Making Decals...The Easy Way!

Well by this time most of you have already heard the news about Semroc. Unfortunately, due to Carl's untimely passing and his son Bruce's serious health concerns the company cannot continue. This is a huge blow to the rocket community, but we should be remember to keep the McLawhorn family in our prayers. They are truly wonderful people who have given a lot to help the hobby.

Semroc's specialty, of course, was clones. They had the best selection of old Estes and Centuri (not to mention FSI) designs anywhere. They had their own designs as well, but it was the clones that really made them shine. Now, the average rocketeer has to go back to cloning many of these models himself. There are sites to help in this endeavor. Jimz http://www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/index.htm has a ton of plans, as does Ye Old Rocket Plans http://plans.rocketshoppe.com/ . Decals can be found at sites such as Excelsior Rockets http://www.excelsiorrocketry.com/ or Tango Papa http://www.tangopapadecals.com/ . There is also the option of making your decals yourself, which is what I am going to cover in this post!

Making decals is actually very easy and anyone who has an inkjet printer can do it. The first step is selecting your decal paper. I always use Testors Decal Paper because you can pick it up at Hobby Lobby and use your 40% off coupon. You need to make sure you get the correct kind for the decals you are making, since it comes in both transparent and white backgrounds.

 

You will also need some Testors Decal Sealer. They sell it in a "kit" that includes three sheets of paper. It costs about as much as a standard packet of decal paper.

 

Once you have your supplies, you simply pick out the image you wish to make a decal out of (thank you interwebs!) and save it to your computer. You can make all of your adjustments on size, etc, by printing it out on standard paper until you get it just right. You are then ready to make the actual decal.

 

I have a little trick for this step. I print a copy of what I want to make into a decal on standard paper. Then, I cut out a piece of decal paper the size of that image (with a little overlap on the edges) and use Scotch Tape to secure it over the image on the regular paper. I then feed the regular paper (with the decal paper taped to it) through the printer again and let the printer print on the decal paper. This does two things. First, it makes sure that the image goes exactly where you want it to on the decal paper, and second it means you save decal paper (it isn't extremely expensive, but it ain't cheap either)

 

I then leave the decal taped on the standard paper when I spray it with the decal sealer. The sealer prevents the decal ink from floating away in your bowl of water when you go to apply it. Make sure that you cover the decal with a good coat, but not so much as to soak it, since it will make the ink run if you use too much.

 

When it has dried, carefully CUT it off of the standard paper. Don't just try to pull the tape off, as it will pull the film off of the paper! Then you can apply it just like a standard waterslide decal!

 

Just a side note: the instructions say that the paper is for inkjet ONLY, but I have used a laser printer on black-only decals and never had a problem. Just know that it isn't recommended...for some reason...

The Scamp decals were made on a laser printer

So there you have it. If you still want clones, you can have them...but it will take a little more work. Still, it's fun work and isn't that what a hobby is all about?

 

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!