Overview
We all have encountered issues with a particular model where the decals just didn't work. This can be especially true of older model kits. I am helping a member out with recreating some decals for an old Testors kit. There are several ways to get custom decals, but I will demonstrate how to prepare a file for a professional printing service. Each service may have a slightly different method. I will use Spot Model's Print Lab. Neither I nor this site has any affiliation with Spot Model (SM); they are just the service I decided to go with. There still are going to be caveats to custom decals in general. Something like Cartograf decals will be a superior option to custom one-off prints. Custom decals are for those times when you want something that just doesn't exist. The SM Print Lab decals don't like chemical solutions and are purported to have issues with sharp bends. So please research and decide if custom decals are for you and which service you want to use.
Why not print my own?
This is a valid question, and you may be better off printing your own. Printing your own may be the right call if you only need one or two decals. Another factor is what type of output you can expect from home printing. Most printers cannot print white. To combat this, at-home decal paper comes in transparent and white. You may have to be a little creative in designing your artwork. Another caveat is that home-printed decals will not have any carrier film on top of the decal. You will likely have to seal your artwork with a 3rd party decal film. Still, home printing may be suitable for you.
Professional Printing
Professional printing will take quite a while to get completed and isn't exactly cheap. This particular service charges 20 Euro for a page of decals. So what about this printing service? What do they do that is better than my home ink-jet? The SM Print Lab service uses a multi-layer approach to printing decals. The first layer is white ink, then your design, and finally, a transparent layer on top. The clear layer on top will serve as carrier film and "hold" certain design elements together.
Why not print my own?
This is a valid question, and you may be better off printing your own. Printing your own may be the right call if you only need one or two decals. Another factor is what type of output you can expect from home printing. Most printers cannot print white. To combat this, at-home decal paper comes in transparent and white. You may have to be a little creative in designing your artwork. Another caveat is that home-printed decals will not have any carrier film on top of the decal. You will likely have to seal your artwork with a 3rd party decal film. Still, home printing may be suitable for you.
Professional Printing
Professional printing will take quite a while to get completed and isn't exactly cheap. This particular service charges 20 Euro for a page of decals. So what about this printing service? What do they do that is better than my home ink-jet? The SM Print Lab service uses a multi-layer approach to printing decals. The first layer is white ink, then your design, and finally, a transparent layer on top. The clear layer on top will serve as carrier film and "hold" certain design elements together.
Preparation
SM provides templates for two software packages, Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw. I use Adobe products, so that I will be demonstrating that tool. I am no expert with Illustrator, and I won't be going into much detail on how to use Illustrator.
Source Artwork
The original decal sheet is the best way to get a source for the decals. Using a flatbed scanner, you can scan a ruler with the decal sheet. This is best as a flatbed scanner ensures that the image is level. If you don't have access to a scanner, a picture will work; just try to be as level as possible. If your source image is at an angle, the far part of the image will be slightly out of scale.
Here is the image I will start with. It is a camera-phone image taken almost perfectly level.
Source Artwork
The original decal sheet is the best way to get a source for the decals. Using a flatbed scanner, you can scan a ruler with the decal sheet. This is best as a flatbed scanner ensures that the image is level. If you don't have access to a scanner, a picture will work; just try to be as level as possible. If your source image is at an angle, the far part of the image will be slightly out of scale.
Here is the image I will start with. It is a camera-phone image taken almost perfectly level.
Execution
Scale the source image
If your decals aren't to scale, they won't do you any good. Here is how you get the image into the correct scale.
- Open the image in Illustrator.
- Set the document's properties to the correct unit for your ruler.
- Zoom in on the rule and draw a rectangle (or line) from one unit to the next on the ruler. In this case, it was from 1cm to 2cm. Now, note the actual size of the object you drew. You may find it easier to draw from the middle of one line to the middle of the following line.
- Zoom back out, select the image, and note the total size of the image. It doesn't matter that the image isn't aligned with the ruler.
