Custom Decals On a Desktop Computer

by Andrew Pohlman, LUNAR #555

Cool decals really improve the visual impact of a model. Whether you're designing your own alien attack cruiser, making a scale model from scratch or kit bashing you may want to exercise your creativity and generate some artwork that reflects your intentions, design requirements or attitude. Although I'm not an expert in this area, I've puttered around enough to accumulate some good information that should be useful to you. You will need some computer resources and some 'stationery'. Unlike some of the amazing creations I've seen done with airbrush, you'll only need a minimum of art skills to produce some good looking decals.

Before we begin, you need a simple lesson in art: don't make it ugly. Old Mr. Benezzera, an art teacher of mine, said that beginners can't hope to create beautiful art, they can only make it NOT ugly. It is good advise. Just so you know I'm no great artist, I am VERY color blind and was kicked out of Benezzera's class because my color schemes grossly offended him. He said I would never be able to make art. Even though I think he's a jerk, I listened to his advise. I now rely on spouse and child to provide reality checks. Clutter is another form of ugliness. Pay attention to this guideline even if, at first, you can't figure out when things are too cluttered or have attained ugly status.

The software? You can use MS Paint which is pretty minimal but free with Windows. Many people use photopaint type programs like Adobe's or Corel's. I find these very useful for manipulating scanned images. For decals though, I prefer object oriented, vector graphics like CorelDraw! You can create an object and manipulate its envelope (shape), it's fill (solid color, fountain flow, textured bitmap or blends), weld it to other objects, group them, set outline features and mirror, stretch and skew it. This is all cool, but the main reason I like an object oriented utility is because when you are done, you have an exact full size or scale drawing of the part or whole vehicle. Properly sized paper decals can be used to fabricate parts or directly skin fins.

Ink to paper? This depends on how much quality you can afford. Plain paper is cheap, produces acceptable color hardcopy on inkjets and great black and white print outs on a laser jet. It will need to be sealed with clear coat though and it has the unfortunate property of being opaque, thus covering the body tube or fin paint. If you can live with a solid background on your decal and you want cheapness, plain paper is a good way to go. You'll need to use 3M Super 77 spray adhesive with paper. If you can afford more, you can get water transfer decal material in lots of places. It is expensive and can't be used in inkjet printers. You can also use transparent, self-adhesive label stock made specifically for inkjets or laser jets, but these can be pricey too.

The machinery? Use any good computer that has a speed that won't frustrate you. I do my work on a 90 Megahertz Pentium. It's on the slow side but not so much that I get angry while waiting. As far as printers, again that's a question of how much quality you want. If you are making color decals for a scale competition, but are on a pauper's budget, the best advise I can give is to complete your artwork and take it to Kinko's to be printed on a color laser printer using water transfer decal stock. Last time I checked it was $1.00 per side for color. I don't know any non-professional artists that own a color laser jet. The disadvantage of going to Kinko's is that you cannot verify that what you see on the screen is what will actually print. A couple of trips between the printer's office and your workstation can get frustrating. If you are not restricted by a need for absolute accuracy, you can get nice prints from a color inkjet. Mine is an HP 660C. At high resolution on 'special' paper, it looks great.

Can I produce? The results I get at 300 dpi on plain paper from my inkjet are definitely grainy but still look good. My Fat Boy has two circular decals of a pig looking up at the sky with its eyes closed as if dreaming. I have a graphic below him depicting a rocket going over the moon. It really looks good, not great, and everyone likes the theme. It is now known as the Piggy Rocket. I have another scratch built semi-scale model of a Scimitar. I went way outside the limits on graphic accuracy. It looks like a cross between a military missile and a stunt-competition plane with outlandish striping. It won't win a scale contest, but that was not my objective.

The information I've supplied is obviously not enough for you to start a custom decal service. I do hope it's enough to spur your creative impulses and get you tinkering with graphics packages and hardcopy. So flex that massive organ that makes humans so adaptable and make a statement with a set of flashy decals, the likes of which no one has ever seen! And hopefully in time, you will become fluent with your graphics utilities and your art won't peg the ugly meter.

Information date: January 11, 1998 lk