How to make custom decals for less than $50.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- I've designed many decals for my scale models and printed them on ink jet printers. I recently saw ink jet printers advertised for under $40 so I wondered the quality of decals it would print. The results may surprise you.
Clear Paper:
www.amazon.com...
White Paper:
www.amazon.com...
HP DeskJet 2734e printer:
www.amazon.com...
#howto #decals #waterslidedecal #inkjetprinters #modelcars #scalemodel
This is the best tutorial I’ve ever seen on making custom decals. Thank you so much for this video! I learned a lot 🔥💯💪🏾💯💯💯
Wow, thanks! Glad it was helpful.
Your method inspired the decals I made for my upcoming USACC build….very much appreciated my friend! And I use Adobe products as well…I love them…creating with them can make the most no-talent hack like me look like they’re approaching competence.
@@FranksModelWorks funny fella, to be Frank!🤓🤣
I'd say you have plenty of competence. Glad to inspire and share techniques. Thanks for watching!
Some nice tips on how to print decals. It is really to have a good idea of how this process works. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!
I really dig this one Tim. My wife designs and creates my decals sometimes and we have been experimenting with some of the different decal papers. She uses a program called Procreate and hand drawn some of the designs and patterns.
Always killer tips, and definitely killer builds sir! Thank you for sharing your techniques. 😎👍🏾🎶🎶🎶
You bet! Love your videos, thanks for watching.
Awesome tips! I tried using clear decal paper and wondered why the decal disappeared when I put it on the model!
And now ya know! If you plan schemes considering the limitations, some great models can be built. Thanks for watching.
The reason HP printers are so cheap is the cartridges cost as much as the printer!
And they cheap out on ink by not filling it up properly.
FWIW, after getting this printer, I saw an Epson printer for even less. Still a cartridge printer though. This exercise was to see what kind of decals could be made right out of the box. Perhaps just go get another printer after it runs out of ink? LOL. Thanks for watching.
@@timkustom the printer is free…its all bout buying the ink
You should really consider the HP inkjet program. What's relatively cheap and based on the number of Prince you make every month. Over the course of the year it came out much cheaper than buying individual cartridges as needed.
Recived this week that 2 sets of decal paper. And made yesterday my first sheet of Decals, the Camel decals Ayrton Senna used on his Lotus F1 car. Very basic decals that will go on the McLaren Senna next year. But i like the idea with tracing the form of the car with masking tape and then scan it. Now that is a great idea for those custom-flame decals you made. Thanks for the short and clear explanation Tim.
You're welcome. Good luck with your Senna model!
Hi there Tim thanks you for sharing mate . Your decals looks great mate I love kustoms and hotrod and I will be buying one mate I ll way try to paint Flames and had be shit mate . I hope you had a great merry Christmas mate and ihope you have a great new year mate
Glad to help! Hope you have a great new year as well.
Homemade decals 101... On the clear decal paper, print half the sheet black, and the other half blue. cut the blue 5-10mm strips, use them for shade bands on the windshield. cut the black side to size for the rest of the glass. it makes prefect film tint, just layer it for the darkness you want. I think its looks better than trying to airbrush your tint on clear. no runs or overspray.
Nice tip! Will try that in the future. Thanks for watching!
Very useful video for those wanting to print their own decals. Thanks Tim.
You're welcome! Glad you found it useful.
I make custom decals with the paper meant for laser printers (obviously also using a laser printer) -- and the whole clear film on black (or any dark color) also happens with laser printed decals -- just in case people wanted to know if there was any difference.
the advantage of decals done with a laser printer is that you dont have to seal the decals with varnish.
I've done laser decals in the past as well. In the early days of this, the carrier film could get stuck in the fuser damaging the printer. Most techs I've come across at "Big Box" stores that offer printing are reluctant to run customer supplied decal in their machines. Maybe that is the next test? Thanks for watching!
@@timkustom good to know. wonder if its because they were older printers -- because i'm using a pretty new and pretty high-end xerox color copier (the perks of printing my decals at the office)
also, the decal paper for laser printers and the paper for inkjets IS different -- that's very important.
Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.
TH-cam suggested this video to me, I customise die cast cars rather than plastic kits, and I've been wanting to make my own decals - bizarrely I'd already bought that exact printer, and the same white/clear decal paper!
me as well, but that white decal paper isn't that great...
The white paper was not as nice as the clear. Wish the white was more opaque.
Nice tutorial on an interesting subject. Thanks for taking the time
You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
That's some great info, Tim. Thanks for the video!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!
