Plumcrazy Preston

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroDry I gather only ALPS thermal tec can print WHITE objects. Since ALPS printer production shut down in Japan a number of years ago one might think somebody else would have jumped on the bandwagon already and made similar products. Are any companies now making clones of these ALPS printers? Since hobbyists demand ALPS tec so badly, why did this company quit ALPS printers?

ALPS is dead. What do you think? I've been lead to believe that inkjet is an inferior form of decal printing and that color laser printing is the second best to ALPS.

Carsten: Good Luck David, ALPS tec is dead since 2008. We have printed on APLS until 2012 and owned 16 printers. In few weeks we have 2021. Everyone who prints actually on ALPS is a private hobbyist who prints something from time to time. We have over 6000 customers and print 10 quartermeters per week. Most of the time, I always see all the customers again after they have waste their money to somewhere else. For our businness that was the best year ever. All people who siiting bored at home spent a lot of money for decals. But yes, we hope we can go outsinde next year and can have a real vacation. Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Kind regards Carsten Glaubitz DecalPrint.de

Me: Carsten: Thank you very much for your reply. I found another decal printing firm now open for business who uses ALPS thermal printer technology and Pantone spot colors. I use yet another party to convert my BMP artwork to vector form then deliver the finished file in PDF. Text objects are treated like any other art objects during the conversion process. I appreciate your reply just the same. Good luck. Hope its a nicer new year. Sincerely, David

Carsten: Hi David: 1. Roland VS420 Solvent inkjet on 15micron transparent waterslide foil 2. all colours except black are undercoated with white automatically 2. PayPal accepted, 7,50EUR shipping costs as reg. letter BUT All what I see in your file are bitmaps. Here are our file rules: Our standards for printable files--------------------------- Fileformat CDR Version 2019 or lower, PDF from AI, EPS from AI - all objects on ONE layer, colour layer separation is only supported by us - CMYK Colour Code for all objects needed - Special Codes: withe = C0 M0 Y0 K10 silver = C0 M0 Y0 K30 gold = C0 M20 Y60 K20 BEFORE you send us the file, take care that all used fonts converted to curves! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We are closed for this year. Please let's continue this conversation next year. Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Kind regards Carsten Glaubitz DecalPrint.de

I've done some studying over the past few weeks and have concluded that ALPS thermal waterslide decals are the highest quality ones available for hobbyists but this German, Carsten Glaubitz, of DecalPrint.de seems to disagree: Me: Hello, Mr. Carsten Glaubitz: David from America here. I was referred to you by camaro69 at a scale model car forum at the following web link: Who can print me truly factory-quality waterslide decals? Who can print me truly factory-quality waterslide decals? He says you might be able to help me with making me a custom order for waterslide decals for model cars and airplanes. I have a few questions. 1. what kind of printer do you use for waterslide decals?: color laser, ALPS thermal, inkjet, other? 2. does my vector file need to be supplied with a color background or does the background need to be transparent? 3. how does a customer in the USA pay you?: PayPal, credit card, other method? My artwork file will be 8"x10". The decal sheet when printed should be the same size. The three spot colors to be printed are black, white and silver. I have attached a PDF of my artwork design for you to review. The background color in my artwork is purple and is not to be printed. I am considering having a 3rd party rework this file in vector to meet your specifications for printing. Is there sufficient margin in my artwork for the printer? The attached PDF is for your visual review and not for printing purposes. Please tell you what you think of my artwork and if you could possibly help me. Thank you. Sincerely, David Lawton, Oklahoma, USA

I wish I could find a static (or R/C) model kit of a Toyota Tundra TRD-Pro or even a Tacoma TRD-Pro as a basis for my plum paint. I want a double cab and a model shell to go on the back too. All stock looking tires and ride height. Complete with the TOYOTA front grille. I need a kitted scale Boston Whaler cuddy cabin boat on a trailer for the truck to "pull". Definitely not something kitted and off the shelf. I had to settle for an Atlantis Boeing 727-100 as 727-200 Advanced model kits don't exist. The 200 jetliner has a longer fuselage and rear side doors. I don't know what determines what specific model kits model kit commercial manufacturers offer. AMT makes the Kenworth W-925 kit I have. Did they have to pay PACCAR money to use that brand name? How can model kit makers read the market? How will they know what sells and what would be a flop? Would a 1:25 Boston Whaler fishing boat kit be a flop? Would a Tundra or Tacoma TRD-Pro kit be a flop?

