Some methods I know of:
Decal Printer Paper. I've seen this on the web but so far have not seen it in stores. Can't remember the price of it but it is probrably expensive. The great thing is that any graphic file you can copy and paste into just about any word processor document can be printed or anything that you can normally print off your computer can be printed. The down side is that you have to print a page at a time so if yo don't fill the sheet up you just wasted some $$$. You can also print text in the same way. If I remember right, these soak off like the traditional plastic model decals do.
Clear Transparency Film/Paper. We've successfully used this in years past. I looked at the price of this stuff and it is expensive! Fortunately, I get folks at work to save me their used sheets of this stuff after they have used them in presentations. We set up to print on the unused portions so for us it has been free so far... The downside of using this is that it is relatively thick and inflexible. The edges of your decal will be easily seen and you will lose any detail that is underneath. To make it stick, we overspray a thick coating of clear gloss and place the decal on the pwd car while this is still wet and when dry we follow this up with at least one more coating of clear to cover the decal and help the edges blend in. The up side of using the transparency paper is that you can print any graphic file that you can copy and paste into a word processor document or anything that you can normally print off your computer. The down side is that you have to print a page at a time. Just Remember that it will take longer for the ink to dry on these when printed, so do it as a last thing some night and don't bother them until morning. Oh yeah, as each sheet prints, pull it out of your printer and place it somewhere safe - you don't want any additional sheets stacking on each other or you will end up with a sandwich of these that are totally unusable!
Plain Paper. I've also used plain printer paper and printed right on it. It didn't do as well as the transparancy film but is a lot cheaper. This was with a thinner - lower weight - paper. To date, I have not tried any of the heavier weight paper. This has most of the same properties as the decal and transparancy paper except for the price and the background color. Unless you use a colored paper and match it to your car color, you will have to cut around your home-made decal very closely or the paper color will show up. An option to this would be to have a white car.
Magazine Pictures. Although I have read of someone using these, we have not done so yet. You would have to be sure and cut out around the picture closely but you would need some way of adhering them to your pwd car. Perhaps the overspray of clearcoat method we use for the clear transparancy? In addition to finding a picture that was the right size, I would be worried about anything from the backside bleeding through. These should be relatively cheap - if you already own the magazine.
Photo Pcitures. I've seen where some boys have taken pictures of themselves and glued them to their cars - usually as the driver. Again, you would have to cut around the picture closely and find some way of adhering them to the pwd car. I do not know how these would react to any particular clearcoat spray. Just make sure you don't cut up a picture that you want to keep!
I'm wondering if the Tatoo Printer Paper would work as well (it's not cheap either!)?
Let's not forget that we can also scan things into documents from those unused scanners out there!
Suggestions for other methods? Improvements/suggestions on these?
These ideas and others will allow for very good looking and creative cars to be made by the boys (even us older boys!).
Da Graphite Kid
