Anasazi37

Okay, I'll attempt to answer your question as succinctly as possible. As I mentioned before, this is a BIG topic, so I'll cover the basics here and you can ask more questions to flesh out details, if necessary. Here's an outline of my approach to making decals. It's more of a flowchart than anything and does involve disassembling your valk so you can do part scans (not for the faint of heart): - Scan in the design you want to use as a decal. If you are intending to print the scanned design as is (not redraft it), you'll want at least 600 ppi. 1200ppi is better, 2400ppi is preferred. Files get to be quite large as you increase the ppi, so use one that won't kill your system. I work at 2400ppi, but I also have a dual core 64-bit system with 2GB of RAM. If you're going to be scaling up designs from 1/72 to work on 1/48, you should probably factor that in when you scan the original artwork and include a magnification percentage that is appropriate. In this case, 150% should do it since 1/48 is 1.5 times the size of 1/72. - If the part of your valk this design is going to go on is fairly flat, take that part and place it on your scanner and scan it in at the same resolution as your design and keep the scaling/magnification at 100%. - You'll need a graphics program that can handle layers for this next step. Copy your design and place it as a layer on top of the part scan. You can then "transform" that layer so it fits the part properly. This consists of stretching, rotating, and/or rescaling the design. Photoshop has a tool for this called Transform (CTRL+T). - Once you're done transforming the design so it fits, you should copy it to a new document at the same resolution. This document will be the one you end up printing. It will likely have a ton of layers in it when you're done transforming all of your designs. You can rearrange all of them and print it when you're happy with the results. - What if your design doesn't transform adequately? Well, you might have to redraft it so it works with the part in question. What I do at this point is take the part scan and design scan into Illustrator. I draw a new version of the design on top of the scanned version, then manipulate the new version until it works with the part scan. This can be a long and nasty process, depending on the complexity of the design and your comfort level with a program like Illustrator. - What if the part is curved or very complex and it's too difficult to scan? What I do at this point is wrap the part in masking tape so that the destination surface is completely covered, then cut off the excess tape. With that done, I then pull the tape and transfer the "mask" to a flat sheet of paper. Once on the paper, I outline the mask with a fine-tipped black pen. Then I scan the paper and use the black outline as a guide for either transforming an existing design or drawing a new one in Illustrator that fits properly within the outline. That's how I did my Minmay Guard sets. A royal pain in the @ss, but those of you who have seen the results can appreciate how well the designs fit on a valk. - I started out by scanning everything and working exclusively in Photoshop, now I work almost exclusively in Illustrator. The files got larger and larger and took longer and longer to print. For example, a typical multilayer PSD at 2400ppi could be upwards of 600MB. An Illustrator file of the same material could be as little as 200KB and prints instantly. The difference is in how the graphics are rendered. Photoshop is raster-based, while Illustrator is vector-based. With vector-based designs, you choose the print quality when you print, not when you create the file. So, even though the file is tiny, you can get excellent results at 2400ppi. If you invest the necessary time to learn how to render designs in Illustrator, you'll end up with higher-quality prints and you'll have greater flexibility when rendering designs. Illustrator doesn't work for everything, though. Items like the Sailor Minmay I keep in raster format because I didn't even want to attempt trying to redraw something that complex. Like I said, this a big topic. I hope this information is useful.

I burned my way through at least six ALPS MD-5000 printers trying to keep up with demand here on MW. I actually lost count, which is a little scary. At $350 per printer (they give you a new one when you send a broken one in for repairs), it starts to add up. Then there are the expenses related to purchasing ink. Each cartridge is about $10 and you need a minimum of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, and White to print decals. The cartridges don't last very long and the printing process is very wasteful. I should also mention that the white cartridges have only 1/4 the ink of the others, but they cost the same amount. Same goes for all of the other specialized colors like Metallic Gold. It's quite a racket. Then there's buying paper. The good stuff can cost a lot unless you buy in bulk. As supplies dwindle and printers break, the situation is only going to get worse. I really hope an alternative, reliable, affordable printing method can be found or it will be the death of an entire cottage industry.

