Helol, I want to try to do this with the lufthansa new livery concept (I think the fully yellow one can be fun to do on model) and i wonder, how hard can it be to do costum decal and what software do you use (can I use free equivalent of photoshop for the job?)
Thanks for your answer!
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Re: how hard is it to print custom decals for airliner?
I do this all the time. I use photoshop to create the decals on Waterslide decal papers. I have made my own decals for an Air Malta 720, Spirit A319 Pan Am 747 and quite a few more. I will caution 1 thing, you need to have super bright colors, or use white decal paper, as opposed to transparent, if you are placing the decals onto a dark surface. The example being, if you paint a tail black, and want to put the Star Alliance logo on it, you would have better luck using white decal paper and making really precise cuts as opposed to using transparent paper which would almost be invisible.
I have had good luck with sunnyscopa paper from Amazon here in the US
I have had good luck with sunnyscopa paper from Amazon here in the US
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- thebunkerparodi
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Re: how hard is it to print custom decals for airliner?
ok, for the white wouldn't it be also good to use colored sheet? Also can I use gimp or any free photoshop alternative for this job?
Thanks for you answer!
Thanks for you answer!
Re: how hard is it to print custom decals for airliner?
I am not really familiar with other programs other than photoshop, my previous career, that is what I used, so that is what I know. But I am sure if you can control how large everything is, and you can scale as needed, I am sure it will work fine. As for the while sheet again, I have only used white when I am printing color to go onto a dark background, or when I have to have white within an image as I do not have the ability to print white.
One of the tricks I can tell you is to scan the model, this is a great way to make sure your scales and decals will be the right size, especially when doing something like window palaces on an Air India aircraft.
One of the tricks I can tell you is to scan the model, this is a great way to make sure your scales and decals will be the right size, especially when doing something like window palaces on an Air India aircraft.
Re: how hard is it to print custom decals for airliner?
It's not too difficult, but a 1/144 airliner might be a bit ambitious. I made decals for a couple of GA aircraft I regularly fly on in 1/48. You can get decal paper sheets on Amazon. Doing it with a laser-printer is much, much easier, so make sure to get one of those. I just made the decals in MS Paint, found various logos online and copy pasted them in and sized them down. I made some test prints on ordinary paper and tried them on the model for size, before printing on the decal paper.
A couple of notes:
- A typical printer doesn't print in white. You can't do a white decal. In that case you need white decal paper, but that takes a lot of careful work to cut them out from the sheet.
- The decals are thin and slightly opaque. With lighter colours on a dark background, it might be necessary to print 2 sheets and layer the decals.
A couple of notes:
- A typical printer doesn't print in white. You can't do a white decal. In that case you need white decal paper, but that takes a lot of careful work to cut them out from the sheet.
- The decals are thin and slightly opaque. With lighter colours on a dark background, it might be necessary to print 2 sheets and layer the decals.
Re: how hard is it to print custom decals for airliner?
VSMUT wrote:It's not too difficult, but a 1/144 airliner might be a bit ambitious......, it might be necessary to print 2 sheets and layer the decals.
Interesting, I never thought of layering the decals.
I dont believe a 1/144 airliner is ambitious. I have done several. Wish I could post pictures, don't know how.
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- thebunkerparodi
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Re: how hard is it to print custom decals for airliner?
There's this method using excel that I find interesting https://modelairliner.com/creating-your ... om-decals/
Re: how hard is it to print custom decals for airliner?
mjzair wrote:VSMUT wrote:It's not too difficult, but a 1/144 airliner might be a bit ambitious......, it might be necessary to print 2 sheets and layer the decals.
Interesting, I never thought of layering the decals.
I dont believe a 1/144 airliner is ambitious. I have done several. Wish I could post pictures, don't know how.
You can post pictures to these forums if you first host them to an image-hosting site like flickr. You can use the insert image tag to quote the URL within the body of your forum post. It takes a little doing to figure out but once you've done it it is pretty easy.
Re: how hard is it to print custom decals for airliner?
Ok, I'll give it a try:
Air Malta 737-400 - Minicraft Kit. Still very early in my model making. Decals probably better than the model build itself.
Air India 777. This one is more about the challenge than anything else. Still early in my model making.
Pan Am 744 and Alitalia A300 - As my boy pointed out, Not sure that Pan Am every had that many windows in the upper deck, but was probably to early in my model making to know how to effectively plug windows. The Alitalia, I had to make the decals because the kit that I bought had decals that would not work because they were too old. So I scanned, fixed in Photoshop, and there we are.
Mexicana 757 Star Alliance... remember when I said light decals on dark background dont work so well... well thats why you cant see the tail of this one.
Air Malta 720 - My most recent DIY. I find it hardest to create decals that have to connect the tail to the fuselage like this one. There are a lot of filler pieces to make the connection look right, but all in all I would rate this one the more difficult one I have done.
And just because I think it looks cool.. here is the wall above my desk thanks to a year of Covid induced boredome.
Air Malta 737-400 - Minicraft Kit. Still very early in my model making. Decals probably better than the model build itself.
Air India 777. This one is more about the challenge than anything else. Still early in my model making.
Pan Am 744 and Alitalia A300 - As my boy pointed out, Not sure that Pan Am every had that many windows in the upper deck, but was probably to early in my model making to know how to effectively plug windows. The Alitalia, I had to make the decals because the kit that I bought had decals that would not work because they were too old. So I scanned, fixed in Photoshop, and there we are.
Mexicana 757 Star Alliance... remember when I said light decals on dark background dont work so well... well thats why you cant see the tail of this one.
Air Malta 720 - My most recent DIY. I find it hardest to create decals that have to connect the tail to the fuselage like this one. There are a lot of filler pieces to make the connection look right, but all in all I would rate this one the more difficult one I have done.
And just because I think it looks cool.. here is the wall above my desk thanks to a year of Covid induced boredome.
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- AntonioMartin
- Posts: 1610
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Re: how hard is it to print custom decals for airliner?
mjzair wrote:Ok, I'll give it a try:
Air Malta 737-400 - Minicraft Kit. Still very early in my model making. Decals probably better than the model build itself.
Air India 777. This one is more about the challenge than anything else. Still early in my model making.
Pan Am 744 and Alitalia A300 - As my boy pointed out, Not sure that Pan Am every had that many windows in the upper deck, but was probably to early in my model making to know how to effectively plug windows. The Alitalia, I had to make the decals because the kit that I bought had decals that would not work because they were too old. So I scanned, fixed in Photoshop, and there we are.
Mexicana 757 Star Alliance... remember when I said light decals on dark background dont work so well... well thats why you cant see the tail of this one.
Air Malta 720 - My most recent DIY. I find it hardest to create decals that have to connect the tail to the fuselage like this one. There are a lot of filler pieces to make the connection look right, but all in all I would rate this one the more difficult one I have done.
And just because I think it looks cool.. here is the wall above my desk thanks to a year of Covid induced boredome.
Awesome!!
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