- Here is a (very little) bit of math. Take the actual size of your image (541.867mm) and multiply it by the size your rectangle should have been (10 mm). Then divide that value by the actual size of your rectangle (50.754mm). This is what your image size should be.
- Re-select the image and type in the result of your math into the width value.
- At this point, I would create a new layer for your artwork and lock the image layer. If you don't, it is very easy to move the image layer.
Artwork Design
Now, you will draw your artwork. This is where you can get creative and change things around a bit. Or, you could choose to try and make an exact copy. Remember, this is still your model, and you can make it whatever you want. If you want your name on the side of the jet, here is where you can make that happen! Have you ever wished the designer had included extra decals for tricky places? Now you are the designer!
There are two basic types of artwork that you will be creating, Text and Images.
Text
In many cases matching a font will get you most of the way to making matching decals. Once the text is created, you must convert it to a vector image. Select the text and click on the "Expand" tool from the "Object" menu. Accept the defaults to expand both fills and strokes. This is an easy step to miss, but it is essential. The SM Print Lab likely won't have the fonts you used. If you don't convert them to vectors, they will either reject your file or guess.
Since I am using Adobe, I will use their font utility.
Take cropping of the text that you want to match. You should be as exact as possible. Any extra details will confuse the recognition process.
Since I am using Adobe, I will use their font utility.
Take cropping of the text that you want to match. You should be as exact as possible. Any extra details will confuse the recognition process.
- Upload the image to the font site.
- Validate that only one line of text is shown.
- Verify the letters in the image.
- Review the results.
Images
Here, I will have to bow out of in-depth discussions on Illustrator. The SM Print Lab requires that all images be in vector format. A vector isn't an image; it is a complex mathematical function. It approximates an image by drawing lines and filling them with color or gradients. Because a vector is math-based, it can be scaled up and down without losing fidelity. Standard images (raster) will get fuzzy when re-sized. I could probably write another (large) post about images, perhaps later.
However, you can find many pre-made vector images on the internet. Instead of drawing the Anheuser-Busch logo, I found one on the internet and used it. Just make sure that you have a real vector image. They will usually have extensions of .eps, .ai, or .svg. There are others, but those are the primary file formats.
In many cases, sites will list .png files as vectors when they are not (always). Because of the way vector files have defined the lines, called strokes, they sometimes do not scale properly. You may have to adjust the stroke width when re-sizing vector files.
Now that your artwork is complete, you can use the image background to ensure everything is sized correctly. Here is what mine looked like at this stage.
Turn off the background to make sure everything looks right. It isn't right if your artwork doesn't look right without the background. The background image does not play any part in the final result.
However, you can find many pre-made vector images on the internet. Instead of drawing the Anheuser-Busch logo, I found one on the internet and used it. Just make sure that you have a real vector image. They will usually have extensions of .eps, .ai, or .svg. There are others, but those are the primary file formats.
In many cases, sites will list .png files as vectors when they are not (always). Because of the way vector files have defined the lines, called strokes, they sometimes do not scale properly. You may have to adjust the stroke width when re-sizing vector files.
Now that your artwork is complete, you can use the image background to ensure everything is sized correctly. Here is what mine looked like at this stage.
Turn off the background to make sure everything looks right. It isn't right if your artwork doesn't look right without the background. The background image does not play any part in the final result.
Template Time
Now you are ready to download the template from SM. Once you have it downloaded, open it up in your software package. The Illustrator template should look like the image below.
Take note of the layers. The locked layers should never be modified. Let's get to work on the rest of the layers.
Design Layer
Take your artwork and copy/paste it to the "Design" layer. Make sure you don't modify the size of anything.
Take time and arrange everything like you want it to appear in the final product. Also, remember that you are paying for the entire sheet, so fill it up!
Take time and arrange everything like you want it to appear in the final product. Also, remember that you are paying for the entire sheet, so fill it up!
White Layer
First, delete the "White" layer!
