DIY Decals

[SoCalBobS]

I'm gathering resources for my future Desert Rats project for CB's M5 Stuart. Needing but can't find correct size decals for the fender decals, so I may have to make my own with an inkjet printer. I welcome any wisdom folks would like to share! (Or if anyone already made these, that'd be great too!)

[Max-U52]

As you probably know, most printers cannot print white, so for that particular job I would paint the square white and then print the red part on clear decal paper. That would also be an excellent project to use stencils and paint everything. I used stencils to paint all the markings on my 1/6 scale Hetzer, and they came out really well. Again, I think I would paint the square white and then use the stencil to apply the red paint. Can't wait to see photos of that when you're finished.

[SoCalBobS]

Excellent tip regarding the clear paper. I haven't done decal printing literally in decades, and those results were iffy.

[RichJohnson]

Need to find a decal printer guy that uses allps brand printer. They print white.
I had a guy that did my model train and tank decals for a long time but he passed so I’m looking again myself because I just had artwork make for my Belgian leopard I built.
I will advise when I find a guy.

[Handy Lance]

I use a silhouette vinyl cutter. One mask/stencil for each color. If you can download an image it will trace it and cut it really easy. Hollar if you can’t get it right. I can make those pretty easy.
apply like a decal, paint , repeat for each color.

depending on requirements you could use vinyl as a sticker (it would sit proud a few microns on the hull) , it’s really strong and easy to reapply if damaged. You will get more color choices with paint.

[Max-U52]

Excellent tip regarding the clear paper. I haven't done decal printing literally in decades, and those results were iffy.

Before I discovered RC tanks I was into static models, and I wanted to be able to print my own decals so I bought a special epson printer that uses black plus five other colors of ink. It did a pretty good job back then, but decal paper has gotten much, much better over the last few years. I'll be very interested to see how this comes out, and if you do use decal paper, please post what brand of paper you are using.