Advice for Printing on Static Cling Vinyl - Back to the Future Project

[MattgomeryBurns]

Have any of you printed custom decals on static cling vinyl, either professionally or on your home printer? Looking for advice, tips, or pointers.

I finally have a pair of screen accurate Doc Brown stopwatches. Well, almost screen accurate. They're the same models, but the ones used in the movie swapped out the liquid crystal displays with LEDs to make them easier to see at night. After chatting with Roland about making mine more screen accurate, and not wanting to take any drastic measures, I got the idea to print the digital displays on static cling stickers (like the ones you get on your windshield after an oil change).

It appears that there are clear sheets you can buy to print at home but they all seem to be sold out. The ones on Amazon have terrible reviews. The only other option is a seller on Etsy who will print them for you, which is probably my only option.

Now the important questions:

1. What color should the background be: black or amber?
2. What times would you print? I'm thinking 1:21 and 1:22

Here are my stopwatches

The screen used pair from, well, ScreenUsed

And some screen caps

 

[Jansen]

I'm doing a replica of this prop at the moment.
But i'm do my own design, and 3D printing it. Not the same, but good enough for me ;-)
But i'm choosing 1:20 and 1:21, and I will do it with black background. I don't know if it's the right color, but I like it better that way.

 

[MattgomeryBurns]

I'm doing a replica of this prop at the moment.
But i'm do my own design, and 3D printing it. Not the same, but good enough for me ;-)
But i'm choosing 1:20 and 1:21, and I will do it with black background. I don't know if it's the right color, but I like it better that way.

Very cool, looking forward to seeing your build. How are you going to tackle the numbers? Waterslides? Etched into the print?

 

[Jansen]

Very cool, looking forward to seeing your build. How are you going to tackle the numbers? Waterslides? Etched into the print?

The numbers is 7-segment digital display

. This is just first design. With some oldsegments I had. They are not the best, but new ones are on the way...

 

[MattgomeryBurns]

Jansen ah the real deal, very cool

 

[Jansen]

 

[Jansen]

The 3D design for now. Not perfect yet...

 

[Dagobah Don]

I'm interested in doing this also, if anyone has any ideas.

 

[Dagobah Don]

Here’s my stopwatches. Kind of a holy grail prop for me considering the rarity of the Citizen.

 

[MattgomeryBurns]

Here’s my stopwatches. Kind of a holy grail prop for me considering the rarity of the Citizen.

That's a great looking set up. Where did you get the case?

 

[Dagobah Don]

MarccTipton DIY Picture Frame, Dried Flowers Display Box, 40mm Thick All Clear Acrylic Shadow Box for Kids Room/Birthday/Wedding/Party/Shop Decor(5x7)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08151QNFQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_dpimFbZHGR0P5

 

[Dagobah Don]

I then just printed up the photo from a screen cap. This has a 5x7 slot to accommodate it.

 

[minilove666]

Have any of you printed custom decals on static cling vinyl, either professionally or on your home printer? Looking for advice, tips, or pointers.

I finally have a pair of screen accurate Doc Brown stopwatches. Well, almost screen accurate. They're the same models, but the ones used in the movie swapped out the liquid crystal displays with LEDs to make them easier to see at night. After chatting with Roland about making mine more screen accurate, and not wanting to take any drastic measures, I got the idea to print the digital displays on static cling stickers (like the ones you get on your windshield after an oil change).
It appears that there are clear sheets you can buy to print at home but they all seem to be sold out. The ones on Amazon have terrible reviews. The only other option is a seller on Etsy who will print them for you, which is probably my only option.

Were you able to solve it in the meantime?

 

[MattgomeryBurns]

Were you able to solve it in the meantime?

Not long after they went into store with the rest of my collection. Hoping to pick this up in the Spring/ Summer when we move into a bigger place.

 

[minilove666]

I understand.
Hopefully I won't see your entire collection in an episode of "Storage Wars" someday

 

[SlyFox]

Here’s my stopwatches. Kind of a holy grail prop for me considering the rarity of the Citizen.

Dagobah Don I got lucky and found the Citizen Stopwatch for sale on a local classified Ad, only problem was it all the way out in Australia. Luckily the seller was willing to ship it, he had used it for celestial navigation apparently which requires a really accurate timer that goes to the 1/100 of a second.

You can see my dog wearing it here in this photo but I have also recently acquired Doc’s Seiko stopwatch for a good price as well, I don’t know if I came across this post before in my past but I had imagined a display case exactly like what you have there and I plan to put one together just like it. Great job on that!
It’s been a grail piece for me too, especially having the complete set. It’s not easy to find both of these stopwatches but they belong together!

 

[Dagobah Don]

Very cool! Here's the link for that shadow box, you can print up a pic from the scene and put it in a slot behind the objects.

Amazon.com

Also, here's a second set of timers that I have that I've added the correct images for the numbers. These are simply color printed images snatched from a still frame of the movie with a little double sided tape. Not museum quality, but it looks the part on a shelf.

 

[SlyFox]

The fact that you managed to find a second set and unite them just proves how long you’ve coveted these stopwatches.

 

[zer0v3locity]

Does anyone have a set of stop watches forsale?