Labels/Lettering/Decals?

Does anyone have experience or recommendations on affixing the finishing touches of labels, decals, and lettering?

I've tried the mask and paint method, the print on acetate and glue method, and the hand painted method, but none of them have the crisp sharpness of a real product or they wear off over time with handling. I've considered lettraset but I wasn't able to find cyrillic lettering at the time.

I'm currently at the point of wanting to put labels on a Geiger counter prop but at a bit of a standstill.

Anyone have great methods to create commercial quality labelling?


Cheers,

ColinWily

For one off items, do a search for "Rubdown decals" or "Dry transfers" in your area. It is a very specialized product, but there are a few places left that still do them.

It is not cheap, you usually pay per square inch or for preset sized sheets, so gang up as much artwork on that sheet as you can. You can get any color you want, including foils/metallics and the level of detail and sharpness is as good as it gets. I use them frequently for product-design mockups, such as adding printing on bottles and other non-flat objects.

Another option is to look into "Water Slide Decals". Not as crisp as a rubdown, Most likely closer to your acetate and glue, (think temporary tattoo.) but depending on the application it might be an option as well. Its usually better suited for multi color applications.

Wow, I am working on an almost identical build. I am doing a post-apocalyptic set of props and one of them is a geiger counter. I am basing my design on the CD V-700 geiger counter with a few minor tweaks. I haven't reached the lettering part yet but I was planning on using dry transfer. In your case I would look for water slide decals from a model kit - a russian airplane maybe?

If you are making the panel out of metal you may be able to etch the metal and fill the etched area with paint. It will probably look more realistic that way.

The wet or dry decals seem like a great way to go, I just wonder about sealing them so they don't wear off with use.

This is one of those many times I wish I knew someone in the commercial product industry so I could pick their brain for more ideas.

Buy water slide decal paper. You should be able to pick it up at a hobby shop, or order it online.

The basic steps to use it are...

1. Create an image of the pattern you want to use on the decal
2. Print it on a decal sheet using the appropriate printer. Some works with inkjet, some works with laser. Make sure you have the right one as it will be a mess if you use the wrong paper/printer combo.
3. Once the decal is printed, you spray it with several coats of a clear spray - it's what holds the printed ink on the decal sheet together.
4. Cut out the decal, soak in water and apply like you would when making kit models.

A few warnings...

First, you can't do white or other light colors that are printed with the assumption you're using white paper. Yellow is basically out, as is anything else pale like that. Actually it can work if you're putting the decal down onto a white surface.

Second, you can't really print a single decal on a sheet, cut it out, then reuse the sheet for more. So whatever you print, plan on it using the whole sheet, or wasting part of the sheet.

Here's a picture of a decal I did for a Metro 2033 Railgun build. It's been applied to a sheet of brass.



Here's a video I found that shows someone creating and applying a decal for a device. Might be similar to what you're doing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2X_HL-4F90

The video creator has more details on the web at http://www.planetz.com/waterslide-decals/

Here's another site with a decal video...

http://goldenarmor.com/tutorials-lk/

What Holtt said. There is also white decal paper if you need to the white or lighter colors. I have done this many times and the results are about what I would get from a kit supplied decal sheet.

That is fantastic, thanks everyone! Love the 2033 railgun!

I need to finish it I just got a drill press that will help me with creating the 15mm ball bearing clips. Got a packet of 15mm ball bearings from eBay a while back.