HomeMade Decals

[Austin]

I have recently picked up some clear decal sheet from our local HobbyTown USA and want to try and make some custom decals for my 6" Standard ARM AGM-78. I will let you all know how it turns out.

I mention this because of a post Fishman has recently made. Many of us build our models and then need to touch up the paint or repair a section, which sometimes requires we fly without decals. From now on I plan on scanning my decal sheets and storing them for reference, then printing them on this decal paper as needed. You have to LOVE technology!

Anyone else want to join in the fun?

Carl

 

[Milo]

What a great idea. Talk about the ultimate in scratch built. Definitely let us know how that goes.

 

[MarkABrown]

Carl,
Where did you get the decal sheets? Can you run them through an Ink Jet printer? This sounds like a fantastic idea. Let me know how it works. I was just thinking about this same thing last week.

Mark

 

[Austin]

Mark,

I got the sheets at our local hobby shop here, Hobbytown USA. They were a bit pricey, about $2.25 a sheet, but it still comes out cheaper than buying a decal sheet of the same size. You can also buy them in 4or 5 packs at a slightly reduced cost.

They are standard 8 1/2" x 11 " paper and it says they will work with laserjets, inkjets and such. I just scanned a decal sheet from a new PML Amraam 2 replacement kit I recently bought and may try to use it for a test. I will let you know.

Carl

 

[PGerringer]

We have a Hobbytown here. Maybe we can do a road trip to check it out.

 

[MarkABrown]

I'm in. Just say when and where.

 

[Milo]

Actually I went today without you guys. Neither of you would answer my AIMs so I went by myself. Anyway, I picked up the "bible" (Handbook of Model Rocketry) and I got a price on the decal sheets. The sheet was the wet and slide type and it was $3.50 for one 8.5" x 11". Not sure if the wet and slide type would work for us. Never tried it. That is all the guy had to show me. There was no package options for a cheaper price/sheet and no sticky decal sheets. We may have to look elsewhere.

 

[MarkABrown]

I actually prefer the wet-n-slide. Harken back to my modeling days as a youth. I just don't know if they are the best for model rocketry. Comments anyone?

 

[Craig Houser]

Micromark also carries the clear decal sheets if you need to mail order them.
www.micromark.com

Craig

 

[Emiller]

Micro Mark has decal sheet for ink jet and laser printers. The laser will do the best job and it's ink is waterproof too. Ink jet decals may have to be clearcoated with lacquer (two light coats)to keep the ink from running when dipped in water. If you clear coat the decals, first tape the decal sheet down to a peice of corrugated cardboard by the corners or edges of the sheet. This will keep the decal from curling when the clear dries. Let taped down until thoroughly dry.

Tango Papa decals uses an Alps printer. I think Alps are stylus printers. What's neat about the Alps is there are white, silver, gold and clear ink cartridges. One bad point of the Alps is the ink density. The decals get dark if put over a dark background. The other bad point is that Alps printers are no longer available in the US. The ink cartridges are still available. Many used Alps printers on eBay. I used Tango Papa decals several times with good success. Be careful, they are a little fragile.

Ed Miller

 

[Fishhead]

Must be something about those modeling days as a kid that sticks with you. I'll take water slide decals over stickers any day. I recently built an Estes Super Vega and chose Tango Papa's water slides over the kit stickers for just this reason. I've never had any luck with the sticker decals. Besides, the nails that are needed to keep them on interfere with the flight performance of my rockets.

 

[kgholloway]

One clarification to a previous posting. For those who are not familiar with them ALPS printers are not inkjets. They use a heat transfer process that moves a colored resin from a tape to the page being printed.

Having used these printers, both at work and at home, for many years I can confidently say that the ink is the best in the world for decals. I have my first test print, over 5 years old, posted in an area where flourescent lights are on 24 hours a day / 7 days a week. It is still just as bright and as sharp as the day I printed it. An inkjet print posted in the same area fades in only 2 to 3 months.

