peteski
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Posts posted by peteski
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You're welcome Bernard.
Alps MicroDry printers are great asset to a modeler who wants to make custom decals. Since you are serious about utilizing this printer I recommend that you (and your friend) join Alps-related Yahoo groups. While Yahoo groups are supposedly on the way out, we still have about 4000 members (not all are active of course). The groups are: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Alps/info and https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/alpsdecal/info . Both groups are a good resource if you have some issues and you need assistance from the Alps community.
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I highly recommend thoroughly reading through https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm .
Alps very poorly handles rendering colors using the CYMK halftone process. That is because it uses a type of halftone which creates patterns that are picked up by the human eye. Ink Jet printers for example use an advances scattering process instead of a standard halftone screen. The scattering of ink dots much less objectionable to the human eye.
These are scans of Alps printed decal. Yes, these images were printed by me in a bitmap format. Even with the 190 lpi halftone, the artifacts of the halftone screen are visible. This is especially true when the halftones color is used for very small objects or lettering. Tthe general rule of thumb with Alps is that the best quality is achieved by 100% saturated colors (not halftone blends). Clever Alps users figured out that by layering multiple passes of various Alps colors (printed at 100% density) they can extend the range of non-halftone colors. The website I pointed you to shows sample color charts giving you an idea what can be done with the Alps printer without using the halftoned CYMK colors. Unfortunately each Alps printer seems to be slightly different and some of them cannot handle the multilayer printing without some inks peeling up, or not adhering.
As far as the color space is concerned, even though the printer is a CYMK printer, its drivers are happiest when fed RGB based images. Yes, it seems counter-intuitive. This has been discussed many times on the Alps Yahoo groups, and while some users do not seem to have issues using CYMK color space in their artwork, to be on a safe side, most of us (me included) chose to work in the RGB color space. The example you cited where the CYMK black is not a "true black" is one ot the possible things that can go wrong in CYMK color space. With RGB you don't have to worry about that.
The website I pointed you to also has a list of decal companies that make decals using Alps - I wonder if your Alps guy is on that list?
Also as an anecdote, the person who creates that website (Rob deBie) did not own an Alps printer while he created most of that site - like you, he wanted to understand the process really well so he could provide Alps-print-ready artwork to his Alps guy. Eventually he did buy his own Alps printer.
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I have a car sitting in my driveway with BF Goodrich Radial TA tires which were purchased in the late 1980s. They show some light cracking on the sidewalls, but still hold air. I think the "best before date" expiration for tires was created by tire company lawyers to prevent frivolous lawsuits (and to make more money by scaring people to buy new tires every few years, regardless of the tread condition). If you go back to the '70s or earlier, did anybody ever worry about tire expiration dates? People were smart enough to visually inspect their tires (or have a mechanic do it) and replace them when needed.
Nowadays even Coca-Cola cans and bottles have "best by" dates stamped on them.
I drank a can of Coke which was few years past the "best by" and I didn't die. It also didn't taste any different than a fresh can of Coke.
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While I see where Don is coming from, I would also not even consider using Metallizer as primer. I don't see how any paint will adhere well to it. I build mostly models with unmodified bodies and I only use primer if absolutely required (like a red body with the final color being white). If the paint color will be similar or darker than the plastic color I don't use primer at all. Of course this is for plastic-compatible (hobby paints). Automotive lacquers usually require primer (not to attack and craze plastic).
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As an Alps owner for about 15 years I can tell you that getting good results with Alps is an art form. Having the vector based artwork greatly increases the success rate. Also, if you really want to get the top results you need to use spot colors. Any images printed using the standard CYMK color printing (where the color is derived from a mix of halftone CYMK inks) will result in unacceptable results (at least to me). Even with the finest halftone (190lpi) selected, I fund that unacceptable in most case. With spot colors your range of available colors is somewhat limited, but the result are top-notch. The problem with bitmaps is that it makes the necessary artwork manipulation much tougher than if the artwork was in a vector format.
