peteski

Instead of hoping that the UPS driver will smarten up, give your ill-health neighbor your phone number, so if the package is misdelivered again, he can just call you , and you can walk over and pick it up. You mentioned that you live in a friendly neighborhood - the neighbors should have already shared their phone numbers.,

I also pin mirrors and many other small parts. I have used 0.012" diameter brass rod (and drill with #80 [0.0135"] drill bit) for really small parts. It is doable but you need to have steady hand and go slow.

I can do that in Corel too, but I find that manually tracing the bitmaps takes less time than fixing the auto-traced curves.

I think I'll end my comments here with a statement that an average Joe cannot magically get their custom decals made. What is needed are learned skills and understanding of the process. Like it or not David, you need to acquire knowledge of the process and lingo. Listen, when started building models you didn't know about all the various paints, adhesives and techniques which are involved in model building. You had to learn and acquire them. You also need to understand that the same goes for designing and printing custom decals Educate your self about the process and the lingo. I suggest that you should stop looking for shortcuts, and gain the knowledge and experience which will allow you to be successful at designing custom decals for your hobby. You mention designing some artwork in MS Paint which was then successfully used (after being converted to vectors by someone). Think about it - if you learned how to work with vectors, you could provide a print-ready artwork without getting someone else involved. And as I mentioned few times before, vector-based drawing programs have lots of features which make drawing your artwork much, much easier. You would save time on the artwork design, and once you learn this skill, you can use it for any other hobby or professional work. Vector drawings (because they can easily be drawn to exact and known dimensions) can be used for things other than just decals. I often create drawings for making custom model parts. I print that artwork in 1:1 scale and use it as template for cutting those parts. When I design decals I often place the actual model on my scanner then import the scan of the model into Corel Draw, and place it on a lower layer and lock it. Then I can draw the decal artwork directly over that 1:1 scale scan of the model. That way the decal will fit perfectly when printed. It makes the design so much easier than guesswork. I'm showing you my tricks to convince you that it might not be such a bad idea to learn a new skill for your hobby.

Noel, Blank decal paper is not *THAT* expensive. Cheaper than a small bottle of hobby paint. Still, my trick to double my use is to split each letter-size (8.5" x 11") sheet in half vertically. I end up with two 4.25" x 11" sheets. I just design my artwork to fit on that width paper. Then I have another paper-saving trick. I often print very small images and only one or two. I place them right at the very top printable edge of the artwork page, print, then cut the decal off from the top of the page. I end up with vertically-partial half-sheet. I then use that partial sheet repeatedly for future small jobs. Sometimes I can get 5 or 6 separate decal projects from one half sheet without having to print them all at the same time. I still keep the 11" length of paper size in my artwork (just have the objects to be printed on top). The program or the printer do not care the the sheet is shorter than expected. It still gets ejected properly. Of course this only works if the artwork does not require full size width. But even then, if the length of the artwork is not full 11", I can trim the printed images of the top of the sheet and use the remaining blank piece for next project that doesn't require full sheet. Of course the printer does have minimum length pf paper that it can deal with, so if I get to that point I have to throw away the small remaining piece of paper. But overall I squeeze as much as possible out of my decal paper. As far as using white vs. clear film paper then yes, unless the decal will be applied to a white-color model, it needs to be printed on white. If printed on clear and applied to a non-white surface, the color of the surface will tint the colors of the decal. It is standard subtractive color method. If the decal is transparent yellow and applied to a blue model, the result will be green decal image. I know of at last one decal manufacturer who actually uses that to their advantage. Here is an example https://k4decals.com/collections/reefer-decals/products/mistletoe-hams-36-ft-billboard-reefer-decal-mistle . Specifically look at and ready the instruction scan. It explains things.