Great Video Tim thanks for sharing and taking the time to do this
You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.
great information and money saving idea
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.
Thank you Tim! I'm not ready to try this just yet, but gonna save it for when I'm ready to try
What's stopping you? The paper is cheap and once you understand the limitations I show in the video the sky is the limit! Thanks for watching.
@timkustom that I'm out of town for a few more weeks and no Access to a PC to I get back home is the biggest reason lol
Wow that T-Bird/Pickup model is awesome!
Thank you! I have a playlist that shows the process of how it was built. Look for "Monogram '55 Ford F100 USACC Build". Thanks for watching.
Tim very cool video and thank you for sharing the printing tec and info ❤😊
You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Really helpful tutorial. I'm curious to see a side by side now with the same decal printed from high quality printer and paper. Also curious about the layer process you spoke of during the design part?
To be honest, the decals printed on my other printer (Epson ET-2760) are about the same as this HP. The ultimate cost savings is the Epson uses tank ink vs. cartridges. Layers are a fundamental feature of Adobe Photoshop and there are plenty of tutorials out there on their use. Thanks for watching!
Great tutorial.
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching.
Some nice tips on how to print decals. Thanks for s.
Glad to help. Give it a try!
Pretty cool, Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Great video, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching.
Thanks for the tutorial, Tim.
I need custom decals for a White 666 cargo truck conversion into the truck from the
1953 Film, 'The Wages of Fear'. This will work nicely.
I predominantly build 1/32, 1/24 aircraft and there is applications for this also.
Retired from my business designing, fabricating, building custom motorcycles in 2020.
Being a car guy you may dig the video showing examples of them. That and model builds are posted on my channel.
I have liked and subbed.
Glad you enjoyed the tutorial. Sounds like you've got some interesting projects going on! Thanks for the sub.
Excellent video. Are you able to spray a clear over those.
Yes, I do seal them to the model airbrushing 2k clear. I don't like using lacquer over them as that can lift any decal. Thank for watching!
Hey Tim, sure miss your appearance at our/your IPMS club (HPMS). Hope to see you soonest! Danny.
Thanks Danny. Say hello to the HPMS group for me.
@@timkustom Will do for sure. Take care!
Great video, I have an ink jet I haven’t tried yet
Glad you enjoyed it. Give it a try!
Thank you for sharing 👍
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
FYI - a Cricut Maker machine has a print then cut feature. It will allow the machine to cut precisely around the image / text. Sorta undoes your budget approach tho ;-)
I have a Silhouette Cameo 4 that I had hoped would help with other decal projects. I have found the only thing it will precisely cut is vinyl. It really didn't like cutting decal paper, especially something as intricate as the flames in this demonstration.
Well, it can be done, but there are drawbacks, especially with an HP Printer! I recommend that a hobbyist consider an Epson Printer. At least they make some good printers with refillable reservoirs for ink! They use Epson for printing on cups and etcetera. HP is notorious for telling you you are out of ink when you are not. HP's also use the color inks with the black ink to run out the inks faster!
I also have an Epson EcoTank printer. It seems much better on ink consumption, but it wasn't $40. I saw a comparable Epson non-tank printer on sale for less than $40 shortly after purchasing the HP. This was mostly for testing purposes. Thanks for watching.
Nice 😎😁
Glad you liked it!
You can get printers that print white on the clear film.
Please elaborate
Yes, those printers exist, and when they are available for under $40, you bet I will post how to make decals with them. Thanks for watching.
Those printers exist, but current cost thousands of dollars, which is outside the budget of the average model builder.
great video
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
I'm about to embark to this world soon. With the Franks flower tops for starters. Translucency of the inks can be used as an advantage. Of course putting clear decal over black is the most extreme example. That clearly didn't work. I have seen nice examples of panel paint schemes, where the printed decal mimicked the paint shadings and allowed to put patterns to the center.
I have found conflicting information about the varnishes. Lacquer and acrylic clears tend to crack, if bent too much. Enamel would flex, but I don't want to visit that part of the history. Have you tried to use different varnishes?
I've been using the TS-13 on a variety of papers with both my printers without seeing any cracking like you mention. It must be applied very thin and can even cause some of the ink to run on the paper if applied too thick. It is only to seal the ink. I have seen chipping of the ink as seen in the video, but that was from trimming. The transparency of the ink does look quite good on the pearl white. Good luck with your projects and thanks for watching!
Thank you sir
You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed the video.
You should add the Amazon affiliate links to the products used.
Thanks for the idea. Added the links.
