I've been talking with my local art shop guy, and we devised something for making custom decals. I didn't want to share this at first but my printer is less than good and I need testers.
Procedure:
1. Find an image. The beauty of this is that it can be anything on your computer, your face, a picture of a cat, the Mona Lisa from the internet, a doodle you made in MS paint... etc. I imagine it would be something relevant to your model though.
2. Print the image onto a high quality paper. Its basicall magazine consistency. It was "Hammermill color copy" paper I think ($10), that he suggested. Obviously the better your printer the better your image. I'll look up that paper, I'm not completely sure.
3. Paint 3-4 layers of an artists medium known as "polymer medium" ($10) onto the decal. It needs to be thick but not so thick that theres a discernable bump.
4. Cut out the decal with an exacto knife.
5. Stick the decal into a shallow pan (I like lids of pringles cans etc- they're crisps for any brits reading this), full of WATER, and place it face down.
6. Gently rub off the paper with a soft brush, off of the back of the decal, till its just the image imprinted onto the polymer medium.
7. Apply the decal in standard fashion- whats funny is that I'm willing to bet every one of you knows how to do this better than me.
I think its future/gloss medium, then decal, then matte medium/dullcoat? Not sure. Reason why I posted this here and not in some sort of tutorial section, is because I've never actually tried it. I need people to test it and feedback.
Any takers? No need to wreck anything if you have a piece of plasticard...
Thanks!
-Zack