David, What is the big rush? What you are doing is a hobby - it is a pleasure activity which is supposed to provide fun, not stress. Relax, take your time. Unless of course you have limited number of days here on this third rock from the Sun. As I see it, is you rather than us, who is trying to rush things. There is a lot to learn, and you need to start with basics. As for why it seems so difficult to get custom decals produced, it is because no company has produced an affordable printer with capabilities similar to what those Alps printers can do. Why? Simple: the market for such specialized printer is not large enough for the venture to be profitable. It is always about the money. And just like with other parts of our hobby, in order to get good at something, you need to acquire the skills and tools to do a quality job. You can complain all you want, but that will not make things any better, or provide a faster solution. If you are impatient, the models will not turn out well. Again, this is a hobby, not a high stress job. Trust me, you will not become really proficient modeler in few days. I have never met any modeler who turned contest quality models right after he picked up model-building as a hobby. You really should not expect everything to just instantly fall into place. You need to be patient (and gain experience). I still recommend you upgrade to something more advanced than MS Paint. I'm speaking from experience here. I have been building models since pre-teens, and I'm now only few years your senior. I have been using Corel Draw (in my hobbies) for about 30 years, and Alps printer for about 20 years. I quite comfortable with both, but I still have things to learn. By the same token, you can't just jump into this whole home-brewed custom-decal making process and become an expert in few days without doing some in-dept research (and follow the advice you asked for). Also, often if you want something done rigth (and fast), you have to do it yourself. I dint' want to deal with outside decal vendors - I wanted to print my decals in my workshop, rigth after I created the artwork. That is why I invested in my Alps printer. I just do the decals myself. But there was a learning process involved, and I'm still discovering things that improve my skills. There are ink jet printers out there which use UV-cured inks that can print directly on the models (and can do white inks), but they are very expensive commercial printers. There are also 3D printers which can use multiple colors of resin while printing the model, so the model comes out with all the decoration already on it (not decals needed). But in either way, there is a learning curve involved. No instant gratification. Thanks for the explanation abotu your fantasy scheme - I like it!

The Metallic-silver Alps pints looks just like silver paint. Depending on the viewing angle, just like silver paint, it will l look darker or lighter. I'm not sure if that will look good as window, but I could be wrong. Gray can be accomplished on Alps by printing a layer of white ink over black ink, but not all Alps printers are capable of that. It is a complicated story. There are now also several opaque gray inks (spot colors) available from Elephant Rocket, but I'm not sure if the decal makers use those inks. They have to be ordered directly from Elephant Rocket in Japan.

I'm pretty sure that Kadee uses Alps printer, so they will have similar limitations as all other the cottage decal manufacturers (majority of which also use Alps printers). If you bothered to read through the website with Alps printing tutorial (I pointed to earlier in this thread), you would see several Alps color charts shown there. These are not Pantone, but simply combination of Alps inks printed in spot color overlay mode. Since those color charts were done, Elephant Rocket (yes, that is a company name) in Japan has introduced a whole new range of ink ribbons with spot colors, so the range of available non-dithered colors Alps can print has increased quite a bit. Well educated decal makers who use Alps do not want to print halftones, because Alps does a terrible job with halftones, but it gives excellent results with spot colors. Not sure about your question about Microscale decals and clear. The print decals using silk-screening process, and custom blended color inks (also no halftones). Those inks are very durable and will not run when clear-coated, even with hot paints. I also do not understand you so concerned about the 8" x 10" size of the decal sheet. What you should be paying attention is the proper sizing of the images on the sheet itself. Vector format preserves the sizes of the objects, so regardless of what size sheet they are printed on, they will retain correct size. The margins might change, but the images will always have the correct size. Again, another reason to work in vectors. But even with bitmaps, if you use a more advanced bitmap editor, you can change the paper size without changing the size of the images on that artwork. We are all trying to help you here, but I'm not sure how much you are accepting. Maybe you should have stuck with game simulators after all. I'm also curious about Preston American Original. I did a quick Google search and didn't come up with anything useful. Is that a fantasy scheme?

You will have to let the decal maker know that you need metallic silver (not a light gray color). Are the airliner windows also metallic silver?

Looks like you already figured out how to put a link in your signature. Mike S. is also a member here (mrmike). He usually posts in WIP and Under Glass sections.

Yes, pixel-by-pixel is how you often end up doing things in MS Paint. The decals you show in the photo are very nice. I bet it took many hours to draw that artwork. BTW, thanks for trimming the image when you quoted my reply. It makes for less scrolling and seeing the same image over and over. I wish more people would do that. Daniel: your decals look great too!

Wow! Impressive!

Yes Bill, MS paint works, but it is a hassle. And then you have to print at some unknown percentage to get the right size. Proper tools for the job not only allow you working in correct scale, they have lots of features that make drawing artwork easier. Rulers, guide-lines, ability to work in layers, all make the design process much easier. And such tools are free, and the learning curve is not that steep. You can start using Gimp similarly to MS Pain, then as you dive deeper into the program's features, you can start using all sorts of tools to make your job easier. You can first crawl before walking or then running. But I can guarantee that it will cut your design time, and will make it much easier than working in MS Paint. Here is a snippet of one of my designs. I took a photo of the real sign, then utilizing layers created the artwork for making a scale sign in N scale (1:160). The tiny sign on the lower right is drawn actual size for N scale. While this is Corel Draw, Photo Paint or the other free drawing programs all have similar capabilities. This drawing is a "scratchpad". For the final artwork I take the final design (in this case the small image on the lower rigth) and use that to make the print-ready artwork (in a separate file).

