by Ora Lassila / So Many Aircraft
One of the things that always hindered me in the past in choosing a particular aircraft to model was the lack of appropriate decals. Sure, there are a lot of after-market decal sheets available, but since I always want to have some photographs of the actual (individual) aircraft that I am modeling (see my article on research), finding both photographs and decals for the same aircraft is often very difficult. Mostly, this is an issue of serial numbers, tail numbers, and other such details that identify the individual aircraft; national emblems, squadron markings, etc. you can typically find from those after-market decal sheets.
Some years ago I started experimenting with making my own decals, using decal paper, a graphics program on my computer, and a good printer. The process is simple:
The first phase is probably the most difficult, and usually the most time-consuming. I tend to use "Adobe Illustrator" on my Mac to do the graphics, but any reasonably capable graphics program will do. This article is not intended as a tutorial on how to use a graphics program; my experience is that the most capable programs (such as Adobe Illustrator) require some practice before you become proficient and can produce the results you desire.
If it is just a question of tail numbers, and you have the appropriate font available, you could even use a text editor. For example, there is a font available called "AmarilloUSAF", it gives you the USAF lettering (available here with some other fonts useful for modelers). For my own favorite topic, the Finnish Air Force, [1] has a picture with all the different letters and digits for standard wartime tail numbers. I scanned the picture, and "extracted" each individual letter/digit into a separate image file. I can use these images to assemble any Finnish Air Force tail number very quickly, and then scale it to whatever size I need (I use Adobe Illustrator for the assembly). Similar reference sources exist for other air forces as well, e.g. [2] has information about Luftwaffe lettering. If you scan images, make sure the resulting files have sufficiently high resolution to print properly.
Next, how to print the decals. Several options exist, first you have a choice between a laser printer and an inkjet printer, and then whether to print on white or clear decal paper. Notice that most printers cannot print white ink, since white is usually just a "hole" in the graphic. When you print on clear decal film, there is no white, and whatever color your model is (where the decal gets applied) will show through. I have been able to achieve a good result by either applying a separate white decal underneath my own decal, or painting the area white first before applying my decal. A company called ALPS used to make dye-sublimation printers which were capable of also printing white, but I don't think these are available anymore. More recently white toner has become available for many laser printers, from manufacturers such as Ghost White Toner (see below).
The process of printing is different whether you use an inkjet printer or a laser printer, and there is decal film/paper specifically for the two different types of printers (so make sure you know what you are buying). Inkjet printout is not waterproof, unlike laser printout where no liquids are involved at all; inkjet printout will bleed when the decal is applied and gets wet, and thus should be coated before application. My experience is that with the popular Microscale "Liquid Decal Film" I still had some minor bleeding, but after switching to Krylon Acrylic "Crystal Clear" coating (in a spray can) I had no issues; the Microscale product is still useful when you want to reinforce old kit decals, though. The Krylon product allows one to print directly on inkjet-compatible decal paper, but if you don't want to do that, you can always first print on photo paper and then photocopy the images to laser-compatible decal paper (copiers, effectively, use the same printing technology as laser printers). With inkjets I had the best results with "Experts-Choice" decal paper from Bare-Metal Foil Co., but your mileage may vary. I have since switched to using a laser printer only, and have had very good results with paper from SunnyScopa which does not even require any coating.
Color management is critical when printing decals. Something that looks good on your screen may not print exactly the same way. I prefer to print my decal designs directly from Adobe Illustrator, after noticing that the same PDF file, when printed from Apple Preview, had vastly different colors as a result. Do some testing before printing on decal film.
I try to format my decals in such a way that I can print on the top edge of the decal paper sheet, and I often collect decals for many projects to be printed at the same time, on same piece of paper. I also have multiple copies of the artwork, just so that I can have spares, for backup. I then slice off the decal using a paper cutter, and the remaining sheet can be printed on again (decal paper tends to be pricey; note, however, that some printers really make it hard to print on non-standard size paper). Also note that printing on white decal paper means that your decal will eventually have to be trimmed very carefully; with clear decal paper you don't necessarily have to be quite as precise. Regardless, what you end up after printing and coating is one big decal with all the graphics attached, so some trimming and cutting is always called for.
The resulting decals can be applied normally. I originally used MicroSol, but lately I have had good results using Tamiya Mark Fit and Mr. Mark Softer as the setting solutions to get my decals to properly conform to the contours of the model (the latter is sort of the “nuclear option” for thick decals).
As I mentioned, it is now possible to print white decals. I have used white laer printer toner from Ghost White Toner, and the results are pretty good. The process requires you to prepare your white artwork using black, then swap the black toner cartridge with the white one, and print. Because of this, you cannot really print any other colors, since you have no way of knowing how your printer "mixes" the different toners to produce the resulting colors. Thus, you will end up with two sets of decals, the white ones and the black plus colors variety.
So far the only downside I have experienced is that the white printout is not 100% opaque. With small decals (little stenciling, etc.) this is practically unnoticeable, but with larger decals you will see the colors underneath shining through a bit. The solution is to produce larger white areas by masking and painting, or apply two decals, one on top of the other. If you can use masking, you can typically use the same artwork for cutting a mask you would have used for printing the white decal.