Custom Decal Printing: Who Still Does It

[69NovaYenko]

Can anyone recommend someone that will print some custom color decals for me. The artwork is already scaled to size just need someone to print them. At one time there were a number of individuals that did these types of assignments  but they all have seemd to disappeared since  the demise of Alps printers.  

I have several pending projects in the bull pen. If you wish you can P.M. me.

Edited June 26, 2016 by 69NovaYenko

[1930fordpickup]

Greg have you checked the aftermarket directory?

 

[modelercarl]

Greg,

Check with Thomas Logan at speedwaydecals@yahoo.com.  I have used him several times for custom decals for some of my builds and he does excellent work and is very reasonable.  He has a day job which requires travel so he does his printing on weekends but so far I have never waited more than a week and a half for my decals.  Excellent communication also.

Carl

[peteski]

The Demise of Alps printers has been greatly exaggerated.

There are still many Alps printers out there chugging along (including mine).  If you go to http://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm and then scroll down to the section titled Custom decal companies you will find several customer decal makers. That list is fairly up to date.

But remember that simply scanning a decal as a bitmap and then putting it in a PDF or another vector file format will not magically turn the scan it into a vector graphic format.

[Draggon]

Greg's Decal Graphics is on that list. I don't have personal experience with him, but the fellows at the Traditional Rod and Kustom forum say he does an excellent job and is very reliable. 

http://vsrnonline.com/gregsdecalgraphics/

[Russell C]

Our man Joseph Osborn right here does custom Alps printing.

[69NovaYenko]

The numerous responses to my inquiry are really appreciated.

[OldNYJim]

This is an old thread, but a subject that comes up semi-often…I had been looking for a source of custom decals for a while and was BLOWN AWAY by a company that @peteski recommended to me by the name of Fusion.

I sent artwork to them right before New Years and got my sheet back by the following Wednesday…that’s three working days from ordering to in my hands for custom printed one-off art.  OUTSTANDING service.  Good quality product, they responded to emails fast, kept me posted on the status of my order and I couldn’t be happier.  Thoroughly recommended!  I did a simple test sheet as a trial order, but I’ll be putting a bunch of work their way…

https://fsdecals.com/
 

 

[peteski]

I'm glad it worked out for you. I never tired them, but I they were recommended on another forum.

The decal looks pretty good, and with the white undercoat the colors will show up properly applied to any color surface.  I do see to render colors they use CYMK printing, so under magnification, you can see the halftone patterns (not solid colors). That is visible on the yellow and blue "new york" decals.  However, this is probably not easily noticed when viewed in-person.

As for the speedy service, I suspect you provided them with print-ready (and probably vector-based) artwork.  That makes things easy for them.

[Bernard Kron]

7 hours ago, CabDriver said:

This is an old thread, but a subject that comes up semi-often…I had been looking for a source of custom decals for a while and was BLOWN AWAY by a company that @peteski recommended to me by the name of Fusion.

I sent artwork to them right before New Years and got my sheet back by the following Wednesday…that’s three working days from ordering to in my hands for custom printed one-off art.  OUTSTANDING service.  Good quality product, they responded to emails fast, kept me posted on the status of my order and I couldn’t be happier.  Thoroughly recommended!  I did a simple test sheet as a trial order, but I’ll be putting a bunch of work their way…

https://fsdecals.com/

 

2 hours ago, peteski said:

I'm glad it worked out for you. I never tried them, but they were recommended on another forum.

The decal looks pretty good, and with the white undercoat the colors will show up properly applied to any color surface.  I do see to render colors they use CYMK printing, so under magnification, you can see the halftone patterns (not solid colors). That is visible on the yellow and blue "new york" decals.  However, this is probably not easily noticed when viewed in-person.

As for the speedy service, I suspect you provided them with print-ready (and probably vector-based) artwork.  That makes things easy for them.

Jim, what file format do they work from and what did you send them? Peteski, you make reference to a white undercoat. Did you detect that in his photos (like you did the half-tones). Jim didn't refer to it in his post.