No worries, fulcy. The word about ALPS support is spreading slowly. Here is what their website says: "On March 31, 2007 ALPS will discontinue all support of the MD Series printers in North America. This will include: Technical Support, the Repair Exchange Program and Supply Sales. "We are making this official announcement as early as possible to allow our customer's to exercise their options on their personal and business operations. "We thank you for your loyal business and hope this early notice reduces a lot of the inconvenience you may encounter." The announcement is buried a few levels down on their site, though, so not everyone has seen it yet. Those that have found out are generally deciding to go one of two directions: shut down or start hoarding. I chose the former route because of other obligations, but I know a few decal producers that are buying up any printers they can find in order to keep their businesses going as long as possible after the repair program shuts down. That might extend things a few years, but I see the ALPS printing community going the direction of Mad Max pretty quickly as supplies dwindle. Hopefully another suitable printing method can be found in the near future.

I could definitely help with the adjudicating side of things. Since I'm not selling sets anymore, I'm technically independent. Oh, and I'll be responding to your question about resolution, preparation, methods, etc. soon. It's an involved topic and I haven't had a lot of time to think about it and formulate a response, but I'll post my thoughts by this weekend.

You spray it onto the decals once you print them, but before you cut and apply them. The coating is waterproof and stands up well to most setting solutions. I generally spray the entire sheet of decal paper, straight out of the printer.

You just hit the two biggest problems with inkjet right on the head. You have to break the protective barrier when you cut the decal prior to application, which can sometimes lead to ink running unless the barrier is still a little soft. In that case, the act of cutting can sometimes create a better seal because you're pressing the seal into the paper as you cut. Balancing shelf life and usability for spray coated decals is very hard. If you spray light to avoid cracking, water can get in. If you spray thicker to prevent water getting in, the seal can crack. And then there are the setting solution issues. Coated inkjet decals don't generally conform well to curved or complex surfaces, but if you use a setting solution, it can sometimes dissolve the coating. For the brave, you can spray on Microscale's Liquid Decal Film using a VERY clean airbrush. It cleans up easy with alcohol or Windex, so no worries there. It's the best approach I found for long shelf life and a thin, flexible, durable protective coating. I ended up hand-coating all of my ALPS-printed sets (personal preference), but an airbrush works very well for inkjet since you can avoid potential ink smears.

The sets TMP sells use paper from my old supplier (Texascraft, HPS, Hemmi Papilio Supplies--all the same). The regular variety is called PAS/2 (Papilio Aqua Slide/2). The better stuff is PAS/N (thinner), but they don't make a lot of it so it's usually backordered and takes a few weeks to show up. Both are pretty good for laser/alps, but it's hard to see white printing on a white background. Not that it's an issue right now, but if you do find another white printing method, you might want to look into paper with a blue backing. Tangopapadecals.com has good blue-backed laser/alps paper available, but there might be a few others out there as well.

Besides learning Japanese, we'd probably have to dangle a large amount of cash in front of them.

Tamim isn't set up to do production--he's a distributor. Plus, he and I parted ways several months ago. He stopped replying to my emails about replenishing his supply of sold out sets. I was getting a lot of emails from frustrated TMP customers about the lack of availability of certain sets, when I would send TMP more, etc. I ended up having to fill the orders myself, which is exactly what I didn't want to do and why I had a distributor in the first place. I'm not sure what happened on his end since I never received responses (maybe he's just really busy), but I decided to stop doing business with him due to the lack of communication. I had started talks with someone else to host my decals on their site, but then the ALPS news hit and I decided to shut down the business.

Most definitely. Hard drive space is cheap these days. Plus, considering how much time went into creating each set, there's no way I'd toss out the files.

