Crafting up decal sheets(for mostly late 70s, 80s & 90s models so far)(Updated: Feb 1st)

[echoxrayniner]

So a while back I decided I'd give making my own decals sheets a go cause I was sick of having no Dodge/Plymouth air cleaner decals at any given time and I'd say so far, so good! Actually really enjoy it plus I kinda hope to fill a bit of a somewhat less popular void and some quality of life enhancers(like say the honeycomb mesh for '98 Firebirds and maks for '85-'92 Firebirds). Next week I'll hopefully have the '84 Hurst/Olds sheets at home from the printer and the week after the '80 Aspen R/T sets.

Update #3: Y'know what, probably easier to list out what I got in progress at the moment. And seriously, feel free to request stuff. My comfort zone is 70s through 90s stuff but honestly, I thoroughly like doing this, it's my zen zone almost equal or more so enjoyable than kit building. Just try to give me measurements(metric preferred, but imperial's fine) if you have specifics in mind and I'll be on it rather quickly. (Click here to get a catalog-ish set of pages with a summarized inventory)

MOPAR air cleaner decals:

AMC AMX-390 air cleaner decals(for Jo-Han kits), in slim and full ring fit:

'91 Syclone(Marlboro), Sonoma GT & Typhoon:

'84 Hurst/Olds Cutlass(with bonus '85-'87 goodies):

'80 Dodge Aspen R/T(Custom & Stock) for converting a '80 Volare kit:


 

'85-'92 Firebird tail light masks:

'93-'02 Firebird tail light masks and center bezel masks:

'85 Camaro IROC-Z/Z28:

Lear Siegler contour interior:

'79 Camaro Z/28:

'70 AAR 'Cuda 1/25th scale

'71 Duster 340/Sizzler:

'80 Power Wagon:

'87 Firebird GTA:

'02 Firebird Trans Am Collectors Edition:

'77 Pacer X:

'78 Aspen Super Coupe:

'85 Daytona Turbo Z:

Moar updates! Been working on some kits here and there, and got myself a few old MPC Volare promos to test-fire a bunch of stuff on sooooo... I reckon the whole Volare/Aspen line's gonna be done.

'89-'91 Chevrolet S-10 Baja:

'74 AMC Gremlin X:

'78 Volare Super Coupe:

'78 Dodge Aspen R/T:

'66-'73 MOPAR Showroom Plates:

1992 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP:

1985 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am:

1988 Pontiac Firebird Formula 350:

1988 BMW M5 E34:

1978 Chevrolet El Camino Royal Knight(still in progress, for the most part)

1980-1981 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

1983 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta:

1978 Chevrolet El Camino Super Sport:

1974 Pontiac Ventura Sprint/GTO Uniroyal Thrill Drivers(or '69 Nova, 'cuz why not):

'83-'84 Monte Carlo SS:

'85-'86 Monte Carlo SS:

'87-'88 Monte Carlo SS:

'91-'92 Firebird Formula/Firehawk:

'82 Charger 2.2(bought some Shelby Daytona and Dodge Omni kits, figured I may as well do all of these along the Shelby models to join the already made Daytona Turbo sheet):

'78 Caballero Diablo:

'78-'88 Caballero 4.3(still in progress, gotta shave the wheel arches down some but its generally done):

1979 Aspen R/T:

1977 Aspen R/T:

1974 Ventura GTO:

1997 Ford Explorer Limited(... I bought the AMT kit, sue me):

1996 Corvette Grand Sport:

1996 Impala SS Grand Sport(Custom):

1994-1996 Impala SS(without all the custom gubbins, the new 2018 kit still doesn't feature the friggin' Impala badges so this will help):

1993 Beretta Z26:

1987 Camaro IROC-Z28 20th Anniversary Edition:

1992 Camaro Z28 Heritage Edition:

1972 AMC Gremlin X:

1980 Ford Bronco:

1974 Camaro Z/28:

1975 Camaro RS:

1977 Camaro Z/28:

2017 Camaro Hurst RPO-L78:

1978 Firebird Trans Am:

And as a bonus, a overview of the white letter tire decals I've crafted up:

Edit: For the '77 Mustang II Mach 1, '70 Bonneville 455, '70 Duster 340, '71 Duster 340/Twister, '74-'77 Camaro RS/Z28 Stripes and AMC Engine Bay Decals, click here - the post is starting to crack under the weight of all the stuff.

