Help with DTM Decals

[miked 3]

Hi it's OrakeiRacer here. I seem to have created a new login profile after the website update, thought my old profile had gone as I couldn't find it.

Anyway, I'm looking at prepping a second Merc for the Slotit DTM weekend in Napier in August.

I have been eyeing this livery but no one makes  1/32 version decals and the gold print looks difficult to replicate unless you have some high end printer. What I don't want is a defacto bright yellow replication of gold print.

I found couple  of sites that use to do a 1/24 decal sheet - but one wants $69US for a sheet( hate to think what they would charge for one off scale down) and the other from Hong Kong is not replying to emails or is not in business.

So that leaves me trying to create my own decals which I have never done. I had a play with Gimp but found the edges were very rough on logos I screen shot off the internet. Then one of the club guys said better to use a Vector program like Adobe Illustrator which will give you sharper edges. Unfortunately  I don't want to pay a rather expensive subscription to get latest version so I tried Inkscape which is Freeware but I reckon it will take me months to learn how to use it.

I have access to someone who can do Vinyl printing and wraps who said he could get some gold thin vinyl but he needs a good graphics file to work with. Someone else suggested I create stencils and just spray the gold markings on. Either way it all sounds like hard work.

So I know there are alot of clever and more experienced people out there on decal making than me, so I'm reaching out to see if anyone had any suggestions or should I flag it and do something else.....

Regards

OrakeiRacer

 

[ZeGas 65]

Keith on the forum here put me onto Colin contactme@candc-designs.co.uk who do one off's & graphics work he may be able to help out.

Edited July 5 by ZeGas

[miked 3]

1 hour ago, ZeGas said:

Keith on the forum here put me onto Colin contactme@candc-designs.co.uk who do one off's & graphics work he may be able to help out.

Thanks ZeGas. What's his costs like - reasonable or high end?

I guess it will depend on time and quality of print.

[Vinno 64]

1 hour ago, miked said:

Thanks ZeGas. What's his costs like - reasonable or high end?

I guess it will depend on time and quality of print.

If you want your old profile fixed let me know and I will send you a new password. You can change it from there. 

[miked 3]

16 minutes ago, Vinno said:

If you want your old profile fixed let me know and I will send you a new password. You can change it from there. 

Hi Vinno

That would be good.

Thanks.

[Vinno 64]

1 hour ago, miked said:

Hi Vinno

That would be good.

Thanks.

I have sent a PM to this profile, you should be able to change the password once you log into your old one. Hopefully you still use the same email. If not message me and I can fix it. 

Regards

Vince

[miked 3]

Well time flies when you are in lockdown. Can't believe it's been 2 months since I first posted this query.

I reached out to a couple of suggested overseas contacts to see if they were interested in a decal project but got no reply, so figured they were too busy being in lockdown.

So with time on my hands, I taught myself how to use Gimp and Inkscape( both freeware) to make decals. Amazing what you can find on You tube for "how to" lessons plus got some tips from a club member who is a longtime modeller ... thanks Paul!

So with alot of Computer hours, trial and error, truck load of printer paper and printer ink, I designed a approximation of the above livery, printed it out on decal paper and created a test mule to see how proportions, colors etc looked. There are alot of things I will need to fix, tweak or change, lucky this car has a sister car, so that will be Mark 2 if I can motivate my self to do it all again!

Things I learnt along the way:

• A Black car is hard to make decals for - the black just bleeds thru thin decals, changes decal colors
• Found that printed replicated "gold and silver" on decals is pretty much transparent and will just disappear if laid straight on black
• Any decals put on black needed a solid white base patch put down first ie was effectively laying 2 decals down
• Std white decal patches are still too thin on black - ended up using Patto's stickon white patches
• Patto's stickon patches are thicker than normal decals and not as flexible or shape conforming ie avoid door handles, body edges .....
• For simulated gold or silver color logos, found printing on white decal paper better than clear but then needed to create a black box around each logo to block out any white background
• Black ink on decal is not the same shade as black paint, in fact can look a bit purple
• Don't OD on Testors Bonder when spraying your decals otherwise you will get runs
• Try to avoid getting top of decal wet when putting on your car as it will still run, even with 3 coats of decal bonder
• Do white cars next time
• Get someone else to make your decals!

Been a interesting exercise, satisfying and frustrating, you need to be a bit OCD and the trouble is you know where all the mistakes are.

I'm still looking for someone who can print real gold colors but need to fine tune my decals first for the Mark 2 version.

The next post is a bit of a photo journal of decaling the test mule.