Wow, quite the turnout in this thread. I'll check in and offer my *cough* sage advice as often as possible. FYI, I won't ignore PMs about decal making, it's just easier for me to answer a question once to a broad audience than to answer it multiple times to individual MW members. - That dry transfer system could work, but I worry about three things. First, the spray adhesive. I don't know how it will interact with paints and clearcoats. That goes for both enamel and acrylic. Second, I would worry about how small a decal you can make. Sure, you could print something really small, but you might have to spray a large part of your toy/custom/model in order to apply it. Could do more harm than good. Third, making opaque color decals. You might have to print the white first, then attempt to print color on top of it. You'll run into registration issues (how well the color markings match up to the white underneath). - Inkjet printing. Avoid it if you can. Sure, the designs *look* fantastic, but they are also not waterproof. Sure, you could spray them with Krylon Crystal Clear, but I never managed to get it to work well for me. I won't even tell you how much money I spent on supplies before I learned that lesson. Krylon goes on thick and will crack if you don't use the decals within a few days. There are brush-on coating alternatives like Microscale's Liquid Decal Film, but your inkjet decals have to be COMPLETELY dry before you use it. Otherwise, you'll end up spreading the ink all over the decal paper because the coating solution is alcohol-based. I lived in a very dry place and let the designs dry for days, and I *still* had problems with the ink running. - Laserjet printing. Much better than it used to be, but the color designs are still transparent. Black is opaque, which is at least something. One Okidata laser printer can use an opaque white cartidge in place of the black, but the name escapes me. Multiple passes are not possible, so you're still stuck with transparent colors and solid white decals. You *could* make separate white "backing" versions of the color decals, apply those, then apply the transparent color ones on top of them, but that seems like a ton of work for a mediocre result at best (plus the decals would be thick at that point). - Programs I use. I did the vast majority of my sets in Illustrator and I keep the masters in .AI format. Some sets were done in Photoshop because I needed to use scanned images but also needed the ability to work with multiple layers. For the brave who want to venture into the mechanics of *how* to design decals, please feel free to ask questions. I'll do what I can, but some topics are pretty complex. - Decal Paper. I've tried a bunch of different decal paper suppliers. For laser, I'd use Tango Papa Decals. Avoid Bel Decal like the plague. I don't care how cheap they are or how professional their site looks. You get what you pay for. Sometimes whole shipments I received were useless and their customer service is nonexistent. NEVER EVER buy from them. For inkjet, try Texas Craft (Hemmi Papilio Supplies). -Alternatives. Sometimes Microscale can squeeze in a one-off set of decals when they are printing silkscreened sets in larger numbers. You can always try contacting them to see what's possible. I'll respond to further questions as I have time. I hope this is useful info.

LOL.... I hadn't thought of Amiga in years. Thanks, I needed that chuckle--especially today.

Hi everyone, Sorry for not checking in sooner. I made the mistake of attempting to convert my computer to a dual-boot XP/Fedora Core 6 setup this weekend. Not fun. Just managed to get internet access up and running again.... I am blown away (and touched) by all of your kind words. I wish I could keep producing sets--it's just no longer practical to do so. I will admit that ALPS deciding to discontinue support was the last nail in the coffin. As far as I know, the decision only affects the United States and models MD-1000, MD-1300, and MD-5000. Anyone outside of the US with an MD-5500 *might* still be able to get repairs and inks through international distributors, but I don't know. I can't imagine that ALPS will continue that support for much longer, either. It really is an end of an era. ALPS printing is a unique process and while silkscreen printing is an option, it's insanely expensive for small runs (which is what Macross-related sets usually are). I know that there are laser printers that can print using multiple passes, but so far there is no opaque white ink/toner available for them. If that situation changes (maybe in a few years, who knows) I'll likely start making sets again. For now, though, the doors are closed. I've received a bunch of PM's from folks that address some big issues, so I thought I'd respond here for the sake of efficiency: - "No more orders" means just that: no more orders. I need to start shifting my priorities to the wife and PhD, so I can't take on any more orders. The last thing I want to do is to give my wife the impression that I haven't really stopped the business. The ALPS printer is REALLY loud and the coating solution smells REALLY bad, so I can't do any "stealth printing" either. I like my life and I'd like to continue living it. Those of you who are married will know exactly what I mean when I say that. I deeply appreciate the fact that many of you value my work to the point that you want to purchase any extra sets I might have lying around, but unfortunately I don't keep stock on hand. All sets are printed when they are ordered, so I would have to print new ones--something I do not have time for. - I will not be selling my masters. A ton of work went into creating each of the 70+ sets in my catalog and almost all of them were done from scratch in Illustrator (not from cleaned up scans of original Hasegawa or Yamato sets). I honestly don't think I could put a reasonable price tag on them. - I would be happy to work with any of you here who are looking to try making your own stickers and decals. I've tried pretty much every method imaginable and know the benefits/detriments of each one. To that end, I might throw together a decal making "how to"--although there are many such guides available online. All I ask is that you post your questions in a thread rather than a PM so that I can respond in way allows others to benefit from the information as well.

