# Maybe already posted ??? To make his own decals...



## le_steph40 (Feb 3, 2018)

Hello,
I hope to be in the right place for this post 
I saw our friend John bought material to make his own masks 
Can we do everything with this type of material?
Let me explain: I need for some of my projects markings that don't exist in decal sheets (as soviet individual numbers with blue outlined or other inscriptions in white color...). 
Here are some examples I would need:






And other things as I./JG77 insignia, 7./JG5 & III Gruppe insignia, etc...
What is the best way to make these "little things"  ?
ALPS printer of masks ?
And, the last question: who here can help me ? (as we say in France: "tout travail mérite salaire" => 
all work merits salary 
TIA, cheers
Stéph


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## Airframes (Feb 3, 2018)

Andy (Crimea River) might be able to advise about masks, Steph, as he recently got a plotter / cutter.
Decals can be made fairly simply, although the definition depends on the quality of the printer, if doing it from a PC, with a laser printer being better.
However, white can not be printed, unless you have access to an ALPS printer, so white numbers with a coloured outline, for example, can't be done easily.
The decal kits available from such as Testors, are the same materials commercially available, at much lower prices, from computer paper suppliers, and are available in clear sheet and white sheet, for both inkjet and laser printers. 
Some designs can be printed onto the white sheet of course, and exhibit much better density than those on clear sheet.
Printing, for example, code letters in a 'solid' colour, other than white, onto clear sheet works reasonably well, although again the density is not great, due to the nature of the printer, and the clear background. Black letters aren't too bad, but reds, blues and yellows, for example,lose density when transferred to the model background.
I've made Luftwaffe unit badges on both clear decal paper, and on white, where the design allowed the use of the latter and, on the clear versions, i have used this as the basis, and, once applied to the model, I have then 'filled in' the less dense areas with paint.
I also had a similar problem that you have, when needing a white letter or numeral, with a coloured outline. In this instance, I printed the decal as an outline number, on clear sheet, the outline being black, and applied it to the model, 'filling in' the outline with white paint, as seen on the 1/32nd scale Bf109E below.
The white 'Tatzelwurm' on the nose was also done this way, and the fuselage crosses were home-made decals, scanned from those from another kit.

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## fubar57 (Feb 3, 2018)

Not cheap...Alps MD5000 Printer Shop.ALL ALPS Printers Sale-ALPS Inks Sale


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## Crimea_River (Feb 3, 2018)

Both John (JKim) and I have just purchased digital cutters for making masks. Rather than repeat my challenges here, you can visit my FW190A-5 thread in GB 36 where I tried making the cross insignias. Doing your example numbers as masks could work, in theory, but success depends on the size of the numbers and, in particular, the thickness of the blue outline. If it's very thin, as I suspect, then the cutter won't do a good job of it and you would have to get two separate masks made. The first would be cut to the outer edge of the blue outline. That would be used to apply white paint. The a second, slightly smaller masks in the shape of the number would have to be placed within the first mask, being very careful to maintain the same gap between the two masks. This would then be used to paint the blue outline. This would be even trickier with numbers that have closed loops like 0s, 4s, 6s, 8s, and 9s since you would have to accurately place separate mask pieces within the main number.

Terry covered the decal issue very well though I would have made his white 6 differently. First, I'd print the outlines onto clear decal paper, as he said. I would then also print the same outline onto a sheet of regular paper. Stick some masking tape onto a cutting board, then take the outline that was printed on paper and tape it over the masking tape using clear tape. Then, using a sharp scalpel, cut the outline figure through both layers of tape and the paper, being careful to stay within the outline shape. When done, remove the clear tape and paper and you should now have a mask that you can apply to your model to paint the white number. The decal outline is then applied over the painted white number. If you've been careful, you should be able to get a nice, crisp outline around a white number with no gaps or white showing outside the outlines.

This is actually what I think would be the best way to tackle your numbers.

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## JKim (Feb 12, 2018)

What Andy says x2 regarding attempting this with the cutter. There is also another possibility if you have the cutter I have. The Silhouette Portrait that I recently bought is capable of cutting out a pre-printed image using the PixScan feature. So theoretically, you could print the bordered numbers on white decal paper and have the Portrait cut them out. I don't know how that works practically speaking since I've never tried it. I would think the success rate would go down as the size of the image gets smaller. If you are working in 1/48 scale, the aircraft numbers MIGHT work but I would have little confidence for anything smaller such as the unit insignias or personal emblems below the cockpit.

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## le_steph40 (Mar 25, 2018)

Hello,
What is the best and easy to use (and free)  vector graphics logicial to make his own decals ? It seems that Corel Draw is useful...


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## Crimea_River (Mar 25, 2018)

I don't know of any free programs to make vector files. I use Adobe Illustrator.


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## JKim (Mar 26, 2018)

I use AutoCAD to create DXF files to import into the Silhouette software. I think something like Corel Draw would be very handy. I've never used any but you can get free, open-source CAD and drawing programs like FreeCAD, LibreCAD, Inkscape, etc.

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## parsifal (Mar 27, 2018)

I'm way behind all of these guys. ive had to manufacture a set of RAN decals for 1/350th scale CAG for my HMAS melbourne project, building 5 x A-4s, 3 x S2 trackers and 2 x Sea Kings. The problem i have is that there are no RAN decals in that scale. So, Ive purchased the Aussie decals for each these a/c, scanned the images using the highest resolution I could, and then reduced them by the appropriate percentage to produce my decal sets.

Ive printed the decals off onto clear backed decal paper. Most of the images like the roundels have a white backing, so I intend to paint white dots under the decal positions. I will need to be careful with my white placements, but should work, at least at that scale.

For my 1/750 scale HMAS Sydney, I have to make some white deck letters with a grey background. My plan for that is to use white backed decal paper, try to establish what the "RGB" (Red Green Blue, which describes just about every colour you can think of) and punch that into the software. I will produce a backing plate close to the deck colour I hope, and if it is still a bit noticeable, will hand paint around the white letter.

its the cheap, nasty, not so perfect poor mans way of making your own decals.

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