Regards

OrakeiRacer

 

Edited September 12 by miked

[miked 3]

Ok so started with a painted body. Masking  the side stripes was tricky and clear coat before decaling turned into a bit of a disaster and  i got alot of orange peel and some bubbling. Normally I get good results with Testors Ultra Gloss but maybe the weather was too cold for spraying. I was told Testors Clear coat spray can come out a bit colder causing the bubbling effect even though I had heated the spray can before using. So out came the Tamiya polish cutters to get a half decent surface. Not a good start.

Patch time!

Arghh - Door handles and body edges!

Ok not perfect but at least the white looks white.

Black decals on gold - much easier but had to do twice as first batch used too much water and all the print ran!

Rear panel badge is a bit small and guard shape was tricky to mold to with the base patch.

First test of gold letters, still bit dark even with the white base patch and the gold color changed to more yellow shade, must have been the black box around the text darkened the gold shade, black surround sort of blends with body black but not a perfect match.

Side Gold Lettering - more yellow than gold - Need a Alps printer!

Rear end - Merc badge lost it's silver, too small for my printer to keep the resolution, Bridgestone badge is Patto decal, much cleaner and sharper!

Roof Merc badge was a challenge, tried to cut out the black background inside the badge so got the roof color come thru but decal lost support strength and just folded up when attempted to apply whole badge. Then tried to cut badge in half and apply in 2 pieces but still too flimsy, joins didn't line up and folded. Finally left the black background in but with larger area can see color difference to roof black. Will need to re think how to do the badge on Mk2 Merc.

Ready for final clear coat to seal the decals - hope they don't run!

 

[Wobble 99]

For a 1st time effort that's really good going and well done. As far as colours bleeding through white decal paper goes for roundels or patches that aren't going to be printed on but just cut to size, I give the paper a light flick over with Tamiya white primer 1st which seems to stop the bleed through, although don't know if this'd work if you were going to print over that as well.

[miked 3]

3 hours ago, Wobble said:

For a 1st time effort that's really good going and well done. As far as colours bleeding through white decal paper goes for roundels or patches that aren't going to be printed on but just cut to size, I give the paper a light flick over with Tamiya white primer 1st which seems to stop the bleed through, although don't know if this'd work if you were going to print over that as well.

Thanks for the kind comments, still learning. Hadn't thought of spraying blank white decal patches. If they block the bleeding effectively, would be worth trying as they should retain their thinnest and flexibility, plus I would not be printing on them. Thanks for the tip.

[slot car tragic 14]

I think it looks fabulous. I'm a firm believer in the one metre rule, you did it to be a slot car and so once it's out on the track and racing any faults you think are there  will disappear.

Well done.

Chris.

[Shaynus 13]

I think you should be very happy with the results, you have done an amazing job I think. Thank you for your step by step process write up too.

Great tips from other members as well

[miked 3]

Hi guys.

Sorry for the long pause, been a interesting past week including breaking my toe, so have had some down time.

Thanks slotcar Tragic and Shaynus for your comments.

True you won't notice all the faults when you are racing and Shaynus, you have some pretty good looking lockdown projects on the go - especially like the Gulf Lancia.

So with a bit of time on my hands and foot resting on a cushion, I finished the Merc. Just need to road test the chassis now.

Already thinking about the Mk2 version now and all the fixes I would like to do to the decals and colors while the iron is still hot, but some club car projects are calling so Mk 2 may have to wait a bit.

This is the finished product in the next post, not perfect but looks the part. Need to get some photography lessons from Ember or someone on shooting slotcars, lighting is always tricky.

 

[miked 3]

Better Lighting - now you can see all the decal faults .

 

 

 

Edited September 19 by miked
Better pics

[Shaynus 13]

That is a great looking car you have done there!  I think you have carried out such a technical paint scheme brilliantly. I would be proud as punch if I could execute a paint scheme so well - and you should be too

[miked 3]

18 minutes ago, Shaynus said:

That is a great looking car you have done there!  I think you have carried out such a technical paint scheme brilliantly. I would be proud as punch if I could execute a paint scheme so well - and you should be too

Pleased with the overall result, Mk 2 model hopefully will sort all the issues I had with this one but that's just me -never totally satisfied.

Will need a break and do something different to clear the mind or you get too fixated.

Got a Pioneer Legend Ford white kit - wonder what that would look like in "piss" yellow .

[miked 3]

In case you were wondering - Zung Fu Brand is not related to Bruce Lee. It's Hong Kong and Macau's Mercedes distributor since 1954.

[Capri-corn7 103]

Wow just saw this thread - Fantastic job Mike!