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Does anyone prefer one place over another for 1/32 decals ? Looking for decals for Oval Track builds . Reason I'm asking is I have never ordered decals over the internet and I cant find any locally . Thanks for any input or advice .

Fred :auto-checkeredflag: :auto-checkeredflag:

No.

That decal sheet Junior mentions is a good one too...I bought 2 so I could have roof numbers. Still a good deal seeing as how many cars you can do.

If you like vintage modifieds Polecat has a great selection in 1/64th, 1/32nd and 1/24th scale.

Have they changed printing methods Rich? The ones I have are very poor quality. Basically the same you can do yourself with Testors paper.

How does one go about making their own decals? I haven't found anything that will work for some cars I'm doing . Looking for authenticity because they are supposed to replicate real cars.

This car has Polecat decals. They seem to be different than what you get with an inkjet printer. The hitch with inkjet decals is that they are not totally opaque when they are printed on clear backing. If you have to put the decals on a dark colored surface that will show through, even if you stack two decals. With a dark color you have to print on white backing and in any case you have to use white paper if there needs to be any white in the decal itself. In that case you are going to end up with some white where you don't want it. In many cases you can eliminate unwanted white areas when you cut out the decal, but that can be a tedious process. One trick that works fairly well is to make the background color of your decal the same as the surface that it will be applied to. I have often used that method and it is good enough for cars that will be raced, I might not want to use it with a static model however.
If you want to duplicate specific 1:1 cars doing the graphics can be a lot of work. The V8 car does not use any font that I could find for example.
I did write an article on printing inkjet decals, drop me a PM with your e-mail address and I can send you a copy.

I agree with RichD on his points. I have extensive experience in designing decals over my 35+ year career as an Art Director, Graphic designer and typographer. I'll further add that when designing decals in your drawing program here are some of my tips.

Thompson's Tips :D for Inkjet on both white and clear Bel decal papers

- Drawing all your art as vector line art. This will be tough for most, but to not get a 'fuzzy' rastered look is the only way.

- Make your colors, 'rich'. For a dark blue add black and more magenta to it. A solid 'rich' black (I use Adobe Illustrator), specify it as 100% Cyan, 100% Magenta, 100% Yellow, 100% Black. By richening up your colors, the possibility to have bleed through from a background color is reduced.

Printing on white
- Use a super thin hairline 0.1pt or 0.02mm of black for outlining roundels to trim later

Saving files to print (this is the most important)
- In Adobe Illustrator, select File > Export… and set to 600dpi .png file.
Then open this up in Adobe photoshop and print on your inkjet.

Printer settings
- Check to make sure you set your printer output to the highest quality, use photo paper setting and at the minimum 600dpi. Higher resolution is better. However, all the La Carrera Panamericana small rallye plate decals are only printed at 600dpi and I think they can stand up next to any industry level for detail.

Coating inkjet printed decals
- I use Bel Decal paper and use the recommended Krylon crystal clear acrylic spray. The key with this is to lay down three good mist coats of Krylon and let dry—in-between each coat—at least 12-24 hours before spraying the next. Don't make each a wet coat.

There are many other little graphic tricks and nuances I use to make each design really look the part, this comes with experience. Creating custom livery decals is my specialty if you have good ref. photographs to start with. I specialize in typography and making it replicate exactly as the original. Remember, most race cars back then had hand painted lettering and graphics, which makes it even more difficult to match.

Here is an example of some of my recent designs, this is the set for Audi1's entry into the La Carrera Panamericana race. NOTE: these have been printed using a printer that can print white and do not require you hand trim the roundels. These have a traditional style light blue backing, but are wax based and are a little 'stiffer' than an inkjet decal, requiring Microsol to help lay down. This is the same printer we used for the RSR IROCs.

Happy to help. Cheers, Thompson

i too use thompsons decals