Peter: I will hold my tongue for now. I will have Copyartwork redo my artwork and have Josh print it for me. Then I will build one AMT kitted Kenworth tractor, one AMT Wilson stock trailer, one Atlantis Boeing 727 jet plane and one AMT Bell 205 helicopter and see how it goes. I will let people here know how my stuff turns out and post pics here. If I were really rich I'd like to get into R/C scale models all dolled up in custom paint and fancy decals as well. I envy this hobbyist who could hand machine all the aluminum parts for this gorgeous larger-scale R/C Kenworth logging truck: Serious R/C scale modelling only seems to occur in Britain and Europe. American men and boys play with gaming stuff these days mostly or play with vehicle sims. Traditional model railroading is largely out too: I've played with Trainz railroad sim software and build layouts in it for several years and got sick of it. I don't have a true gaming PC to run it smoothly. I then later collected a few guns for fun and got sick of that. Americans these days don't have the industrial trades skills for this modelling hobby. Europeans are old-world master hand craftsmen. There is a lot of R/C stuff but in kitted form it is mostly non-scale and toy-like in appearance. You just won't find an off-the-shelf R/C kit of a jet-powered Boeing 727, an electric Kenworth W-925 or an electric Bell 205 heli. The static scale model hobby offers much more in terms of off-the-shelf kits. There may be some who have built static scale models from scratch. True scale R/C models are largely the work of scratch-building by master tradesmen who are/were auto painters, draftsmen, machinists and welders.

Peter, how many models have you built over your lifetime? Well, if one makes model-building a serious lifetime hobby, I guess getting up to speed with vector drawing would be the way to fly. I have four new model kits ready to build now and doubt if I will go much further than that. I don't have the space at home for many more models. This is why I also have rattle cans of paint instead of an airbrush. I don't know how to use an airbrush. I do have a nice portable DeWalt air compressor. I was a former automobile and fleet truck mechanic by trade and do most of the work on my own car. I have quite a few car tools already. Will that work for an airbrush? It has an adjustable pressure regulator and a water filter to take the moisture out of the air. I figure one has to get deep into modelling to consider taking up an airbrush. There are pole with guns, hunting and shooting as a hobby. One of my hobbies is gun collecting and doing minor gunsmithing on my own guns. I seldom shoot so I don't hand load. Does a firearms hobbyist reload their ammunition at the Lee or Dillon press at the bench or just buy factory shells? It depends how much shooting they do. Getting into vector and air airbrushing will depend upon how deep one is into modelling.

The guy in Germany sent an auto-reply. He is shut down until next March. I contacted my old buddy, Josh Muma at Bedlam Creations again. having a vector in PDF with a couple of spot colors should be a no brainer for him. He does ALPS thermal in addition to laser color prints. It looks like Copyartwork will do the vectorzin' while Josh runs it off on ALPS. The anal dame at Kadee still won't print my artwork with a Y on the end of KENWORTH and an IN at the beginning of BOEING. She must be having female period issues. Josh Muma had no trademark issues the first time he attempted a job for me.