Having said that, the specific artwork you showed (Gilmore) would be doable in a raster (bitmap) format. I use Corel Draw (and the companion bitmap editor - Corel Photo Paint).
If I was going to do it as raster, I would approach the following way (in Photo Paint).
Artwork resolution: 600dpi (and 1:1 scale)
Color space: 24-bit RGB
Each colored area would be as a separate object.
No smoothing of the object edges and in between colors. I would do that by reducing the number of colors to 4 (black, red, yellow, white), then change the colors to the following values (in R, G, B):
Red 255, 0, 0; Yellow 255, 255, 0; Black 0, 0, 0; White 255, 255, 255).
This gives us a ready-to-print color artwork. Next we need to prepare the white undercoat layer. Make copy of this drawing and do the following (Again no smoothing)
Change all black areas to white. Change all the red and yellow areas to black (RGB=0, 0, 0) and also make black all the image areas to be printed white. This is where using vector format makes things easier.
Basically we need black/white artwork for the white undercoat where all the areas to be printed white are black. And it has to be perfectly aligned with the color artwork.
This should result in a good quality decal with white undercoat.
If the standard yellow color is too light, that would require some additional tinkering with the image.
Looking at your earlier posts, you do have a decent grasp on how to do the artwork for Alps. But with bitmaps (especially when created and printed using different graphic apps) there are more chances that something will go wrong then when using vector format, so I can see why there is apprehension when you provide raster format artwork.
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I use liquid masking material for this type of masking. But Elmer's white glue shoudl work just as well. I do this because I'm a "belt and suspenders" kind of modeler and I hate scraping paint from parts to assure good glue joint.
Here is an example of masking (after the masks were removed). The kit's plastic is yellow. I liquid-masked the cylinder heads, the engine block in the oil pan area, the top of the carburetor (to glue on the air filter), the wheel hubs on the axles, and many other areas no visible in this photos. Also on the interior tub I masked the area for the gear shifter, dash attachment and seats. The seat masking was done with pieces of masking tape (not liquid mask). The door panels were made from white plastic and their edges were also masked.
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18 hours ago, Fat Brian said:
Some eBay amateurs just ran the price up on a decent builder kit l wanted higher than what an unbuilt on goes for tonight. The only bid that matters is the last on folks, fighting to stay the highest bidder four days before the auction ends only makes you spend more in the end. Now I've got to wait for another one to show up and hope the same thing doesn't happen to it.
I have always been an eBay sniper since joining eBay in 1999 (for the reason you stated) and yes, it irks me when the nickel-and-dimers keep outbidding each other days before auction ends. Of course the sellers hope for that.
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12 hours ago, madhorseman said:
Don't You mean PACZKI ?
Oops! I did not realize I misspelled it.
LOL - I wouldn't expect a non-Polish-speaking individuals to use the non-English characters.
The funny thing is that the word "paczki" in Polish (the "a" without that funny tail on the bottom) means "packages".
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23 hours ago, slusher said:
Taxes is very hot but most are shipped her in steel containers so thier exposed to heat..
Yes, but in a storage unit they will be siting for weeks or months. I've seen warped parts in kits after they sat in an attic (in New England) for extended period of time. I just wanted to warn about a possible problem.
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Military (flat finish) colors are usually perfect of automotive interior colors.
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9 minutes ago, Miatatom said:
About all that I do with spoons is compare colors after shooting.
Paints don't adhere well to polyethylene - I would go with the "hard" polystyrene spoons. That is what I use.
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41 minutes ago, Fat Brian said:
You had said in the spoon test thread that the soft spoons weren't the best ones to use, that was the point I was trying to make.
Another misunderstanding. The soft spoons he mentioned are not polystyrene but polyethylene. It is a different type of plastic. If they are marked with the recycling numbers, those will be marked #1 or #2 where polystyrene is #6. Polyethylene is not a good substrate for testing paints which will be applied to a model made from polystyrene or ABS .