I've also used the ALPS printer to make "overhead" transparencies that have been drenched in everything from hot coffee to rubbing alcohol without smearing. I only regret that ALPS could not keep up with HP and Epson in the cost and "dots per inch" wars.

Ken Holloway, NAR #78336

 

[Austin]

I have heard on more than one occasion about the performance of th ALPS printers and wish I would have bought one at the time a while back when I was shopping. I stared at it, watched it print with great quality, then decided on a different printer. My only concern was and still is the availability of cartridges.

 

[Austin]

OK guys, here is the update on my decal progress.

The sheets I purchased from Hobbytown USA are from Bare Metal and Foil Company, Ht USA part # BMF124. These are water slide decal sheets and you do need to use some decal film to seal them when printing with an Injet printer. As is, I plan on using a color laserjet, so sealing should not be required and the toner is waterproof.

What has taken me so long to test is the fact that I decided to go all out and make my own decals for a Launch Pad HARM AGM-88 kit that is near completion, instead of using it on my PML Amraam 2. Those that have ever bought any of these kits know that they do not come with decal sheets.

I have spent the last week drawing, designing, typing, websurfing for fonts and crafting scale decals from the vault of photos I have of a "real" HARM. My template is finally complete and just needs to be "sized" a bit before I do a final print. By this weekend, everything should be ready for printing and I will give it a try.

I'll let you all know how they come out.

Carl

 

[PGerringer]

Oh god.... I saw the pain staking detail you put into Ken's "special" launch controller. Your Launch Pad HARM AGM-88 should be a sight to see. A real work of art. Please bring it to Whitakers, NC in September and let the world see your work.

 

[Fishhead]

Carl,
Just out of curiousity, where is our local Hobbytown USA?

 

[Austin]

It's about 4 minutes from where I work, which makes for a fun lunch hour at times.

Take I71 north to the Fields Ertel Rd exit, turn left on Mason-Montgomery Rd at the bottom of the exit ramp, drive about 200 feet, then turn right at the light on Fields Ertel Rd. It's in a second plaza on the left, past the Krogers plaza. There's a Michaels Crafts, Borders Books and more at the location. Hobbytown USA is right next to Borders.

Carl

 

[Milo]

Good gosh... Micheals, Borders and a HobbyTown... throw in a strip joint and you'd have a perfect plaza.

 

[Fishhead]

I think the strip joint is a few exits past Fields-Ertel on I-71. I grew up when Newport, Kentucky was still Sin City and not some yuppie "rivertown entertainment center" so I had enough of strip bars in my 20's. (I used to deliver pizzas to the dancers. Really bad tippers.)

 

[Austin]

Well, here are the results of my endeavors so far with the decal paper.

They were printed Sunday and came out really nice; the only problem I had was one of the RED stripes smeared in the fuser, but I can fix that. The RED is extremely thick when printed, which I believe is why it happened. The other decals look good though.

Last nite I coated it with Microscale Decal Film. This stuff is like a syrup and you have to paint it on thick. The surprising part was it dried very fast, less than 15 minutes. For extra measure, I layed a coat of Testors Dullcoat.

The decals for the nose cone were cut out and they dipped/seperated and applied great! The nosecone is the only part so far that was finished, but I do have to say it looks real good. I will post a pictue of it tonite. I did chamfer the edges of each decal bofore soaking and applying to get rid of the ridge on the edges caused by cutting them out. Next time I do not think I will clearcoat them, as the decal film appears to be good enough.

Pictures tonite at 11.....

Cya,

Carl

 

[Austin]

Here are some pics of the nosecone with homemade decals applied...they turned out well:


<img src="reviews/harm/harm1.jpg">Real Harm Nosecone Tip
<img src="reviews/harm/harm2.jpg">My HARM Nosecone Tip
<img src="reviews/harm/harm3.jpg">Real HARM Nosecone Side Labels
<img src="reviews/harm/harm4.jpg">My HARM Nosecone Side Labels

 

[PGerringer]

Beautiful. Sniff, sniff. Simply beautiful.

