How do your print an orange decal?

[Marc_G]

Hi folks,

I've got my Nike Smoke sort-of-downscale, with beautiful orange and yellow fins:



I want to make some decals that will go on the nose cone that carry through the yellow and orange into the nose cone. Yellow was easy. I used powerpoint, drew my shape, and made the fill color "yellow" and was done. It matched nicely to the Createx Auto Air Yellow acrylic color I shot.

However, trying to find a "bright orange" that looked anything like the fin color (Auto Air Orange) is proving vexing. I made a color scale on screen that seemed to cover the range, but when I print it out, they all pretty much look the same, and they don't look anything like the color on my fins.

Here's a no-flash picture of the screen:


Onscreen, the second one down (255,60,0) looks to be a reasonable match. Printed out, blech!

My printer is a Canon Pixma inkjet with separate C,M,Y,K ink cartridges. Generally it does a nice job. The decal paper will be white, and the underlying paint will be white, as you can see.

So... why is orange so hard, and what's the best way to come close to printing my fin color?

Thanks all!

Marc

 

[JPVegh]

My HP prints orange nicely on clear decal but with orange, yellow and other light colors they are very translucent. Sometimes diy just isn't as good as you would like it to be.

 

[jderimig]

Bright orange is "out of gamut" for CMYK printers. Meaning that color is not acheivable with any combination of those primary colors.

 

[Marc_G]

Thanks for the replies. I will test a few things then either accept the somewhat muddy orange I get, or go with a different design not needing it.

 

[accpool]

you could also call Mark from Stickershock23.com , great products and even better prices.

 

[GDJ]

Orange is a B*&^H for printers. It's hard enough to find a decent orange in a rattlecan, let alone print one out.

I think it's something to do with "Gamut" or the yellow is just off. I'm just guessing.

 

[kjkcolorado]

Marc_G,
Sorry to hijack the thread, but I am also using Auto Air and Wicked Colors in my airbrush to paint rockets. If you don't mind me asking, what type of clear coat have you used with what kind of results?

In terms of matching your orange paint, have you thought about masking the triangle pattern with a good tape (Tamiya, or other good quality paint tape), and maybe looking for the right sized round sticker at a craft store for the bottom arc? Then you could use your airbrush and the same orange. It would be a challenge, but the finish on the rest of the rocket looks like good quality work, so I think you could do it.

 

[hornet driver]

you could also call Mark from Stickershock23.com , great products and even better prices.

YEP,+1

 

[mwtoelle]

If you want a really good orange, probably the best way to get it is by using the silk screen process and supplying your own ink. Probably a bit more work than you would want to do for a one-off job.

 

[caveduck]

Hi Marc - Transparency of dye inks is a huge problem in color-matching decals...I've had to work pretty hard to get OK results, and red/orange/yellow is a bear. Modern inkjets are designed to use paper with brighteners in the white substrate, and the color profiles take account of this. Clear deal film totally throws this out of whack. You can do somewhat better with white paper by hunting for some ICC profile that gives an OK match. I've taken to printing off some color grids and gradients on the decal media to try to hit things right.

A pigment ink printer would probably be a lot better for ink opacity, but the decal media makers usually say the paper is designed for dye inks. If somebody had a good pigment printer like a Canon 9500 to try out and report results it would be great. A color calibrator would also help a lot. Cut vinyl is really a great option if you aren't worried about the ~2 mil thickness. Otherwise jump in the TARDIS and go back to do some silkscreening!

 

[JeromeK99]

You got a couple of issues here...

First you are using Powerpoint.. it is made for slide like presentation viewed on a computer screen or projector.

It also looks like you are using "web safe" custom colors that are in the "RBG" color range.

To top it off, you are using a CMYK color printer....

not to mention no color correction software to match your screen to printer output or ICC profiles...

Yes, orange is difficult to begin with.... but not impossible.

You will need different software like Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw for best results.

These are not really beginner programs, nor easy for a novice.

You know you could just use the paint you like on the decal paper and just trim to fit......