Now please build the rest of the model car.
Check out my Pro Street GTO series. That is where the rest of the model is going. Thanks for watching!
Toaster oven!! No burn 🔥 pile necessary!🤣🤣
Taken the mystery outta Decals! How cool! 😎 👍🏻🫡🇺🇸
LOL. No burn pile for this one. Thanks for watching.
Hi I've inkjet printer cannon version I also build models so I do want to print my own decals but my printer I control from my phone rather than computer is there a app u used i can try on phone to see how it goes for me thanks for doing this video if ye can give me the name of decal app you went onto for flames to get me started that would be great, 👍thanks and happy Christmas to you
I'm unsure if a phone has the ability to create the precise graphics needed for model car decals. The vectors I started with are from vecteezy. They were then manipulated in Adobe Illustrator to fit the body after making tape templates that were scanned with the $39 printer. Good luck with your projects!
What happens if you print the decal with the same image on the same paper doing a multiple layup of ink for the decal. Will the multiple layer of ink be more vibrant on the finished decal?
Interesting idea, but here is what is likely to happen: The mechanism that grips the paper is not very precise. You will wind up with another print on top of your previous print that is out of registration. Due to the transparency of the ink, it will just darken the color ultimately just making a mess.
@timkustom I've personally done the double up method of printing two separate decals and layering them together. Yes, you get a better color but you also get a thick decal. That's why I was wondering about a double printing method. If you ever do have to double up a decal, cut the first one closely to the image. Then, cut the top one just slightly bigger all around. It helps make for ramped type decal edge versus one hard edge. I do this method whenever I have to double up kit manufacturers decals that are a bit on the thin side.
Glad you added, "Do not put your plastic model in a toaster oven" it is a shame you have to say it, but we all know you did.
LOL! Yep, toaster ovens and models do not mix! Thanks for watching.
How does the thickness compare to kit decals?
The clear is about the same as kit decals. The white is a bit thicker due to the added ink. Thanks for watching.
I have always wanted to make my own decals I might have to give it a try now can you put 2K clear over than decals or will it destroy them
I use the TS-13 to seal the ink. After they are applied, I've tried Testors dull coat, but prefer Splash 2k clear for a glossy finish. Make sure the decals are very dry and use very light coats to begin with.
Injet printers that can print white are very expensive. Are you saying that the printer you featured in the video which cost just US$39 will print white? If not, then how did you acheive creating white? Cheers.
Correct, how I achieved white was I used white decal paper which was explained in the video. Thanks for watching!
@@timkustom I didn't watch the whole video so I must have missed that bit. If using white decal paper you would have had to cut around the decal then. You must have a very steady hand!
I also explained a workaround for that in the video. Thanks for watching!
can you scan a decal sheet from the kit and then reprint it on paper to have a copy in case you screw up the originals? And would you recommend using white paper or clear for that ?
You are "able" to do this, but understand the limitations that I demonstrated in the video. If you plan to use them on a white car, they might look similar to the originals. Another problem with scanning decals is most kit decals are screen printed and can have a line screen. When scanned, then reprinted they can have "moire patterns" which don't look good. I'd suggest trying to get another set of the kit decals.
Have you tried using this with a cricut
I have a cricut video in the works. Stay tuned! Thanks for watching!
Tim, what kit is the very first car that you showed in the video... The gold / Bubble top?
It is an original AMT 1965 Impala Convertible with the Advance Custom building option. There will be a video of how it was built in the future. Stay tuned!
Alsome job
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.
Use ink for labels. It has the right ink for gloss surfaces. Not paper. It is sold as label ink. Opaque. Fast dry.
I will look into that. Might be outside the scope with this printer though.
Great video Tim I have made decals with A4 paper in the past with mixed results, I printed them in reverse used clear coat and water to remove the paper it transferred the image to the model, Thanks for sharing.
Glad you're getting into making your own custom decals. Thanks for watching!
Huh??
@@Floridaredwing25 so the decals I tried making when I got back into scale modeling about 4 yrs ago I tried to do "ink transfer" from A4 paper to models it only worked a few times with mixed results ill have to try and do a video on it there was a guy I seen who did it with Diecast cars.
So a scanner is also needed?
Yes, the scanner is part of the all in one $39 printer seen in the video. Thanks for watching!
@timkustom
Fantastic video. Thanks for sharing.
Love the video! Skip the unboxing. I'm not sure why unboxing ever became a thing, but it really doesn't add anything to the topic IMO.
So how much are all the Adobe programs??
They have several different plans. Check out adobe.com