Can objects by copied and pasted into Corel as a photocopy of a photograph or an image from another program like Paint? When I made my window decal image for my jetliner, I used my computer scanner to copy the original decal sheet in the box and then traced that row of windows to form new ones with simple spot colors. I will sometimes use a photo then painstakingly recolor each and every pixel one by one about the outlines. Even my wolf head logo was snagged by me from Google and reworked in Paint. I did that copy/paste/trace of the stock decal sheet to remove the Eastern Airline livery from the row of windows and doors and put in my own custom markings: AMERICAN ORIGINAL. Paint has simple shapes like squares with rounded corners and such. That's how I formed the new windows and doors over the old ones. Copy/paste is a tool I use heavily in an image editor like Paint as well as the eraser tool, the Fill can, the color grabber, and the margin ruler. Dragging the select tool makes it easy to measure the height or width of an object in pixels or inches. So basically can a vector program use an existing image or part of one as a template to build a new picture? Can one easily design logos with letters going around a circle as the Presidential Seal? I used WordArt in Microsoft Word to make the logo of PRESTON bent above the wolf head for my truck door sign in the shape of a rainbow. Is vector a great tool to make Harley-Davidson logos for gas tanks? How about if I had a photograph of a red car and I wanted to recolor it orange? Is the Eras font available in Corel? Can objects be rotated a certain number of degrees and easily resized? Can objects be flipped horizontally or vertically to make a mirror image of something? Can I add a border or outline to letters and numbers a different color than the fill and at a prescribed thickness? Paint does not allow me to border the characters text objects while typing in text. It is indeed rather limited.

Rico, thank you very much for your offer. I did ask Copyartwork.com if they needed fonts specifications for my artwork. When working in a vector program, is it just a simple matter of typing the text as it is in Paint and other image editors? Does each and every letter and number in vector have to be hand drawn? Vector is still a great mystery to me. I never took a formal class in it. I don't know if colleges even teach it. I've taken many computer courses at college. Mostly Microsoft Office stuff. I think CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator is mainly used by paid professionals in computer graphics. It's too bad that Bill Gates could not offer a simple user-friendly vector drawing program for Office Suite. The average Joe hobbyist is not that sophisticated.

Rico, I don't want you to do free work for me. I don't mind paying a fair-market price for what I want to do. I don't want to go through the hassle of providing all the specifications for the fonts I used if that can be avoided. I have consulted with Copyartwork.com. I sent them the specifications needed for printing provided by your decal man in Germany and asked them if they can rework my artwork to his specs. I sent the decal man in Germany, Carsten Glaubitz, an email and asked him some questions. I told him you referred me to him. I asked him what kind of printers he uses, whether my file needs to have a transparent background and what form of payment he accepts.

I checked this German cat's, Carsten's, website out and found this information on his page as follows: DECAL PRINTING SERVICE Digital printing from your finished vector files In order to get your decals in an uncomplicated way, you are welcome to send us a print-ready file. Our delivery standards for external files: CorelDraw .CDR version 2019 or lower file format Please represent everything as normal on one level. Use only the CMYK color code for all objects. The corresponding codes always apply to special colors. White = CMYK 0,0,0,10 Silver = CMYK 0,0,0,30 Gold = CMYK 0.20, 60.20 By coloring white printing, you no longer need a sheet background. Please remove this. The spot colors silver and gold are to be punched out with each other when overlapping with other colors. Program functions for this are mostly "simplify" and "combine". Before sending it to us, please make sure to convert all fonts into curves. You are free to choose the sheet size. A4 format is only the accounting unit. The maximum possible sheet width is 950mm. Please do not use the automatic vectorization function if possible. This increases the file size to the point of being unprintable and significantly worsens the print quality. If you would like to embed pixel graphics, please contact us beforehand. This is only permitted in exceptional cases. The production and delivery times are a maximum of 14 days from receipt of the error-free file. What does all this jazz in purple print mean?

I'll have to put this product on my shopping list then. I don't know yet if my local Hobby Lobby has it in stock. If not there is always amazon. The biggest bottleneck now is actually getting neat decals delivered to me. What makes this whole thing so complicated for me is that I have to have custom-painted and decorated models. I couldn't just settle for the standard paint schemes and decal sheets the kits come packaged with. My artwork designs for decals are not that complicated. This krap about registered trademarks was a real curveball I didn't see coming. I know one thing, building model plastic airplanes these days ain't a cheap kid thing like it was 50 years ago. Everytime I turn around, it seems as there is one more thing to spend money on. 50 years ago we didn't even have PCs at home, forums like this or anybody who could print special waterslide decals. We built whatever was in the kit and that's was all.