You will want to duplicate your design layer then and rename it. You will duplicate it by dragging the design layer onto the "New Layer" button. Use the images below as a guide.
You can paste your artwork directly into the pre-existing "White" layer, but you must ensure that both layers line up exactly. If you don't, you will have out-of-register decals. I find that duplicating the layer is easier.
Once you duplicate the design layer, I would lock it. This will prevent you from accidentally editing the wrong layer. Also, you will need to hide the Design layer as you work underneath it.
Now you will just delete anything that is pure black. The black portions of your design do not require a white backing. For colored design elements, just change the fill and stroke colors to white.
Using the Pathfinder tool is helpful for complex vector images. You can find it under Illustrator's Windows menu. Highlight your vector images and use the Unite option. Then select the fill color as white.
I would suggest turning on the visibility on the Design layer at this stage to ensure that you don't have any white bleeding out from the edges.
You will want to duplicate your design layer then and rename it. You will duplicate it by dragging the design layer onto the "New Layer" button. Use the images below as a guide.
You can paste your artwork directly into the pre-existing "White" layer, but you must ensure that both layers line up exactly. If you don't, you will have out-of-register decals. I find that duplicating the layer is easier.
Once you duplicate the design layer, I would lock it. This will prevent you from accidentally editing the wrong layer. Also, you will need to hide the Design layer as you work underneath it.
Now you will just delete anything that is pure black. The black portions of your design do not require a white backing. For colored design elements, just change the fill and stroke colors to white.
Using the Pathfinder tool is helpful for complex vector images. You can find it under Illustrator's Windows menu. Highlight your vector images and use the Unite option. Then select the fill color as white.
I would suggest turning on the visibility on the Design layer at this stage to ensure that you don't have any white bleeding out from the edges.
Clearcoat Layer
This is where you will set the grouping for your decals. The easiest way to accomplish this is by drawing rectangles around your design elements. Make sure you leave some margin around any elements. You will need to select a specific color for the fill of these elements. It should be a magenta color that will be first in the color palette. You will also notice that you won't see the fill. If you look at the layers on the right, you will see that the visibility icon is not the "eye" but only the outline of the "eye." This view mode hides the fills. Since this layer is on top of the artwork, it is much easier to visualize what you are doing if the fill is hidden.
Sometimes a decal doesn't exactly like a rectangle. You can quickly draw around design elements using the Curvature Tool.
Just click around the artwork, and the program will attempt to "guess" the curves you are trying to make. Don't be alarmed that they won't all be correct it is easy to fix in the next step.
Using the handles, you can quickly move around the anchor points and adjust the curves. Use the Direct Selection tool to select individual points.
Sometimes a decal doesn't exactly like a rectangle. You can quickly draw around design elements using the Curvature Tool.
Just click around the artwork, and the program will attempt to "guess" the curves you are trying to make. Don't be alarmed that they won't all be correct it is easy to fix in the next step.
Using the handles, you can quickly move around the anchor points and adjust the curves. Use the Direct Selection tool to select individual points.
Conclusion
This is a slightly complex process and will take quite a while to get everything just the way you want. I likely spent about 8 hours preparing and modifying the final decal sheet. Just like modeling, it takes time to make something you will be happy with.
Read everything you can beforehand, whichever route you decide to take for your custom decals. SM Print Lab suggests buying their sample decal sheet to ensure you like how the decals work before ordering a custom set. Like most custom products, you cannot return them if you don't like them. It would be much better to spend only a little money to find out that you hate how the decals lay down.
Read everything you can beforehand, whichever route you decide to take for your custom decals. SM Print Lab suggests buying their sample decal sheet to ensure you like how the decals work before ordering a custom set. Like most custom products, you cannot return them if you don't like them. It would be much better to spend only a little money to find out that you hate how the decals lay down.
Lagniappe
Here are the full images from the decal sheet I prepared.
Clear layer
Design with Clear outlines
White
Design and White alone
Clear layer
Design with Clear outlines
White
Design and White alone