[GarryR]

Indycals also does custom printing. They use a printer that renders in CMYK and white, so upon close examination the screen pattern is visible. Resolution is quite fine, and I do not find it at all objectionable. Service is speedy, and quality excellent.

[Joe Handley]

Hmmmmm, I may have a use for them, thanks for posting this!

[OldNYJim]

On 1/6/2023 at 9:58 PM, peteski said:

I'm glad it worked out for you. I never tired them, but I they were recommended on another forum.

The decal looks pretty good, and with the white undercoat the colors will show up properly applied to any color surface.  I do see to render colors they use CYMK printing, so under magnification, you can see the halftone patterns (not solid colors). That is visible on the yellow and blue "new york" decals.  However, this is probably not easily noticed when viewed in-person.

As for the speedy service, I suspect you provided them with print-ready (and probably vector-based) artwork.  That makes things easy for them.

I didn’t spot the half time ‘spottiness’ until I looked at these photos again - I wonder if some of that might be some fuzz from my camera or image compression.  It definitely didn’t jump out during normal naked-eye viewing.  I’m super pleased with their work though!  Thanks for the recommendation!  And yes, I sent them print ready Illustrator art - they had me make one tweak to it before it was how they needed it, but nothing major…

22 hours ago, Bernard Kron said:

 

Jim, what file format do they work from and what did you send them? Peteski, you make reference to a white undercoat. Did you detect that in his photos (like you did the half-tones). Jim didn't refer to it in his post.

I made an Adobe Illustrator format file, but they’ll work from anything vector based as I understand it.  And Peteski’s right, some of them DO have a white layer underneath (I wanted the light colors to remain opaque if they’re laid down over something darker…)

14 hours ago, GarryR said:

Indycals also does custom printing. They use a printer that renders in CMYK and white, so upon close examination the screen pattern is visible. Resolution is quite fine, and I do not find it at all objectionable. Service is speedy, and quality excellent.

I tried them - sent them art made to their specifications and on their template and they never replied to my request for payment info.   I gave them probably 6 weeks then gave up - business lost ?‍♂️

2 hours ago, Joe Handley said:

Hmmmmm, I may have a use for them, thanks for posting this!

You got it Joe!

[Horrorshow]

Fusion did some custom numbers for me, like the previous thread mentioned, they responded to emails quickly and my numbers came up EXACTLY as I envisioned them. There was extra space on the decal sheet so they gave me two sets. Very satisfied. They also have a large selection of NASCAR decals 

[Mike 1017]

Could a plain text be used to make a custom decal

Make them a 1:25th to fit a 1964 Dodge 330

On the doors

Chicago Dodge Dealers.

Ph# NA 2-0689

On the quarter panel

NHRA Record holder 1964,65,67

Thanks 

Mike

[peteski]

If you are on a Windows computer and create the text artwork in a word processing program like MS Word, then save it as a PDF file, then it will likely work.  Windows fonts (TrueType and OpenType) are vector-based and PDF format will preserve that format.  There might be some letter spacing issues, but if the decal producer shows you proofs, you should be able to tell if the lettering looks correctly.  But you have to make sure the letter size is correct.

Programs like Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, or Inkscape make designing artwork (to the exact size) easy.  They are like CAD programs where you know the exact dimensions of objects or text.  None of the trial-and-errors people go through using tools like Word or MS Paint.

[Mike 1017]

22 hours ago, peteski said:

If you are on a Windows computer and create the text artwork in a word processing program like MS Word, then save it as a PDF file, then it will likely work.  Windows fonts (TrueType and OpenType) are vector-based and PDF format will preserve that format.  There might be some letter spacing issues, but if the decal producer shows you proofs, you should be able to tell if the lettering looks correctly.  But you have to make sure the letter size is correct.

Programs like Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, or Inkscape make designing artwork (to the exact size) easy.  They are like CAD programs where you know the exact dimensions of objects or text.  None of the trial-and-errors people go through using tools like Word or MS Paint.

Thank you for the info

Mike