Most waterborne paints become waterproof once they set. I don't think epoxy, canopy glue or Bondic would cause it any harm.

Josh, Most modelers have a set of #60-#80 drill bits in a standard drill index. See the following thread for some good info about drill bits. Don't get the cheap ones from Amazon or eBay. Get the more expensive drill set from a reputable industral tool supplier. More info below. Some sources are given there by Pete J. and others. The stainless steel fine silk pins I use are 0.021" in diameter. So for those bit #74 (0.0225") would work well. Melting the holes on plastic is not a good ideal. That would leave a berm around the hole.

Ok, this looks silly, but still fun to build. The color of "food" parts looks a bit off. Needs some judicious airbrushing of more realistic colors.

I recall seeing the Arecibo radio telescope used in some move (don't remember which one). Could have been a TV series. It was very impressive looking! Too bad it was neglected. Isn't this type of equipment supported by volunteers, and financed by donations and/or government grants? It is not like these are for-profit ventures. As such, generating funds for the upkeep is probably difficult. It is at the mercy of politicians or donors.

I see. Couldn't you do it like on the 1:1 car and drill bunch of holes and use straight pins as simulated screws? No glue needed (at least on the window side). If not, if you could find some sort of glue applicator syringe with a hypodermic need. you could run a thin bead of either canopy glue, or epoxy on the inside corner of the window lip, then place the window in the opening and press it in. The glue in theory would evenly spread onto the lip. Another idea is to use Bondic (UV cured resin). It already has a hypodermic applicator in a squeeze tube. Run a thin bead of Bondic in the inside corner of the lip, then put the window in and push it in to spread Bondic evenly. Then set it with UV light.

David, MS Paint was not designed as a precision drawing program. It has very limited capabilities. Trust me, it is much easier to use tools designed for the job. As others mentioned there is a good freeware vector-based program called Inkscape. But if you need to use bitmaps, there is a good freeware bitmap editor called Gimp. In Gimp you can save your drawing in any format, and it will preserve the actual dimensions. It also has rulers and guide lines you can set up to help you with the designs. I also agree that keeping track of dimensions is vital for precision modeling. As a long time modeler, and also as someone who has designed and printed many custom decals on my Alps printer, I understand that completely. That is exactly why I use tools such as Corel Draw and Corel PhotoPaint. If you are interested in getting good results, I highly recommend to ditch MS Paint, and use a better drawing program. They are not that difficult to learn. Even I only use a small percentage of Corel's capabilities, but trust me, it makes the design process so much easier. As for taking measurements, steel ruler is good, but even better is a digital caliper. I own few of those, and just like my drawing programs, I find the calipers indispensable in my hobby. Good luck with your project!

Welcome to the forum Marcos! Don't sell yourself short - you are a superb and fastidious model builder, with a great eye for color and details. I know as I have seen your models in-person! If you got that good in just 4 years, I can't wait what your builds will look after 10 years of experience! I miss our club meetinigs - Zoom sessions and online forums are a poor substitute for "real" meetings. the Wiz

Thanks Marcos, and you're welcome.

Avoid JPG files like a plague - they manipulate the bitmap (produce all sorts of artifacts or compression) and make it harder to vectorize it. PNG is much better - it uses non-lossy compression, so the image is unmolested but the file size is smaller than TIF or BMP. Also keep in mind that even if you send a vector file to the same decal maker as before, the decals will still have that halftone "fishnet" pattern for their fill. That is because of the shade of color and the printing technique your decal person uses. With vector-based artwork you might find someone who uses advanced printing techniques with Alps to get the colors printed without the halftonning, and with real metallic silver ink. Alps is the only affordable consumer printer which can print metallic inks. Other than that, silk-screen printing is the other way to get that high quality decal done.

PNG is a non-lossy bitmap format (unlike JPG), so at least that was a good thing. Alps (which is what most cottage-industry decal makers use) is a 600dpi printer, so it makes sense to use 600dpi artwork. You mention "average Joe" skills, and yet the title of this thread mentions that you want "truly factory-quality decals"? We presented you some options on how to go about getting those high-quality results. If you are an average-Joe then you either have to pick up some skills, or hire someone who will do this for you (a paid service). As an average-Joe, using MS Paint, I doubt you will ever get factory-quality decals. But I could be wrong. Maybe someone else will chime in with some brilliant magical solution.

The wheels look better than I envisioned them. Very good!

There is a directory of custom decal producers on https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm , plus a good tutorial on creating artwork for decals. Yes, for Alps printer, but the concept applies to artwork in general. Contact some of those people/companies and see if they will be willing to vectorize your artwork, and what type of bitmap artwork they would prefer. I would also recommend that you do your artwork in at least 600dpi.