Copying decals to make extras?

[PierreR89]

I have some decalsets i cant get anymore and want to make copies of them before i use them. Can i use a normal printer and put decalpaper in it and make copies that way? I know the colors could come out a little off compared to the original but will it work?

[Mike 1017]

2 hours ago, PierreR89 said:

I have some decalsets i cant get anymore and want to make copies of them before i use them. Can i use a normal printer and put decalpaper in it and make copies that way? I know the colors could come out a little off compared to the original but will it work?

Yes

Mike

[rattle can man]

Just make sure you get the correct paper for your printer (ink jet vs. laser). And don't forget to seal/ clear them once printed.

[peteski]

Well, not quite that easy.

If there are any white decals, obviously your printer can't do that.

You are also correct with the colors being off. There is some loss of color accuracy in the scanning process itself, but the biggest problem is that consumer printers print using translucent inks which for the correct color rendition require white base (the paper they are printed on). 

If you print the scan onto a typical transparent film decal paper and apply the decal onto any surface that is not white, it will skew the way the colors look. For  example if a yellow decal is applied to blue surface, the yellow decal will look green.  If applied to a dark surface, all the translucent printed colors will almost disappear.

Many factory decals  are printed using silk screening process where each color is actually opaque ink or paint applied separately to the paper, as where a home computer printer makes up all the colors using very small dots of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink.  It will never look as good as the original decal.

There are workarounds for the problem (like printing the color decal images onto a white decal film, then trimming the feel around the decal image, but that is a hassle.

For the best quality a decal  should be scanned, converted to a vector format, then printed using a printer which can print white and a white ink/toner, and also has the ability to apply the white  under each color image.  There are specialized printers which have those capabilities, but usually very expensive, making them out of reach for average modelers.

There are decal companies  which custom print decals for you, but it is not cheap, especially if you don't provide a print-ready artwork (as vectorizing and cleaning up a simple decal scan takes time).

As you see, it is nowhere as simple as scan them print on your ink jet or color laser home  printer.

Edited July 8 by peteski

[Dave Van]

Peter pretty much covered it. Photo copy decals will ONLY work over pure white paint.  ANY other color and it will alter the decal or make it disappear.  So lots of issues. Add the original decal paper color, if it's blue or just a aged brown/tan, this will copy too. IMHO it's not worth it unless you have a really good decal, bright white paper being applied to a pure white surface. 

Best thing is you want GOOD copies....scan original decal, trace and make new art, send it to someone like Indycals that can print correctly. 

I've been a decal manufacture for 40+ years now.

Thanks

[PierreR89]

Thanks. I am going to try and if that does not work i will scan them and send them to someone who can print them out for me.

[oldcarfan]

I did this a while back and it works, but the colors are pretty translucent and there is no white. Even with darker colors I ended up making three copies and layering them to get decent coverage. I also printed out some on a 3m commercial laser printer and they were a little translucent too, but a lot sharper. If you do use a laser printer, make sure the paper is for lasers. I was told that ink jet paper will mess up a laser printer.

Either one, mist on a couple of coats of clear to set the decals before using.