 

Edited May 21, 2018 by echoxrayniner
Added new sheets

[KWT]

Good looking stuff, bro... Seeing as we have similar tastes, I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Imma need to grab some of them goodies.

[iBorg]

How are these being printed? They look very good.

[echoxrayniner]

19 minutes ago, iBorg said:

How are these being printed? They look very good.

Having 'em printed by a professional waterslide decal printing firm over in the UK, wish I could do it on my own but holy hell's bells getting an ALPS or a printer with white ink is ungodly expensive.

[Greg Wann]

https://decalprofx.com/

Hi NJ,

  Here is a kit you might be able to afford to purchase.  This is the only other way I know to get a white decal made.  There is a silver chrome color and gold also.  There is a learning curve too.  This kit becomes somewhat versatile as you could use it to make photo etch parts and temporary tattoos as well as other uses too.  You will need a laser printer or a toner generated image.  Be certain to stay away from BROTHER brand printers.  Pretty much any other brand should work well.  I have been able to follow the steps to create the transfer then apply to decal paper then seal it with CRYSTAL CLEAR spray.  Then it becomes a typical water slide decal.  If you use the dry transfer image by itself then you need to make certain your target of application is right on or you will have to destroy your produced image to remove it and try again.  The kit comes with practice images and that is a good thing also.  Be certain to take a look at the humor page too.  Call or email Frank with questions, he is very helpful.

Edited November 26, 2017 by Greg Wann

[echoxrayniner]

I'll have a looksee, thanks!

[peteski]

What printing process is the printing company using? Silk screening, UV-curable ink-jet, or some other method?

Edited November 27, 2017 by peteski

[echoxrayniner]

They specifically don't mention their method but based on the result, I reckon its silkscreening.

[Can-Con]

Man, wish I had known about that 6 months ago when I was doing this with individual black strips ! 

[Mr mopar]

The Mopar stuff looks real good !

[echoxrayniner]

14 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Man, wish I had known about that 6 months ago when I was doing this with individual black strips ! 

Yeeeaahhh I have done a similar thing on a '92 Firebird(although I half-assed it something fierce, yours looks pretty dang good) earlier this year, so for me its also too little too late but... Hopefully can help people out from here on out hah. Also, the Hurst/Olds sheet's here, hooray! A bit too little red on the Hurst/Olds logos but they were both 2px at best and black wins over red for prominence so... learning experience.

 

[drodg]

I think they look great.  I would assume you are going to make the Aspen R/T decals in silver?

 

 

[Force]

On 2017-11-26 at 3:57 PM, echoxrayniner said:

So a while back I decided I'd give making my own decals sheets a go cause I was sick of having no Dodge/Plymouth air cleaner decals at any given time and I'd say so far, so good! Actually really enjoy it plus I kinda hope to fill a bit of a somewhat less popular void and some quality of life enhancers(like say the honeycomb mesh for '98 Firebirds and maks for '85-'92 Firebirds). Next week I'll hopefully have the '84 Hurst/Olds sheets at home from the printer and the week after the '80 Aspen R/T sets. Currently I'm working on a '79 Camaro, '79 Nova & '86 IROC-S El Camino sheet.

MOPAR air cleaner decals:

 

Nice work man.

There is some voids here and there when it comes to detailing under the hood on model cars and there are several "under hood" decals I would like to see more of, except for the Mopar air cleaner decals you have done there are several valve cover decals wich isn't readily available on the aftermarket.

The Plymouth Max Wedge and early Race HEMI cars from 1962-64 had these decals for the valve covers:

Superstock 413 decal.bmp

Superstock 426 decal.bmp

Superstock 426-II decal.bmp

Superstock 426-III decal.bmp

Dodge 62-64 Max Wedge and early Race HEMI cars:

Ramcharger 413 decal.bmp

Ramcharger 426 decal.bmp

Ramcharger 426-III decal.bmp

Valve Cover decal for the 426 HEMI:

 

Decal for the dual air cleaners on the Max Wedge and early Race HEMI cars (and many others):

 

Valve Cover decal for 66-67 426 HEMI:

426 HEMI air cleaner decal 66-67.bmp

Another decal I would like to see is the rear seat pattern for the 64 Ford Thunderbolt wich is hard to replicate with paint.

If anyone did these I would buy several sets right away.

 

 

Edited November 28, 2017 by Force

[echoxrayniner]

53 minutes ago, drodg said:

I think they look great.  I would assume you are going to make the Aspen R/T decals in silver?