Hi everyone, This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make, but it is the right one. Effectively immediately, I am no longer accepting orders for decal or sticker sets. This applies to both stock and custom commissioned orders. If you have already placed an order, I will honor it. If you haven't paid already, please do so within the next week. The reasons for having to shut down the business are as follows: - I recently got married and the business is cutting heavily into time I should be spending with my wife (nights and weekends). - I really need to finish my PhD, which requires time I haven't been able to give it. I can split my time between my wife and the PhD, but not those two plus the business. It's too much. - ALPS is discontinuing all support for their printers starting 04/01/07. This includes repairs and inks. Prices for inks are already going up, stock is going down, and the waiting list for printer repairs is getting longer. In all of the years I've been makings sets, I've only made a few for myself because I've been so busy filling orders. Because of how often my printer breaks, I'd like to take what time there is left and work on taking care of the long list of sets I need for my own projects before the printer breaks again. I also have not found a good alternative printing method, despite a great deal of searching. There's a lot more (work is killing me these days), but those are the big reasons. I want to thank all of you for supporting my efforts. It always makes me smile to see my decals and stickers on your toys and models. I'm not leaving the forums, so you'll definitely see me around. I'm happy to continue to offer advice on graphic design, decal printing, and customizing for those who are interested. -Devin

Well, I have had this valk on my workbench (including conversion kit) since before Christmas. Maybe even Thanksgiving. I think Vermillion One got the kit directly from Captain America....

I know, but when I asked my fiancee what she wanted as a wedding gift, she said "that custom out of our garage." No joke.

Yeah, I had to go about three feet to my ALPS printer, then another 15 to my garage workshop.

I had forgotten how much I liked the 1D until I started working on this custom for you. It makes me want to build one for myself, but it would be about #40 on the list of kits and customs I have lined up....

It was a really hard decision to make. I like making customs, but they take up so much time. Between Macross projects, work, finishing my PhD, and getting married (next Saturday!), something had to give.... I think I've heard that line somewhere before. 414670[/snapback]

I won't even mention how long this custom has been sitting on my workbench, but it's finally done. The MW member who commissioned it holds the official title of "world's most patient person" in my book. Overall, I was really impressed with the quality of the conversion kit. It had a few quirks, as is always the case with custom cast parts, but the finished valk looks great. I gave many of the markings a distressed or worn look to give the appearance that this trainer is heavily used but well-maintained. I spent a lot of time going back and forth about what exact shades of brown and orange to use, eventually settling on a custom mix for both. I chose to not include the black stripes on the heatshield and legs because they have always looked a little out of place to me and without them, the color scheme seems to flow a lot better. This custom started life as a CF. This is my last commissioned custom. Life is just too busy these days for me to accept any more projects. Decal and sticker production takes up far less time and mental energy, so I will continue to do that for as long as possible. I hope you enjoy the pics.

Mine just arrived today. All I can say is HOLY $%&@!!!! This is an amazing kit. I have been trying to brace myself for the size and high quality of it, based on the pictures in this thread, but nothing quite prepares you for the first time you open the large box and pull out one of the main body pieces. I'm not sure when I'll have time to build it (or the space to properly display it), but when I do, it's going in a place of honor.

Sorry for the delays, guys. I'll be getting back to everyone today.

They can be printed as either stickers or decals.

Sample pics of the new VF-0S, Stealth Valk, Stealth FAST Pack sets can be found below. They can be printed as either decals or stickers. I went with a Low Vis scheme for the Stealth, seeing as white markings stand out a lot against the dark colors of the valk. The grey on these sets, unlike the standard Low Vis sets I make, is OPAQUE. This means that the grey will show up on the dark colors. Quite nicely, actually. The small white numbers on the FAST Pack sheet are for custom numbering on the booster skulls. The VF-0S set is pretty much a repro of the Yamato sheet, but I had to do a lot of cleanup on their designs. Probably their worst sticker sheet to date. Prices are the usual: $10 each. Click on the following link for ordering instructions and a list of everything I sell. I'm at 75 different sets now, I think: Link to thread in For Sale forum

Health should always come first. I can wait a while if you want to hold off on shipping mine until you feel better.