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buks
2004.04.23, 06:30 PM
Wondered if anyone has tried making thir own decals with the lazertran paper. Theres two types - one for colour photocopiers and one for injet printers. Its not particularly cheap (UK price is £12 for 8 sheets of A4) but then again a cars worth of decals would cram onto half a sheet of paper. I'd probably go for the inkjet version as the colour photocopier at work would need me to do some "overtime" to avoid the boss :)

I'm interested in how succesful the decals look and how easy they are to stick onto the cars. I'm planning on spraying the whole car with either varnish or plasticote clear to protect the paint and to "smooth off" the decal edges. Not sure if this is enough to attach the decals or if they need glue. I don't think they are self adhesive like the decals you get in airfix model kits (from what I remember from childhood that is).


Cheers in advance,

Buks

rlc77
2004.04.23, 07:22 PM
By Lasetran, I assume you mean some sort of transparency for a laser or Ink Jet printer. You would need to make sure it was very thin in order for it to conform to the body. Using a very thin transparency in a photocopier usually doesn't work, as the fusing temperature would melt it, causing a very expensive repair in some cases. The problem I encountered with using an ink jet priner was, my Printer uses a CMYK process, and this process depends on White paper to to fill in the gaps. Thus it prints transparently. When using a decal sheet that is clear, the colors were not filled in correctly and the decal wasn't very visible when placed against a darker background. I'm sure I have not really answered your question, but I did want to offer my experience to give you some things to consider in this endeavour.

Good Luck

buks
2004.04.23, 07:26 PM
cheers rlc77.

The Lazertran paper I referred to is the name of a brand of paper that you use for "water slide decals". Theres warnings about heat etc on certain types of photocpiers so thats why I'd prefer to use the inkjet version.

Website here with some info - http://www.lazertran.com/

I'm basically wanting to know if anyone has used this transfer paper on their Z's.

thanks again,

Buks

Ken Mifune
2004.04.23, 07:33 PM
I've tried the inkjet stuff. I dont remember the brand name. It comes in clear and white. The decals on a white sheet needs trimming right up to the printed color unless you dont mind a white border. I didnt like any of the results.
I was told the decal sheets for a laser print is much better. The decals are thinner and more waterproof. but I never got around to trying it.

rlc77
2004.04.23, 07:35 PM
So this is a decal paper. Well OK. Definitely steer clear of the photocopier. Even though color toners have a lower melting temp they still run around 150 degrees centegrade. I believe that would still be too hot for decal paper. This decal paper seems similar to what I tried with my Ink Jet and had the problem with the transparent printing. Hopefully your luck will be better but that was my experience.

buks
2004.04.23, 07:35 PM
Cheers Ken. I *might* still get some and give them a go. Planning on posting the results in a gallery as I've took loads of (probably very boring) pics of my cars during the sanding and painting stages.

Buks