# Product review



## clydeomite (May 5, 2004)

Howdy:
Has anyone bought waterslide decals from " Scrapper Cope" On ebay? 
I have and must say i am not too pleased with the quality. I'm not here to publiclly bash the seller. The decals I bought were the " Jungle Jim " Vega decals. They look good on the paper but when applied to a Red Car teh yellow fades away and all you see is the outline of the original lettering. I know he offers a return of 14 days but am not sure if that applies to partally used sheet of decals. I guess I should have used teh cheaper set I got first to see how they worked. These decals would be fine I believe if they had the Apls white ink under the color so the car color doesn't bleed thru. 
Anyone Else?
Clyde-0-Mite


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## Jim Norton (Jun 29, 2007)

There is nothing worse than decals that are not opaque. I once decaled a red car with white roundels. When placed on the car the roundels turned pink. I quit there.

I'd ask for the refund.

Jim Norton
Huntsville, AL


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

clyde, thank you for that eye opener. I had considered buying some from him and I know i can produce at least that quality with my ink jet. 

Jim N, in order to prevent that color bleed through in future, obtain a sheet of white decal paper and cut an identical size "patch" to apply before applying the roundel. I think you will find that is a decent solution.


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## eastside johnny (May 13, 2008)

another possible way to overcome this is to layer multiple copies of the decal. OK if you are printing them yourself but could get a little pricey when buying them. Depends how bad you want to do the car I guess.


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## win43 (Aug 28, 2006)

Unfortunately most people DON'T have the ability to print white(inkjet printer). This makes it hard to use those decals on most colors. Doubling up on the decal will help in some cases.


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## TCR Russ (May 7, 2012)

Thanks for the heads-up Clyde.
I've had some luck w/ home inkjet printed decals and the limitations of an inkjet printer, but its a bit involved.
I'd be glad to provide more info via pm if you're interested.


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

the only affordable printer I know of that prints white is an ALPS MD-5000 series. they are long ago discontinued and cost around $1000 plus the cost of the ink. they have a dye sublimation option which can print pictures without pixels. they also have metallic gold and silver cartridges. these are dry application cartridges much like a cassette tape. the cartridges, especially the white are getting hared to find and very expensive.

if anyone knows of any other printer within that price range that can print white, I would be interested.


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## clydeomite (May 5, 2004)

Supossedly Kodak was going to pick up the slack with printers and cartiges when the ALPS line was discontinued. How much truth or fiction there is I don't know. I also believe it to be an overseas model which might further complicate matters. i guess Pattos is the next best option since the USA producers keep going under. Or Slixx. I guess we could all revert to our childhood and paint fictcious names and numbers on our cars. Too bad somuch demand and very little product. And I sold my ALPS printer for $150.00 DUH... Oh well
Clyde-0-Mite


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## oddrods (Feb 6, 2007)

Even Pattos decals aren't what vthey used to be. I couldn't get the last set I ordered to conform to curved surfaces to save my life.


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## racer8nut (Mar 25, 2010)

When making my own I would make 2 sets. One to paint using flat white acrylic paint and the other to lay over. It also depends on the amount of detail you have in the decal. Just a thought:wave:


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Laser printers are more opaque than inkjet printers, but you still can't print white.
HO Express had the best quality waterslide decals on the planet, in my opinion.
Autographics has the best peel n stick, but they are all larger scales.
HO Express and Autographics are both silk screened.


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

Alps Printers and ink are readily available, but ONLY in Japan. That makes it very expensive for the few purchasers outside of the country to locate new items for purchase.


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

Road Race Replica has the best available decals. Also Rick, aka hairycanaryjr has a good printer.


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## tasman (Feb 17, 2007)

If you want to make your own, Testor's sells White decal paper. I have some at home but have not tried it yet. My understanding is that the slide off stock is white so that whatever you print on it comes out with accurate colors.

Of course you would have to trim around the outside very close so that a white border doesn't show up.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

The white edge will show up no matter how you cut it. Hilltop posted up a trick on his thread which really needs to go on the quick tips sticky thread. Make your decal on white paper, and while playing with the artwork, make a border that goes all the way around the decal, and make it slightly bigger than the one you print on white decal paper. Then you apply first the white decal, and place the border decal (printed on clear decal paper) over it to hide the edge.

I ran across another paper I found interesting, but haven't spent the $$$ on it yet to test.

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/decalpaper.html

Check out the bottom right video!!


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## TCR Russ (May 7, 2012)

slotcarman12078 said:


> The white edge will show up no matter how you cut it. Hilltop posted up a trick on his thread which really needs to go on the quick tips sticky thread. Make your decal on white paper, and while playing with the artwork, make a border that goes all the way around the decal, and make it slightly bigger than the one you print on white decal paper. Then you apply first the white decal, and place the border decal (printed on clear decal paper) over it to hide the edge.
> 
> I ran across another paper I found interesting, but haven't spent the $$$ on it yet to test.
> 
> ...


I've had some luck doing something similar. I take a photo of the car color(s) and then use photoshop to match the color. I create a 'swatch' of that color and then pull the decal layer on top of that. However, there are also some photograpy tricks I use to get the closest color match. I use a bulb rated at 'daylight' (flourescent, available at Home Depot) to light the picture. The average house bulb has a yellow tint to it due to the color temperature.


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