Estes Repro Decals?

[thobin]

Who is making old repro Estes decals these days?

TA

 

[K'Tesh]

Waterslide Copies? Tango Papa
Vinyl (for upscales)? Stickershock23

eRockets sells Semroc branded versions of many different older Estes/Centuri decals/kits.

 

[lakeroadster]

Who is making old repro Estes decals these days?

TA

You can make your own if you find a photo of them online. Just print them on waterslide paper.

 

[GlenP]

You can use free software like GIMPshop and InkScape for recoloring backgrounds from scans or tracing and redrawing your own and resizing for up/down scales.

they make decal paper with clear or white backgrounds, typical home printers can not print white. Honest John white lettering is one of those that might be hard to do yourself unless you have a printer that can print white ink.

 

[thobin]

YA I have made them in the past, just don't wanna, just want to pay some one to do the work for me. I used Tango and Stickershock as you can see by my signature. Wasn't there another one Excalibur or something like... Tango just doesn't have all that large of a selection and I'm kind of shooting for as authentic as you can get is why I don't want vinyl.


TA

 

[kuririn]

YA I have made them in the past, just don't wanna, just want to pay some one to do the work for me. I used Tango and Stickershock as you can see by my signature. Wasn't there another one Excalibur or something like... Tango just doesn't have all that large of a selection and I'm kind of shooting for as authentic as you can get is why I don't want vinyl.


TA

Gordy Agnello/Excelsior Rocketry/Sandman Decals no longer prints decals due to his Alps printers can no longer be maintained in working order.
He was selling off excess inventory a couple of years ago.
Your options for waterslides are either home printed or Tango Papa,

 

[thobin]

Poo!

 

[caveduck]

https://kadee.com (a well known model RR vendor) claims to still offer ALPS decal custom printing. I am skeptical about whether that is really true, but they also do custom laser printed waterslides.

There is also https://custom-model-decals.com/ in the UK that claims to have a decal process using the "filmless" decal media that can print white. Their sheets are relatively expensive at £20-30 plus a £20 setup charge for custom runs, but the pictures look really good. They are also oriented towards model RR so their idea of quality will probably match or exceed ours.

One more commercial vendor, this one down under: https://drdecalmrhyde.com/shop/a4-white-blue-backing-waterslide-decal-printing-services-copy/ will print white (monocolor!!) on clear film for AUD 20 per A4 sheet.

I've found one thermal transfer film print/cut system still in production: the Gerber Edge FX. A new one is $14.5K, but some old ones are available on eBay for under $2K. Not really in reach of most hobbyists or even garage vendors, but the tech still exists. If Custom Model Decals is using something like this it would account for the prices.

I know you don't want to go the DIY route, but I should mention that you can do white waterslide decals down to some feature size by cutting white decal stock on a Cricut or similar machine. You can't get to small lettering but it will do a decent job for lozenge backgrounds and the like.

 

[jqavins]

White lettering decals are a nice idea. Can one apply one water slide decal over another? That is, if you want white letters over a picture of some sort, put the picture down as one decal and then the lettering over that. (Yes, there's at least one other way to skin that cat, if there is a white base color under the picture, i.e. to cut the lettering away from the picture. But the base color won't always be white.)

 

[kuririn]

White lettering decals are a nice idea. Can one apply one water slide decal over another? That is, if you want white letters over a picture of some sort, put the picture down as one decal and then the lettering over that. (Yes, there's at least one other way to skin that cat, if there is a white base color under the picture, i.e. to cut the lettering away from the picture. But the base color won't always be white.)

Chris M. has used white decal paper as a background for a clear decal (i.e. a double decal) to good effect:
https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2011/04/starlight-jayhawk-build-part-26-white.html

 

[user 35280]

https://www.siriusrocketry.biz/ishop/sirius-decal-sheets-and-supplies-10/

 

[icyclops]

White lettering decals are a nice idea. Can one apply one water slide decal over another? That is, if you want white letters over a picture of some sort, put the picture down as one decal and then the lettering over that. (Yes, there's at least one other way to skin that cat, if there is a white base color under the picture, i.e. to cut the lettering away from the picture. But the base color won't always be white.)

Yes….i do it and it works fine as long as you clear coat it after drying. It’s a little thicker due to DYI decal making process (having to coat the color print). It works well in reverse too, put the white cut decal paper down first and then the decal (printed on clear) over the top.

 

[Pappy]

in case anyone doesn't know this resource...

kurt's decal page https://rocketshoppe.com/decals.htm