•Source Tarball — .gz See README to install, or CompilingInkscape for troubleshooting help.

•Mac OS X

◦OS X 10.5, Leopard — Universal .dmg (Please first upgrade X11.app to at least XQuartz v2.1.4.)

◦OS X 10.4, Tiger — Universal .dmg

◦OS X 10.3, Panther — PPC .dmg

•Windows — .exe installer, 7zip

Download any of the above (as well as .sig files and previous releases) at the Sourceforge Downloads page, or through your distro's update capabilities.

A Linux Autopackage of 0.45 is also available here — .package (See autopackage.org for directions).

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Scaling: it all depends what size your artwork is and what size the markings are on the model. The only way to calculate that is to divide the one into the other to arrive at the correct percentage. To know what size the markings should be on the model, you really need to know what size the originals were. Luckily, most markings are made in standard sizes, and can be researched fairly readily on-line, so that bit's easy.

The markings offered on MAI are fitted to one scale or the other and they give you instructions as to what scaling to use if you want the other. The common scales have a handy relationship: 1/48 is two-thirds the size of 1/32, and 1/72 is two-thirds the size of 1/48. So if you have 1/72 markings and want them in 1/48, you increase by 1.5 (or 150% on a copier). If you have 1/48 markings and want them in 1/72, you reduce to two-thirds the size (or 67% on a copier).

Remember the percentage trap!

Doubling in size is increasing by 100% but is expressed as 200% of the original.

Tripling in size is increasing by 200% but is expressed as 300% of the original.

Halving is reducing by 50%, and is expressed as 50% of the original.

Reducing to a third is reducing by 66.67%.

Etc, etc.

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<Snip>

Don't suppose anyone knows what file I need to download, it gives a few options on the site, but neither me or my dad doesn't have a clue which one to go for:

Stable release 0.46 intended for production use is available:

•Source Tarball — .gz See README to install, or CompilingInkscape for troubleshooting help.

•Mac OS X

◦OS X 10.5, Leopard — Universal .dmg (Please first upgrade X11.app to at least XQuartz v2.1.4.)

◦OS X 10.4, Tiger — Universal .dmg

◦OS X 10.3, Panther — PPC .dmg

•Windows — .exe installer, 7zip

Download any of the above (as well as .sig files and previous releases) at the Sourceforge Downloads page, or through your distro's update capabilities.

A Linux Autopackage of 0.45 is also available here — .package (See autopackage.org for directions).

NAKAJIMA15,

You need to download the version of Inkscape specific to your computer's Operating System - If you have a PC running Windows then download the Windows version of Inkscape by clicking on the .exe installer link on the Inkscape page.

HTH,

Ian

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Remember the percentage trap!

Doubling in size is increasing by 100% but is expressed as 200% of the original.

Tripling in size is increasing by 200% but is expressed as 300% of the original.

Halving is reducing by 50%, and is expressed as 50% of the original.

Reducing to a third is reducing by 66.67%.

Etc, etc.

WHAT EVER YOU DO PRINT ON NORMAL PAPER FIRST

till you are 100 % sure it is right

Is that 100% expressed as 100% ? :whistle::evil_laugh:

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Thanks for the help, I've downloaded the site Irfanview site and tested using the D 520 Decals on MAI. It still looks a bit confusing to me, but what I did was went to image, resize/resample, and then set new size as percentage of the original - is this right?

As for the Inkscape, I have had experience with Coreldraw at school, so hopefully it will be simular.

Edited by NAKAJIMA15
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If you use Coreldraw, you're in luck. It is the easiest drawing package on the market to use. First, scan a normal ruler. Calculate the size of the roundel you require, in 1/72 scale, it is 4mm to a foot. Then draw a rectangle of the required diameter over the top of the ruler scan. To get the perfect circle, select the Elipse tool, then hold down the control key and draw a circle, any size. Superimpose (ie cut and paste) your new diameter rectangle over the perfect circle and adjust the circle to fit, using the corner toggles. You now have the roundel outline that you require. By copying, pasting and scaling its inner rings, you get the perfect roundel. The next trick is to get the correct colours for the fills..................

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I had a go with the Inkscape yesterday and practised on some Belgian and WW2 Hungarian designs, but I still haven't found out how to do straight lines, and picking the right text for things like the large USAF letters is proving a hit or miss situation.

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