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Be careful when leaving plastic models in non-climate-controlled storage units. Those get very hot (especially in TX in the summer). You might end up with some warped models (or with some tire rot).
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. . . and why do we care ?
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I avoid the problem entirely by thoroughly cleaning the seal inside the lid and the bottle opening every time I use the paint.
But if you want to use the clear wrap method and solvent-based paints I recommend to use a plain cling wrap. Press-n-Seal is coated with pressure-sensitive adhesive which will likely get dissolved into the paint. I rather not have my paint contaminated by adhesive (even by a miniscule amount).
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I have a work lamp with a magnifier, I use Optivisor, and I also have a stereoscopic microscope. Couldn't do it without it.
And for something really crazy check out WIllard Wigan stuff (Google it). Here is a sample (yes, in the eye of a sawing needle):
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Any lye-based solution (including Super Clean, Purple stuff or even EasyOff oven cleaner) will react with and eat aluminum. This is not a revelation. Lye is also shown in crime-drama movies as a solution which will dissolve corpses. So yes, you better protect your bare skin.
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Well done - the outdoor photos make it look like 1:1 car!
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On 2/24/2018 at 5:35 PM, echoxrayniner said:
. Also to Dino, I really wanted to make a elaborate sheet for all sorts of under hood decals but quickly ran into the problem that the printer I use just doesn't have the color fidelity to do strongly detailed small-as-sin decals(unless its black, white, silver or gold, in which case its crisp as all sin!) so I quickly gave up on the idea. I got the designs at least, incase I run into a better source.
Actually, there are 7 colors which are easily printed very sharp (using the standard Alps CYMK cartirdges): red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, black. Then like you said, metallic colors too.
Alps printers are also capable of many different shades of solid colors (without using dithered CYMK inks) but it uses a more time (and ink) consuming process of layering spot colors,and the results are not always guaranteed (depending on the individual printer). Thee also use ink cartridges designed for other model printers. Here are some examples of what Alps can do (there are more colors too).
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19 hours ago, HotRodaSaurus said:
I am curious to know why some model paint colours, particularly black, red and some metallic enamels are real hard work to remove? Oven cleaner sometimes will not touch these colours and I don't usually like going the domestic bleach route.
Why? Because there are many different paint chemistries and they can react differently to various strippers. It is not only enamel vs. lacquer, but things like paint's binders and pigments will make difference. So sometimes even with the same brand of paint, the color makes a difference (since the chemical composition of the pigment is different). Not all paints are equal.
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And what would you get if you painted one side of a Mobius Strip with Flat Earth paint? One wonders . . . (if you don't know what a Mobius Strip is - look it up).
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I do prep the bodies well. If possible I don't use primer (to minimize the total paint thickness). I never polish or wax my paint jobs (unless I have to polish out some nasty speck of dirt stuck in the paint, which doesn't happen often). I use Badger 200 bottom fed airbrush. My method is to lay a thin first coat and few more heavy coats (almost to the point of running). That way I get no orange peel.
Here is a 1:43 Cobra. It is about half the size of a 1:24 model. Primer: Tamiya Fine White Primer (decanted from a spray can). Then several coats of the nail polish shown in the photo, thinned with plain lacquer thinner. Last are 2 or 3 clear coats: Testors Wet Look Clear decanted from a can, and thinned with lacquer thinner. Like I said - no polishing - no wax. It doesn't look too shabby.
My paint jobs didn't always look like this - It took lots of practice (um, kits with sub-par paint jobs) and experimentation.
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I have a old fashioned Dremel tool and I modified its speed control to slow it down - anything more than 1000 RPM will melt the plastic instead of grinding it. No need for speed. But if you are grinding metal then you can let it rip at high speed!
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That is too funny - just last week I ran into this car on the Internets.
It is so ugly it is cute.
I drank a can of Coke which was few years past the "best by" and I didn't die. It also didn't taste any different than a fresh can of Coke.
Italeris Fiat 500 in 1/12 a little modified
in Model Cars
Posted
NICE!