Old school decal hack

[lgrinnings]

Have you tried this but laying clear before printing? Maybe use matte finish so that the ink sticks, then clear when done.

Remember, there's no adhesive on the decal so it can easily be flipped over once the paper has been removed and shot with a quick coat of white if being used on a dark surface. And I would imagine that there is some experimenting to be done here as well with the use of cream paint to lend some age.

Unfortunately I don't have the option to edit my original post otherwise I'd add this in at Step 7.

-Lester

 

[lgrinnings]

In my opinion, the best outcome is achieved when one uses white decal sheets, and prints their desired logo over an image background color that matches the bike as closely as possible. This technique permits even fancy white lettering to be applied to any color with good results--you just need to make sure your artwork is good, clear, and properly sized. The end product can blend into the original paint like magic.

I totally agree that this is not the optimal means of creating decals. The best scenario is have someone like Gus produce them the old-fashioned way. I've found some services online that make waterslide decals for guitars at about $50 a sheet (8.5x11 with multiple images) using gold, silver and black inks. In some cases, these three colors check all the required boxes. This was a trick my dad taught me in the 70s and he used a logo from a magazine page to place on a large-scale slot car. I thought I'd try it since I was waiting for laser printer decal paper to arrive in the mail. Since the results came out decent, I figured I'd share, but made sure to disclose that there are better, and less timely ways to do this.

-Lester

 

[RustySprockets]

It's a technique worth knowing, that's for sure. The example worked great on your Delta torpedo!

 

[hoofhearted]

Lester ... let's try something a bit kinky ......

Instead of a decal .. let's do a badge.

What if we did the paper-rubout process clear
into the black.

And what if we did NOT do any scissoring at the
edge of the badge .. but rather a li'l bit into the
black background -- to hopefully avoid edge
flaking.

It may sound as if I know what's goin' on ......
but I don't even have a printer.

....... patric