# Custom Decals?



## Tails (Nov 9, 2010)

Another dumb question.

What are the basics to making custom decals. what supplies do you need. Are the specific decal printers you need to buy, or will a standard printer do the trick.

I have a few Projects I me and one of my friends are working on, A 3 truck Shay and a Connie kitbash. Both projects to do them the way we want will require Custom Decals. Railroads that cannot be found in the store.


So the only way to go is custom, so what do we need to do to make a work....and on a budget as well, were not millionaires.


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## Bunker (Feb 7, 2009)

Until you buy the printer, etc. you can order some quality decals fro Stan Cedarleaf, a sponsor on this site. I am sure other's will agree his work is first rate and priced very reasonably.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Quite honestly, the most cost-effective way to do custom decals is to have Stan or someone do them for you. You can buy an ALPS printer (they sell used for between $300 - $500ish), and the ink cartridges (c. $25 each), but then you're well-advised to get a computer that runs Windows 98 or a Mac running OS9 or earlier with a SCSI card because the ALPS printer is dated technology that lacks drivers for today's latest OSs (even XP to a large extent). So you're probably looking at an investment of $600 or more just to do "custom" decals at your whim. 

An alternative would be to play with the YuDu personal screen printer from Michaels, etc. I've seen them for around $300, but I'm not sure what the ancillary supplies (inks, screen cleaners, etc.) run, nor if the screen is fine enough for decals in our scale. It's designed primarily for screen-printing T-shirts and the like. 

There's a do-it-yourself dry transfer kit that I've heard good things about, but it requires a laser printer. Most folks these days have ink-jet printers, not laser printers, so unless you have one of those, you're going to need to buy one of those. (Expect to pay between $150 - $300?) That's without the cost of the dry-transfer kit. 

Don't bother with the ink-jet decal kits you see at the hobby shop. They don't do white, silver, gold, or any of the common RR artwork colors. 

My suggestion, design the artwork yourself in Photoshop, Illustrator, or other art software, e-mail the file to one of the custom decal guys, and compare prices. 

Later, 

K


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Tails.... You might go to the home page of my decal web page for some explanation for printing custom decals. Custom Decals 

Ink jet or laser printers are not able to print with the opaque colors needed so the art work is visible on the trains. Those of us who are still printing custom decals are using the ALPS printer and able to provide that service for you. 

Del Tapparo from G Scale Graphics can provide opaque vinyl cuts that will work as well. G scale graphics

If you try to do this yourself, I'm afraid you will become quite frustrated as I did many years ago.

There are some techniques that can be done but it's quite a process. Dean Whipple has done some with ink jet and I believe has the process listed on his website. Dean's Website

The cost of the printers has gone out of sight and the supplies have more than doubled in price.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Have Stan do your decals for you. He is great for doing custom work. He has done many for me for my railroad.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

I second Gary's comments. I have used Stan's decals for several projects. He worked with me to get exactly what I wanted. His prices are reasonable and the decals are excellent.

Chuck


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Stan has done the decals for ALL the AV cars and locos - but one.... and in hindsight, I probably should have ordered those too. 

Besides, he's a real cool guy, too.


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## mgilger (Feb 22, 2008)

You can purchase the Decal Paper from Micro-Mark, and make your own. They sell either paper for Ink Jet, or Laser printers. 


http://www.micromark.com/ProductSum...mp;map=web 

Mark
*http://mmg-garden-rr.webs.com/*


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## bcer960 (Dec 27, 2007)

Definatly go with Stan. Very reasonable prices and works with you to get exactly what you need. Great guy too. 

Ray


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## Tom Leaton (Apr 26, 2008)

Stan is no doubt the authority here. As for me, I just can't figure out why I could so easily buy train decals in, say, 1970, and now 40 years later science has taken us backwards to the point where you can't buy them over the counter. I vaguely remember when you could buy a sheet of alphabet characters and numerals at almost any hobby shop with trains. 

cheers


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## smcgill (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By bcer960 on 19 Jul 2011 07:40 AM 
Definatly go with Stan. Very reasonable prices and works with you to get exactly what you need. Great guy too. 

Ray Ya what Ray said.








You know He did say it rather well !
Stan the Man








He did do some for me also!
Sean


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

If you really want decals, then Stan is the "man". Personally, I hate the decal process, which is what drove me to vinyl transfers. Simple application, last forever, and looks like paint.


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## Tails (Nov 9, 2010)

Posted By Stan Cedarleaf on 18 Jul 2011 07:05 PM 
Tails.... You might go to the home page of my decal web page for some explanation for printing custom decals. Custom Decals 

Ink jet or laser printers are not able to print with the opaque colors needed so the art work is visible on the trains. Those of us who are still printing custom decals are using the ALPS printer and able to provide that service for you. 

Del Tapparo from G Scale Graphics can provide opaque vinyl cuts that will work as well. G scale graphics

If you try to do this yourself, I'm afraid you will become quite frustrated as I did many years ago.

There are some techniques that can be done but it's quite a process. Dean Whipple has done some with ink jet and I believe has the process listed on his website. Dean's Website

The cost of the printers has gone out of sight and the supplies have more than doubled in price. 

Cool thanks everyone. I saved those sites, I'll have someone else do the hard work for me.

It will be quite a while before everything gets to a point where I can get decals. One locomotive has to be finished (currently still in pieces) and the other still has to be purchased later this year when I have the money saved to do it (I contribute about $50 a pay check to my "Shay 14 fund")


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