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| Last updated on January 11, 2021
Model Railroader magazine’s Steve Otte shares a decal printing technique he used to complete his structure for MRVP’s State Line Kitbash Challenge. Follow along as he demonstrates the steps that take you from computer design to color-printed, waterslide decal sheets!
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Thanks Steve for showing me how this process s done.. I will be trying this method soon.
Thank You Steve, I never knew that decal paper was available for printers. Thanks Again
Well done! Although Photo Shop Elements is an excellent program, there are a number of others out there at lesser cost or shareware. You could even use Power Point.
How did David get the white lettering for his box car. I am not that familiar with Photo Shop so this maybe a bad question. Did you import the actually orange face from another source. I would like to see a video on how you can design something like that and how to shadow the lettering?
Thank you!
Your comment about printing white on decals reminded me of this.
MicroMark just released a color Laser Printer that has white toner.
It is MicroMark part #89235K.
It uses the HP Color Laser Printer M254dw.
An alternative.
Well done Steve. Have always wanted to do this, but my skill set was limited. You’ve given me the courage to try it now.
Wonder if one of the Brother scanner/cutter machines would work to cut out the decals.
At some point, I’m going to need many decals, might justify buying a couple different machines to do the work.
Excellent video! I’d like to see how you paint the white on the object for the white portions of your decals.
Good starting tutorial, one thing to mention:
You should not rasterize (or simplify as PS Elements calls it) the type layers before resizing them. Because as mentioned they become an image then. And when you scale up an image the software has to do some guesswork on filling the larger result, a process called interpolation. When overdone this leads to blurry results.
However, when you resize the type as type you can scale it up without any quality loss infinitely.
While you can’t merge down type layers into one layer you can select multiple layers with Ctrl+Click (Windows) or Cmd+Click (Mac). When you now apply Edit – Free Transform to these multiple selected layers they behave like one merged down layer but are still scaleable infinitely.
Side note: I work with regular Photoshop. But after some internet research, I’m pretty sure this works with PS Elements, too. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Does Mr. Otte answer questions posted here?
Steve – Nice, but how did you make the great building logos? The freight car lettering is ordinary by comparison.
Excellent video! Which version of Photoshop Elements are you using?
Steve, How do you cut out the decals? Is there going to be another video showing how to cut out and apply your decals?
Steve, think you just solved a minor problem. Now, all I gotta do is copy a white decal so that it will print black. Easy peasey. right????
Very nice Steve! I have used Microsoft Power Point to make decals (images come out much sharper than with MS Word). One word of warning for those who use inkjet printers; when you remove the printed paper from the printer, handle it carefully – the ink needs at least a few moments to dry. If you are working with several sheets don’t stack them until the ink is really dry. I let mine dry for a full hour before the Dullcote spray, otherwise the Dullcote might cause the ink to run on multicolor logos.
Thanks for the nice step-by-step on the use of Photoshop Elements.
Mis-spoke in previous comment. I meant to say that I need to go from a black decal to either a white or silver with the same lettering.
I’m working on two versions of RGS Goose #2, original with black paint and white lettering and the rebuilt/repainted version: silver with black lettering. All this is in Sn3. Now, there are white and silver RGS decals available, but none with Goose lettering.
Nice job! A very welcomed video.
Looks really nice Steve, I plan to print out my own decals for my On30 Beaver Creek Railroad.
Hi Steve, A very interesting video. There is actually a company that makes white toner for laser printers. The company is called Ghost White Toner. They sell toners for most of the currently available laser printers out there. They are a German company, but the latest Micro-Mark catalog had the Ghost White Toner on the cover. I have purchased their toner and printed several decals with it and I am very happy with it. It makes it so much easier to do custom white lettering decals for models.