DIY decals/transfers

How are you going to make cream on clear film on a ink jet. It relies on the paper being white. It's the white space around the ink dots that give the eye a brain the feeling of a lighter colour. It does not mix ink together it prints just 3 colours.

You use white inkjet decal paper, such as the following from Walthers catalog, by Evans Designs:

If it's available in N. America, it's surely available in the UK/Europe.

HTH

Crafty Computer Paper is good. You can get clear or white waterslide paper for inkjet or laser; they also do a dry rub-on for inkjet but I haven't tried it. A laser printer gives much crisper blacks than an inkjet; some black ink tends to run. There's lots of other hobby and craft printable media on their website:

The only way to make light-coloured lettering for a dark background is to print on white paper with a background to match what you are going to put it on. Matching background colours is a trial-and-error process.

I'd say Crafty Computer Paper is his best bet in the UK. I've tried several North American brands and I prefer theirs.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:41:29 -0000, "Trev" said in :

Usually four, cyan, magenta, yellow and black - aka CMYK or (in commercial printing) four-colour process.

Guy

But it still can't print white. For that you need an ALPS/Okidata, which aren't made anymore. Supplies are hard to come by too. Or do your own artwork and get a professional printer to make the decals ($$).

Try browsing through posts in Yahoo! Group 'rr-decal'

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:10:39 -0500, MartinS said in :

Or print on white. Or use a Tektronix Phaser with white wax :-)

Guy

Exactly. You need something that prints opaque white and other light colours.

Check out the Alps decal Yahoo groups. The printers (which do print white) are still somewhat available from a fellow in Australia, but I suspect a few more years and both printers and supplies will be very hard to find.

There's also an expensive printer from Kodak that does white.

If you print on white then the O's and B's will be filled in

Do you have a working URL for Crafty as the one you posted above goes straight to Webfusion who is presumably their web hosting co.

A quick Google brings up

As others have said, you can print on white decal paper. Or print on clear film, and paint the model white underneath.

Either approach has its uses and gives different results.

- Nigel

Gerald H said the following on 10/11/2008 21:34:

I've personally not got on with Crafty Computer paper, plus the problem of still not being able to print white lettering. In the end I gave up and bought an Alps - still available new from a guy in New Zealand. (Mine was second-hand from the USA though) Currently supplies are not a problem, although as others have said these printers are deemed to be obsolete so when they break, they stay broken.

Google brought up:

Erm, shouldnt pedant take into account that black isnt a colour ?

Cheers, Simon

Neither solves the problem of creating light-coloured letters on a dark background. The only way with a conventional inkjet or laser printer is to print a dark background to match the model where it is to be applied.

Letraset still makes dry transfer lettering - it might be worthwhile to check if they have anything suitable.

The Crafty folks suggested a method some time ago, involving printing in yellow ink on clear decal, then applying a fine white (or gold) powder that they sold, that would stick to the still-wet ink. It's not on their website anymore AFAIK, so I guess it wasn't too successful.

In printing, black is a colour. So is white.

Erm, shouldn't pedant say 'In printing, black is considered to be colour...' ? :-)

Cheers, Simon