Decal questions

trekman1017

Well-Known Member
1.) How can I remove a decal from a model without harming the paint or disturbing other decals on the model?

2.) What is decal set? I have heard it is basically vinegar, but what does it do?

3.)Any information on printing my own decals. I have the paper an inkjet printer and a spray can of varnish.
 
Get some Micro-Set and Micro-Sol! They help the decal stick better and make it softer so it can go over panel lines and it removes silvering.

I've made decals using a xerox machine and decal paper. An Alps printer would be the best!!

I don't know what decal you want to remove but I take graphics off of LEGO minifigs with brasso.

All of the black decals on these figures I made with the xerox machine. I cleared over them with Testors Dullcote.


Good Luck.

FB
 
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1. You can try lifting them with tape.

2. To ad to what Franz Bolo said, Micro Set is for application. It's basically water, but with additives to reduce surface tension to keep it from beading up like water. Apply it to the model, then put the decal on. Micro Sol is a solvent, it softens the decal to make it conform to details. Apply it on top of the decal. Don't brush it too much, once it starts to work the decal will be very fragile until it drys.

3. There are different papers for inkjet and laser printers, make sure you have the right one. Alps printers are recommended because they print white, unfortunately they are no longer made. If your decal needs white, use white paper or paint the white areas on the model before applying the decal. Microscale makes a liquid decal film that can be used to seal the printed decal, Testors also makes a spray decal sealer.
 
I do not have a printer that will print white, and will not go out and buy one for this occasion. The decals I have created contain lit windows that are a light yellow colour. How will they look when applied?
 
The yellow ink is very translucent, it'll look good on a white background but will be dull on darker colors. Printers are meant to print on white paper, and they depend on the paper to give colors their vibrancy.

Assuming your windows are little yellow rectangles, you might want to cut them from decal film. Microscale has solid color sheets and strips, these are silk screened so they don't have the transparency problems.
 
Alps printers are recommended because they print white, unfortunately they are no longer made.

Actually they where re-issued for a few limited markets as recent as last year but Alps pulled them again in May 2010... New ones can still be had though, but like the vintage models they demand a pretty penny...

I have several of the older models still, so I keep up on the production as there was fears the 'ink' supply would dry up but that fear has been pushed out to at least 2015 now... I really need to setup a work station just for my Alps printers one of these days...
 
Do it! :thumbsup

I probably will soon, but the problem is multi-fold...

I need to setup a computer with the old legacy parallel printing port, and it should be running a legacy version of Windows as well since the old legacy Windows drivers fully support the printers functions...

The original XP drivers never worked right and had limited function, although I have heard there are some newer hacked to English drivers that might function better that are built around the recent re-released printers drivers... I would have to find a copy of those drivers and give them a spin...

The other sucky thing with running the printer on a legacy OS computer is that, it limits my ability to install the newer image editing packages, not a huge problem but it's annoying just the same...
 
I bought one of the last Alps MD-5500 printers just before they were discontinued. The new XP drivers work fine (e.g spot colour mode for white or metallic) and, under windows 7, you can install the drivers in an XP virtual machine. I run acrobat reader under XP just for printing and generate the graphics under Win7 (or Illustrator on a mac).

Previously I had an MD-1000 which required windows 98 (in a vmware virtual machine) to get the drivers working. I was using a USB->parallel dongle so you should, theoretically, be able to get an older printer working under windows7 by using an appropriate virtual machine.


I probably will soon, but the problem is multi-fold...

I need to setup a computer with the old legacy parallel printing port, and it should be running a legacy version of Windows as well since the old legacy Windows drivers fully support the printers functions...

The original XP drivers never worked right and had limited function, although I have heard there are some newer hacked to English drivers that might function better that are built around the recent re-released printers drivers... I would have to find a copy of those drivers and give them a spin...

The other sucky thing with running the printer on a legacy OS computer is that, it limits my ability to install the newer image editing packages, not a huge problem but it's annoying just the same...
 
I bought one of the last Alps MD-5500 printers just before they were discontinued. The new XP drivers work fine (e.g spot colour mode for white or metallic) and, under windows 7, you can install the drivers in an XP virtual machine. I run acrobat reader under XP just for printing and generate the graphics under Win7 (or Illustrator on a mac).

Previously I had an MD-1000 which required windows 98 (in a vmware virtual machine) to get the drivers working. I was using a USB->parallel dongle so you should, theoretically, be able to get an older printer working under windows7 by using an appropriate virtual machine.

Glad to hear someone obviously familiar with the same issues chiming in that that newer driver do in fact work properly, and have full functionality... The lack of good XP and beyond drivers was really the main reason I stopped using my Alps printers...
 
what colour when printed on cleer decal film and with a non white printing printer would show up best on a black background?
 
I've had xp professional for years now and my 5000MD always worked fine with metallics and white (in spot color mode), and the dye sub worked fine, too. The driver I used was downloaded from the ALPS site before it went down and is a zip file called MD224XP. It's their last one, I think. You have to set the ALPS as the primary printer on a parallel port. I have the usb kit but I remember I couldn't get it to work, so I went back to the parallel setup.

I don't think any color would show up good on a black background. I've always used Papilo PAS/2 clear paper with the ALPS. Even then, if I didn't print a white background first, none of the colors would show up on a black background. So, my solution was always to print the image in white, lay the decal down, and then print another image in color and lay it on top. After sealing, you can't really tell it's double decals. You can also print the image in white, then run the paper back through and print the color on top of the white. Tried that a few times, but the 2 decal method seemed to always work better. The ALPS resins can be printed on top of eachother, but sometimes it would remove the white base and leave a small hole.
Printer inks, even laser color printers printed on clear paper would not show very well on a black background, if at all. You could print the image on white decal paper and cut it out, or have someone print what you need with an ALPS.
 
I've had xp professional for years now and my 5000MD always worked fine with metallics and white (in spot color mode), and the dye sub worked fine, too. The driver I used was downloaded from the ALPS site before it went down and is a zip file called MD224XP. It's their last one, I think. You have to set the ALPS as the primary printer on a parallel port. I have the usb kit but I remember I couldn't get it to work, so I went back to the parallel setup.

Yeah, I had it working with XP at one time but it was just too much aggravation to keep working as I upgraded systems over the the years... I still have one legacy computer with those working XP drivers and that computer even has the parallel port but it's a 'shop' computer at my brothers tattoo shop and thus taking it over for personal use can only be done during business down time, and that is what I have done over the years but it's just a royal pain to setup and then break down with each use... And after a wonderful incident with the PO-PO a few years ago now I removed my printer from that location, but that is another story entirely...
 
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