Jerome

 

[Marc_G]

Thanks all. I will reply tonight. At work now. Briefly, I tweaked things to get close enough. Was looking for easy/cheap solution rather than ordering from Excelsior or Stickershock.

 

[Micromeister]

Hi folks,

I've got my Nike Smoke sort-of-downscale, with beautiful orange and yellow fins:

View attachment 133145

I want to make some decals that will go on the nose cone that carry through the yellow and orange into the nose cone. Yellow was easy. I used powerpoint, drew my shape, and made the fill color "yellow" and was done. It matched nicely to the Createx Auto Air Yellow acrylic color I shot.

However, trying to find a "bright orange" that looked anything like the fin color (Auto Air Orange) is proving vexing. I made a color scale on screen that seemed to cover the range, but when I print it out, they all pretty much look the same, and they don't look anything like the color on my fins.

Here's a no-flash picture of the screen:
View attachment 133146

Onscreen, the second one down (255,60,0) looks to be a reasonable match. Printed out, blech!

My printer is a Canon Pixma inkjet with separate C,M,Y,K ink cartridges. Generally it does a nice job. The decal paper will be white, and the underlying paint will be white, as you can see.

So... why is orange so hard, and what's the best way to come close to printing my fin color?

Thanks all!

Marc

Marc;
First and foremost why are you using Orange on a Scale model where the correct color is fluorescent Red/orange.

Orange is one of those extremely difficult colors to Print using any-ones CMYK ink system. best you will ever print is pee poor.
Some of the High End printers such as "The EDGE" or Old Alps Printers have spot colors that may contain an Orange but even they are on the dull size. Testors, Krylon & Rustoleum have/had very good Fluorescent Red/Orange rattle can paint that gets about as close to the Brush on Fluor. Red/Orange used on the full size rockets.

 

[iqsy59]

Like this!

 

[Marc_G]

Marc;
First and foremost why are you using Orange on a Scale model where the correct color is fluorescent Red/orange.

:grin: Because I had a new bottle of Auto Air Orange I wanted to try out. :wink: I've mostly departed from rattle can paints. I certainly could have mixed up a red orange paint, but I wanted to see how this orange handles, and used this project as a testbed.

If I were truly going for scale accuracy I would have used the scale-matching color, but as I mentioned above, I'm doing this with on-hand materials, and I'm not a stickler for matching the original that exactly. I titled the build "a little smokey" because it's not quote a downscale of the true Nike Smoke, but is rather inspired by it.

I've decided to name this rocket "L'IL SMOKEY" since that is effectively what's going on.

Orange is one of those extremely difficult colors to Print using any-ones CMYK ink system. best you will ever print is pee poor....

Fair enough. There's lots of good advice in John's post and the several other folks who chimed in. For me, it boils down to:
-What I want to do is challenging
-I've got the wrong tools
-It's possible to do it right, but since my goal isn't accuracy I decided to opt for pragmatism.
-If I wanted to do it right, I would have gone either to Excelsior or Stickershock, most likely.

So I tweaked things to get as close as possible, and also made a set that were more red than orange (my printer does better with this).

I printed out the decal sheet on my very last piece of Testors white decal paper. I currently have no plans to buy any more; I frankly prefer emailing what I want to Sandman. I just have to plan ahead to make the best of the shipping charges. (for the record, Gordy's decals are an absolute steal at his very reasonable prices!!)



This morning before work, I loaded up my external mix airbrush with some decal film and put two coats of it over the decals, which had dried overnight. Hopefully that will prevent the ink from bleeding.

 

[Marc_G]

Marc_G,
Sorry to hijack the thread, but I am also using Auto Air and Wicked Colors in my airbrush to paint rockets. If you don't mind me asking, what type of clear coat have you used with what kind of results?

Good question. Short answer is, I've used pretty much everything with variable results. My favorite is Valspar high gloss clear lacquer. I'm going to start a thread on this to answer more fully. Join the fun!

Edit: Here's the thread for clears over acrylics:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?55400-Clear-coating-acrylic-airbrush-paints-Share-your-techniques&p=548701