Alps alternatives to decal printing?

[Michael Smith]

Alps printers are hard to come by these days and on E-bay, tend to go for
way more than their worth.

So with this in mind, there are many capable photo printers on the markets.
Please share some experiences with other brands of photo printers for the
purpose of printing decals. I'm thinking of HP Photosmart printers off the
top of my head.

Thanks!

Michael

[C.R. Krieger]

Michael Smith <michael...@intel.com> wrote in message
news:96jirv$d...@news.or.intel.com...

> Alps printers are hard to come by these days and on E-bay, tend to go for
> way more than their worth.

That depends upon whether you plan to print WHITE, gold, silver, or magenta
METALLICS or (the most spectacular of all) gold or silver FOILS. For these,
the Alps is the only game in town.
--
C.R. Krieger
(already got my MD-5000)
"Ignore 'em m'dear, they're beneath your dignity." - W.C. Fields

[Wayne C. Morris]

In article <96jirv$d...@news.or.intel.com>, "Michael Smith"
<michael...@intel.com> wrote:

Inkjet inks won't work on regular decal film. You need a special type
of decal film designed to work with inkjet printers, and after printing
you need to spray it with a sealant to waterproof it.

"Photo" printers usually require a special kind of paper for their best
"photo quality" resolution; printing on inkjet-compatible decal film
probably won't give you the same quality.

Inkjet inks are transparent -- they're really designed to go on plain
white paper. So unless your design is all black, you'll probably have
to either apply the decal over a white surface, or use white decal film
instead of clear and trim the decals very carefully.

Another approach is to print your decal designs on white paper, then go
to a print shop and have them color-copy it onto your blank decal film.
Color copier "ink" is waterproof, but has the same transparency problem
as ink, so you'll probably need to use white decal film. The advantage
is that you can do your printout larger than actual size, and have it
shrunk to the right size on the color copier; this will give you decals
with higher resolution than your printer is capable of.

[Charles Fox]

Look into Epson Stylus printers. I got one for $99 (!) and have so far only
done black & white decals, but they were fine: marque name in block letters
to fit on a valve cover of a 1/24 car, for instance. I've also printed color
prints, on photo paper, and am very impressed with the quality. They quote
something like 1200 or 2400 as the top resolution, and while I was told
that's impossible, the quality is still very good.

Important distinction from HP: the Epsons print much drier.

Charles Fox
cafo...@gte.net

"Michael Smith" <michael...@intel.com> wrote in message
news:96jirv$d...@news.or.intel.com...

[Andrew Irving]

Michael Smith wrote:

I purchased an Epson 875 Photo stylus printer a couple of weeks ago and tried
it out on some Experts Choice Decal film with the same results as my HP870 CXI
desk jet.
Zippo, the Epson smeared as badly as did the HP, and a week later, the printing
still smears to the touch, maybe on that "special"
decal paper( who's name escapes me) and the subsequent coating of the print may
be better
However, on
photo type paper, the prints are excellent and undisernable from a Photo store
print, excellent!
FWIW

Regards
Andy
Aurora, Ontario
Canada

[Pierre Francois]

I'm using an HP Officejet G55 on special inkjet paper, and it works great.
These are the projects I'm working on : RCAF H-21 (where I created my own
Royal Canadian Air Force titling, since Hobbycraft made it in black, while
it should be red), Israeli CH-53 (I scanned the decal sheet from the Italeri
CH-53E for the walkway decals, which I cleaned up with Photopaint, and then
printed). I also use the TLAI fonts for printing my own stencilling and
titling.
I'm even thinking of printing the yellow 'V' recognition marking instead of
masking and painting it. For that I will scan the Isradecal pattern (1/72)
and colour it. I also use this paper for printing squadron insignia (found
on the internet).
My future projects include : designing my own instruments, and those
constructor plates you find on for example undercarriage legs of modern
aircraft.
The only drawback are the colours : I can't print dayglo orange, white,
silver, gold.
You can't have everything.

Pierre
Charles Fox <cafo...@gte.net> wrote in message
news:yick6.1134$Bt4.1...@dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net...

[Michael Smith]

thanks for all the feedback. It sounds like the most versatile printer
remains to be the Alps. If I can find one at a reasonable price, I won't
hesitate buy it.

M

"Andrew Irving" <cair...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:3A916F87...@sympatico.ca...

[Send Me Spam]

>
> I purchased an Epson 875 Photo stylus printer a couple of weeks ago and tried
> it out on some Experts Choice Decal film with the same results as my HP870 CXI
> desk jet.
> Zippo, the Epson smeared as badly as did the HP, and a week later, the printing
> still smears to the touch, maybe on that "special"
> decal paper( who's name escapes me) and the subsequent coating of the print may
> be better
> However, on
> photo type paper, the prints are excellent and undisernable from a Photo store
> print, excellent!
> FWIW
>
> Regards
> Andy
> Aurora, Ontario
> Canada

um, just for the record the 'special paper' is coated with what is in effect jello
gelatin, well. the Knox stuff you add to jello to make it firmer. I used to work
at Imation in the coating division where we made high quality ink jet paper, and
yep, you guessed it, the stuff that is put on the paper is basically just hopped up
jello. serious.

[Gene652105]

I bought an MD-1000 about a year ago. It works just fine. Yes, the more fancier
MD_5000 fetches big bucks these days but the MD-1000 will probably do ya. I've
seen these for about 150-200 bucks.
Gene DiGennaro
Baltimore,Md.