Custom Decals
Diary of the Exokutioner
I posted this because it seems and there is a lot of interest in decaling these days i am feel bad about people posting for help but getting none!
Things you will need:
Paint Stripper (Nail polish remover, aircraft stripper)
Tools (small tweezers, scissors)
Waterslide Decal Paper (clear. White)
Printer (inkjet or laser)
Clear coat
Lots of time on your hands!!
Ok to Start these methods of madness have worked for me and might not work for you and or you might find a better way to do this but with all the questions I have been asked I figured post a manifesto of my ways and be done with it! So here it is in all its splendor and shine!
Step 1: choosing Decal paper
This step is usually where you are after you have:
a) Drilled out the posted and removed the body from its base.
b) Stripped the paint of the custom using nail polish remover or aircraft stripper
c) Cut, sanded, removed, added and body modded the custom to your liking and is ready for paint and decals!!!
First you need the right type of decal paper. This Diary is for Waterslide only! I do not profess to know anything else but waterslide decal paper. There are great places all over the net to get decal paper but the place I use is here:
Kustomrides
http://www.kustomrides.com/index.htmBill and Rosa are great and they have a wide variety of product other than just decal paper (Tell them I sent ya!!)
Ok you know where to go but what is right for you? Well that depends on the job and or type of printer you have at your disposal (Inkjet or Laser both are available).
First there is white decal paper.
White is great in that you can cover any color of paint on your custom and not have to worry about the body color coming through. White is good for big flat surfaces like the Roofs and the side of Dairy Delivery and vans. Basically any area that is flat white is great for.
Downsides: when working with white you have to match up the color of the car with the edges of your decals which can be a pain in the arse if you are not good at color matching. Also you need to color the negative area (the area that needs to be the same color as the custom in and around the decal) the same color as the custom which if you are not artistically inclined can take forever. I have spent hours of roof tampos for my Deliveries! White is also not the greatest to use when you customs has a lot of contours and bends. As it doesn’t like to curve and bend too much. This is not the paper for you if you are looking to do decal wraps and such as the white is limited in its ability to bend around corners!
Clear Decal paper is great for all projects as it is very easy to use and can do many things that you might be looking for in your customs. It’s a great paper to use when working with light colors of paints. The decal images show up clean and clear with minimal loss of detail and look. However clear cannot be used for darker colors (blacks Browns dark shades of colors in general) as the color will not allow the images to appear with and thus you just wasted your time and decal paper. Clear decal paper is great for the contours and ridges of a custom and wraps well around corners for decal wraps. This is the best paper for the money and I use this for all my projects! Takes awhile to get use to but all in all better for HW customs! Again this is my opinion! There are also some great products that aid in decal application:
Micro Set Setting Solution
Decal Softeners
Again available all over the net and at Kustomrides
Step 2: Printing
Ok you got the paper lets talk printing of decals. You have your project whatever it may be and now wish to make the decals for it. This starts with the size you need and image. Figure that out and you are 1/3 the way there! As for me sometimes it takes long to choose the images and to render it and print it up!!
Ok so now we have a basic size of the image you want lets talk programs and which to use. I use adobe Photoshop as you can do anything with that program and it prints nice images! You can of course use whatever program you want as long as it renders clean images and you’re a have control of the quality of the images printed. you could go ahead and use MS Paint but the images would be crap and not very good quality…again this is just an opinion and not law, but for me its photoshop!
Ok so now when edit images it really depends on the paper you are using and how you use them. If you are use white, render the images how you see fit and make sure that the negative area of space in and around the decal you color match to the color of the car you are using as closely as possible. We can talk about match the colors of the decals and the customs if they are off a little when we get to the appi. Part of this Diary!
Now if you are using clear then color matching works a little differently. When I do my decals I always go on a white background no matter what the color of the custom is. The decals looking better and you do not lose any quality that way. What I do is pick the color of the car and paint around the areas of the car that are not going to be decaled. So Really when I make my clear decals I set up myself up as if I was applying white decals to the custom .
It’s very easy to do up decals when using clear, it can also be very hard. easy in that if you are doing a white colored custom you render the image, size the decal as to your needs and print it up then apply. But we don’t always want a white custom right? Then when you are rendering an image there is a lot of editing involved in that the color of the car (unless you are doing light colors) must be used in the decals negative space
(Negative space being the area of the decal that is around your chosen tampo or image) Like the space in the middle of that letter “O” of your decal or the spot right after the flame tampo flares out.
Some people choose to paint or airbrush the body color around the decal after application but this can be hard if you lack the skills to paint and don’t have a steady hand for a airbrush (I haven’t used my in months!!!)
So be sure to catch all the little holes and spots of the decal with the color of the custom and you will be looking go up to this point. If you are wanting to use a light colored paint then there is no need to do this and the body color will show through clear decals and shouldn’t do much to the tampo on the decal you are using for your custom.
More to come!!
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