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scadaman29325

Catching up and tripping all over myself.
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I bought some testors clear decal paper last night from HL and saw no instructions on the outside. Rather open it to see what's inside I started hunting instructions online. Pretty pitiful results. So I came here and may be having buyers remorse.

I built two Luna Bugs for my grandkids and painted them their team colors, Clemson and Carolina. Now I want to put their names on them. I could do one in black on the Clemson orange, but the the Carolina garnet needs something very light, I was thinking white, but now i realize that you can't print white. And now I see that black may not be good either due to not being opaque enough.

Is there any help out there for me? My wife says, no, there is no help for me, that I am hopeless case, but concerning the lettering she thought of rub on lettering, that sounds like a problem due to my lack abilities. I can see that looking like one of those "type the letters you see" recaptua security boxes, letters all over the place.

Hmmm, maybe hollow bubble letters?
 
They're not DIY, but did you consider vinyl from Stickershock23.com? The prices for basic custom lettering (like 1/2") are very good, and the results are top notch.
 
They're not DIY, but did you consider vinyl from Stickershock23.com? The prices for basic custom lettering (like 1/2") are very good, and the results are top notch.

I did read that, but for just two short ¼" names? I'll check it out, I may be happily surprised.

Edit, his minimum lettering is ½", but I am contacting him to see if he can do the ¼". Price seems fairly reasonable. About the same as the package of decal paper.
 
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I've done white lettering with white decal paper, printing a reverse black image, colors would be tougher to get a good match. If you need a new toy, get yourself a Brady BMP21 thermal printer, and print white lettering on 3/8", 1/2", or 3/4" wide clear tape. This makes very durable lettering. Sure, you'll be out $120, but you can print lots of labels. :D
 
I've done white lettering with white decal paper, printing a reverse black image, colors would be tougher to get a good match. If you need a new toy, get yourself a Brady BMP21 thermal printer, and print white lettering on 3/8", 1/2", or 3/4" wide clear tape. This makes very durable lettering. Sure, you'll be out $120, but you can print lots of labels. :D

I already have the BMP21, really three of them, one in each building's server closet!
 
I already have the BMP21, really three of them, one in each building's server closet!
All you need then, is some M21-375-430-WT-CL (3/8"), M21-500-430-WT-CL (1/2"), or M21-750-430-WT-CL (3/4").
 
Thanks, GREAT IDEA!

I had a boss one time that said, we need to learn the tools we already have.
 
Interesting idea, I have a Brother P-touch and it also has white-on-clear labels available (never even occurred to me to look at that before). Font selection is limited, but for occasional small white-on-dark background lettering it could be useful.

Honestly, there aren't a lot of great options for very small DIY light-on-dark decals.

You'll find other uses for that decal paper, fear not. :)
 
If you’re only going to label the grandkids Luna Bugs I may be going out on a limb here but maybe just hand written with contrasting Sharpies? The youngsters might appreciate an “autograph” from Grandpa!
 
If you’re only going to label the grandkids Luna Bugs I may be going out on a limb here but maybe just hand written with contrasting Sharpies? The youngsters might appreciate an “autograph” from Grandpa!

Thinking of my GrandPa's YOU ARE RIGHT! I would love to have anything of their's!

To: Wynter, with Love: GrandPa

Except for the "epileptic chicken writing"... that's what friend called (apologies where needed), worse than a Dr Rx, but maaaabeeeee I can do it, for them.
 
Thank you.

After realizing that the paper was just a refill for kit I was thinking that there was much more to it, like other chemicals and processes.

BTW, I've been reading and enjoying your build blog a lot. I find myself going back to it to look for MANY specific answers almost daily now that I'm back into the hobby. Thank you for that.
 
Here's a 1.9" wide white-on-clear thermal print, needs n BMP61 or m611:
IMG_7656.jpg
That is what's left of a Mean Machine who's top half drifted away. Flew great on an F15-8!
 
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I just laser printed black-on-clear decals. It works pretty well. I also have white decal film that can be printed on, so if you really need black/color/on-white you can print on white film then closely crop the decal, which is sometimes practical and sometimes not. The label printer is a great idea; I will have to look into that for some options.

I also use paint pens that come in white (fine and regular tip widths) to add white details, after decal application, but it's hard to get consistent coats.
 
I just get in paint and create what I want, background color, print color, size. Print it on reg copy paper. spray a little craft sealer on it to set the ink. cut it out and Mod Podge it on. Not as good as stickers but not bad, and quick, easy, and cheap. You could do white print on a color background.
 

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As someone suggested try to match the color of the rocket as close as you can for the background color. Or select a completely different color as the background. Either way, put a border around the background color and the text. I use Paint to make my decals. Not a great program for that, but it works and you probably already have it on your computer. Here is a decal sheet I made up a few years ago in Paint.

qwuRm14.png
 
I've been able to make ~6mm lettering with a Cameo cutter on Oracal 650 white vinyl. That's outer limits for small lettering though; Mark only promises 1/2" because if you go smaller than that you may have to try more than once, and weeding things that small is a pain. But I've found the small cutter to be really useful, it can do 12" wide x however long you want. Mark has a giant machine that can print on the vinyl as well, which opens up many more possibilities.
 
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