Peteski: I'm stressed about the money involved. I have horrific good patience for actually building the models themselves but I had no desire to make decal production a hobby except what I can scratch out on Paint which I've been using for 15 years straight now. I once produced images in Paint for label and sign companies to produce labels and signs for me for certain products. They turned out excellent. One was a badge for my homemade desktop PC tower and the others were some badges for some Hunter electric fans I have. The trademark was not an issue. The label companies took those rough bitmap files and used their own vector technology to refine my artwork. I'm surprisingly not seeing this kind of service from the waterslide decal sites I've looked at so far. I would love it if they would have everything under one roof. The language some of these waterslide decal websites uses is difficult to understand for the layman like me. They don't use simple easy to understand language. I didn't even know what a 'spot color' was until two days ago. The biggest thing holding me up is the decals and nothing else. I don't want to spend 100 man hours building a model to find out nobody can provide me decals to my liking. I've now got further work on my truck model on hold until this decal situation can hopefully be ironed out within a week's time. Another thing is I'm not super rich. I never envisioned this plastic kit hobby as something for the super rich. I expected there to be user-friendly decal printing services all over Google from the get-go. I don't plan to build that many models anyway. Four at the very most. I'm on fixed disability income and have a 1-br apartment. My space to do this hobby is also limited. I'm lucky to make car insurance payments let alone spend 5 grand on an ALPS printer.

I'll see if KENWORTHY and INBOEING cuts it, no pun intended, with Kaydee. It's easier and neater to cut off part of a decal with an Xacto than piece two separate decals together. I think like a machinist, making things by subtracting material rather than by adding it. ?

If you bothered to read through the website, I was too busy doing other things today, emailing vendors and asking questions Not sure about your question about Microscale decals and clear, Kaydee said the ALPS decals will be ruined if sprayed with clear coat paint UNLESS measures are taken by using some product they call MicroScale Liquid Decal Film, whatever that is, you know as much about it as I do Kaydee wants an artwork file in that size. If the entire file dimensions are changed as by converting BMP to certain file formats as PNG or TIFF, then each and every art object will change size. I want to make sure any vectorizing and printing company I use keeps everything the same size as originally drawn by me in BMP. You have to realize I don't know sheyit about doing vector work. I know if I convert a BMP to TIFF or PNG, everything gets blown up automatically about threefold. American Original is the name of my fantasy aircraft the decals are slated to be applied to. Some men might name their personal airplanes SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS, the SPRUCE GOOSE or the IRON DUCK. I named mine AMERICAN ORIGINAL. Building a model airplane with custom paint fulfills the fantasy of owning a full-size jet plane I will never be able to afford. Can you afford a full-size Boeing 727? PRESTON is the name of the fictitious trucking company I will never own either. That's why I have it as the door logo for my truck. AMERICAN ORIGINAL is also the name given to Bell 205 helicopter model. The decal sheet if for three separate models with same paint theme. Plum Crazy is my fantasy color for these scale models of rich boys' toys. I appreciate the help folks are giving here but I'm a slow learner sometimes so you will all have to slow down and be patient with me. I'm under a lot of stress about this whole stupid decal thing. I bought several hundred dollars worth of scale model kits, paint and etc. and can't return that stuff. Without acceptable decals, my whole thing will be a boondoggle. When I started this hobby not long ago, I really thought the whole custom decal thing would be a cakewalk with all this advanced technology we are supposed to have in the 21st century. I was 5 years old when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon 51 year ago, for goodness sake! Why can't some decal vendor just make everything simple and in plain English for the customer? You know like HONDA, We Make It Simple. I'm finding this hobby now quite frustrating indeed. I should have done a lot of decal research before diving into this thing too deep. Who would have dreamed about the trademark issue?