 

 

The long semi-custom R/T stripe's available in black, metallic silver and white and the stock bottom stripes come in maroon, blue, metallic silver and metallic gold.

 

21 minutes ago, Force said:

Nice work man.

There is some voids here and there when it comes to detailing under the hood on model cars and there are several "under hood" decals I would like to see more of, except for the Mopar air cleaner decals you have done there are several valve cover decals wich isn't readily available on the aftermarket.

The Plymouth Max Wedge and early Race HEMI cars from 1962-64 had these decals for the valve covers:

*snip*

 

 

Oh I'm on it, dude! I can easily get 'em into 1/25th shape with what I got lying around and all the assets you linked. Also, I was in the middle of doing those "CAMARO" zebra-strobe seat inlays for a '83-'84 Camaros so I wouldn't mind expanding further to get seat decals done. The striped pattern is just a lighter shade of the interior color or is it actually white?

[Force]

I believe it's light gray or something like that.
I tried to insert pictures of all decals in my post and most of them are bmp, but it looks like the site doesn't show bmp files as pictures.
But if you click on them they gets saved on your computer and you can see them with your picture program.

[av405]

Nice work. I can't say I'm particularly interested in the decal sets you've made already. But you're focused on the era of vehicles I'm interested in so hopefully you keep making more sheets and something gets my attention. 

[Paul Hettick]

Beautiful work!

[peteski]

16 hours ago, echoxrayniner said:

Yeeeaahhh I have done a similar thing on a '92 Firebird(although I half-assed it something fierce, yours looks pretty dang good) earlier this year, so for me its also too little too late but... Hopefully can help people out from here on out hah. Also, the Hurst/Olds sheet's here, hooray! A bit too little red on the Hurst/Olds logos but they were both 2px at best and black wins over red for prominence so... learning experience.

 

These do look very nice (especially with the metallic silver and gold).

Funny - going by the sheen of the inks (and by the faint line across the pair of black license plates with the Oldsmobile logo) to my eyes they look like they are printed on Alps MicroDry printer.

This photo doesn't show the corners of the sheet but if there are alignment marks (usually thin crosses) for all the ink layers than that would be a good indication that they were silk-screened.  I do see a small color swatches on each set of decals. If you look at the swatches under a strong magnifier, is the color made up of individual dots (like what you would expect on an ink-jet or color laser printout) or is each color perfectly solid with no dots at all?

[echoxrayniner]

6 hours ago, peteski said:

These do look very nice (especially with the metallic silver and gold).

Funny - going by the sheen of the inks (and by the faint line across the pair of black license plates with the Oldsmobile logo) to my eyes they look like they are printed on Alps MicroDry printer.

This photo doesn't show the corners of the sheet but if there are alignment marks (usually thin crosses) for all the ink layers than that would be a good indication that they were silk-screened.  I do see a small color swatches on each set of decals. If you look at the swatches under a strong magnifier, is the color made up of individual dots (like what you would expect on an ink-jet or color laser printout) or is each color perfectly solid with no dots at all?

The Olds set is deeeefinitely printed by an ALPS, you're 100% right! Weirdly enough they still have alignment marks on the edges of the sheet, maybe for their conveniences sake

[JTalmage]

Man, these look great!! I'd be down for a couple sheets once you get all the possibilities and decals worked out

[drodg]

Looking great thanks for response.   

[peteski]

15 hours ago, echoxrayniner said:

The Olds set is deeeefinitely printed by an ALPS, you're 100% right! Weirdly enough they still have alignment marks on the edges of the sheet, maybe for their conveniences sake

Ah, so that makes sense now.   Who in UK printed these for you? Precision Labels & Decals?

[echoxrayniner]

10 hours ago, peteski said:

Ah, so that makes sense now.   Who in UK printed these for you? Precision Labels & Decals?

Company called Rothko & Frost, accidentally stumbled upon them a while ago cause they offered what I initially wanted the most: medium 9x19cm sheets with metallics and full CMYK for less than 25 euro, so I could just craft up my stuff for funsies and use it myself for whenever the kit(looking at you AMT) would be missing certain decals/details, but they got rid of that small sheet option and now only offer A4-sized sheets exclusively so I thought, what the hell, lets go big.

Also good news, the Aspen R/T and Firebird masks came in today!

[DrKerry]

Beautiful work!!!!!!

[iBorg]

Absolutely stunning work. Great artwork printed exceptionally well. Hopefully having multiple sheets printed will allow you to sell them (if you so desire) at an affrodable price.