Carl, do you ever sleep?

 

[Milo]

Very impressive. Impressive indeed.

 

[MarkABrown]

un-friggin' believable! Carl, those look fantastic! I can't wait to get an opportunity to give those decal sheets a try myself.

Mark

 

[Austin]

Well, the HARM AGM-88A is finished. I completed the priming and painting last weekend and painted the stripes Monday. I let the paint sit and cure until Wednesday, then started on the body decals I made. Since I was unhappy with one of the red labels, I re-ran another decal sheet through the laser, but this time I set the paper type to Card Stock. The red was printed perfectly, thin and colorful. Also, I used only one coat of Microscale decal film and did not clearcoat them this time. It worked out well.

Most of the decals were applied Wednesday night and last night I finished the remaing tail decals. Once these were done, I had to make some labels, as some of the decals on the real HARM are actually labels instead of stencils. Since I didn't have any full sheet label paper, I made my own, first by printing them on paper, then I used clear packing tape to cover the lettering so it would not run when clearcoated. This gave the labels a plastic look and once done, I flipped them over and ran strips of double-sided tape for adhesive. I have used this method before and it did work well; once everything was applied it really looked nice.

After all the decals and labels were done, I made some 1/32" and 1/64" strips from a piece of chrome Monokote self stick I had, then applied them to the various sections of the body tube. Two coats of flat clearcoat were used to seal everything and the project is now nearing completion. I still want to add a couple more coats of clear for extra measure.

I encourage anyone that wants to make their own decals to do so; it is very satisfying to view the final product and the current products (such as decal paper, microscale film and graphics programs) are readily available and produce excellent results. Here is one pic of the completed model; I plan on taking more close-ups for myself and those interested.

Cya at the field,

Carl

<img src="reviews/harm/harm.jpg">HARM AGM-88A with Homemade Decals

 

[Milo]

Man now that is what I am talking about. But how do you launch something that beautiful? I couldn't bring myself to put a motor in that thing and light it off. That thing should be under glass.

 

[Electrode]

Excelent loooking rocket.. top notch detail.. Good Job.. What's the plan of attach on the propultion end of it? make sure to put up a boost photo.....

 

[Austin]

Tim,

I plan on taking it to the WVSOAR launch next Saturday, the 15th, at the original Bob Evans Farm in eastern Ohio. First time up will be on a E18W and should be a good launch. We will go from there to see how it does. the fins are surface mounted, as with all Launch Pad kits, but I also glassed them on, so it should be strong enough. I will take pics and post an update for everyone.

Next in the schedule is Whitakers, NC the following week and it will go up again then.

Thanks for the good words guys; it really was an enjoyable project!

Carl

 

[Austin]

Here are a few more close-up pics for those who wanted to check it out. Wish the chrome strips would have shown better, but the camera flash made them glare...oh well. It's better in real life.

<a href="reviews/videos/rightfull.jpg">Right Full View<br></a>

<a href="reviews/videos/leftfull.jpg">Left Full View<br></a>

<a href="reviews/videos/panelfull.jpg">Panel Side Full View<br></a>

<a href="reviews/videos/rightclose.jpg">Right Side Close-up<br></a>

<a href="reviews/videos/leftclose.jpg">Left Side Close-up<br></a>

<a href="reviews/videos/panelclose.jpg">Panel Side Close-up<br></a>

<a href="reviews/videos/rearclose.jpg">Rear Label Close-up<br></a>

<a href="reviews/videos/tailclose.jpg">Tail Close-up<br></a>
<br>
<br>
<a href="reviews/harm/harmdecals.doc">Decal File<br></a>
<a href="reviews/harm/harmlabels.doc">Label File<br></a>
<a href="reviews/harm/95decals.doc">Decals 95<br></a>
<a href="reviews/harm/95labels.doc">Labels 95<br></a>

 

[marclee]

Jeez man, that's gorgeous. Very nice. I too am playing with those decal sheets and I appreciated your comments.

Marc