Kadee had an image of their spot colors on their webpage. I took a screenshot and use the color grabber tool for the metallic silver swatch in Paint. I don't know if Paint renders colors to exact code though. It's only an approximation. There is no other spot color ideal for window panes on the aircraft. Airplane windows in factory decals generally have some tone of gray and the silver metallic at Kadee was the only thing close enough. I have to give the color codes to the company that does the vector work.

Kadee says they can't print KENWORTH or BOEING art without permission from KENWORTH and BOEING. I modified the KENWORTH logos to KENWORTHY and BOEING to INBOEING and resubmitted it to them for review. I'm now awaiting an answer. I have a feeling this Kadee outfit is not ideal for car modelers who probably do use a lot of trademarks. Think of all the trademarks on a model racer. The spelling corrections for KENWORTH and BOEING decals can be easily made with my hobby knife if they insist upon being so damm anal.

Very nice, Rico!! I'm impressed. I'm trying to find the right decal printing firm now. They seem to have specific requirements like: 1. CMYK or Pantone? 2. spot colors with or without halftones? 3. file format options they accept like: versions of Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator or PDF Some decal printer websites claim they can only print ALPS in certain spot colors and that they don't do greyscale or halftones. Can you provide Pantone color codes for me? What version of Vector software do you use? Can you make the artwork image file exact dimensions like 10" x 8"? Regardless of the printing method used, my decals have to be protected once applied to the models. I would prefer to paint over with clearcote as long as decal inks aren't hurt. Does MicroScale really prepare the decal for clear painting well? The applied decals have to withstand periodic dusting with paint brushes and detailing the dirty models with distilled water. They have to be waterproof once model is fully completed. They can't peel or fade. I see no better durable protection than with clear paint. After all, Harley-Davidson tank decals are sealed by clearcote. The motorcycles do have to be washed and waxed after all.

Thanks, Rico. The trouble I'm having now is finding the right "decal printer". I tried Kadee and they are giving me a bunch of krap. 1. they won't print decals with BOEING or KENWORTH on them because of copyright/trademark issues. They told me I have to get permission from Boeing and Kenworth 2. they say that I have to use two heavy coats of MicroScale Liquid Decal Film over their decals before applying clearcoat paint so ink won't dissolve According to them, after such application, my decals "should" be safe for clear gloss paint I emailed Firebird Designs and I'm still awaiting a reply. I asked Josh Muma at Bedlam Creations again by email if he can print me a vectorized decal sheet in three spot colors: black, white silver (or gray). My first job with him flopped but I used a PNG with oddball non-spot colors. At least he did not have a copyright issue with BOEING and KENWORTH. This who decal thing is becoming some nightmare for me. maybe I should have stuck with game simulators as a hobby. I have several hundred dollars now invested in paints, supplies and model kits.

This decal maker is very finicky and offers a limited number of spot colors for ALPS production: https://www.kadee.com/custom.htm They offer metallic silver but not any other kind of gray. I have to pick the closest spot color that will work. They claim they don't do half tones or grey scale. It seems as there are many compromises and limitations to decal printing even though man has been put on the moon 51 years ago. I have to get my artwork to conform strictly to what the printer can do and is willing to do. Since I have white graphics, I need ALPS.

Here is my latest artwork for decals. I now have the damm thing reduced pixel by pixel to three and only three spot colors: black, white and metallic silver. It is BMP at 300-dpi. It is exactly 8"x10". It has a Plum Crazy background that somebody needs to remove to make transparent. Now the fun will be finding the right vectorizer company who can make the damm thing 100% perfect for the nitpicking ALPS decal printer service. This set is for my Kenworth W-925 truck tractor at 1:25 scale and two future aircraft models: a Boeing 727-100 jet plane at 1:96 scale and a Bell 205 (civilian Huey) helicopter at 1:48 scale. The commercial aircraft made private aircraft are to get the same purple custom paint treatment.