Rob_Clements

Decals as supplied in most kits are of the silk-screen printed variety that uses a final 'clear' ink to cover and give strength to each printed image. The paper they are printed onto has no carrier - only the waterslide adhesive. Decals printed on Laser/Inkjet or ALPS has a full 'carrier' film that the images are printed onto - hence you have to cut close to each image. Bear in mind thet most kit silk-screened decals have a 'carrier' that is about 1-1.5mm larger than the visible image, cutting close to the image with the inkjet/laser/ALPS decals is no real problem. If only I could do what Erwin suggests with self printed decals. I have tried, but to no avail - the only real conclusion I cam up with is to print with the ALPS onto 'adhesive only' paper and have a silk screened final varnsih on each image. Long winded but it should work. All the best, Rob.

Torque Links ... and some RAF Tornado's have the pair, other RAF Tornado's have one ... depends on what mod or maint. has been done on the particular noseleg ... or perhaps they just 'fall off' ... defence cuts you know ... However, I have not seen the pair on any of the shots I have of F.3 Tornado. hmmm. More work now ....

the oranges for the Kodak First Check systems are avaialble ... but most places will only sell in packs of 5 which works out pricey For my Alps supplies I use HCR in Hamburg - good prices and fast delivery. For some real good info on ALPS printing, pop over to Yahoo Groups and sign up the 'alpsdecal' group. Very interesting and creative ideas there for alps decals. I have tried combinations of inkjet and Alps printing ... with zero success i have to admit. hacker i would be VERY wary of getting ALPS printers off ebay .. . heard some right horror stories about problems with 'print heads' being out of life (yes, alps heads are only designed for a certain number of 'passes') unless its cheap ...

It does indeed work ... tried it many years ago on something not model related and I can confirm it does work a treat and you can get some amazing effects.

Hiya Stephen, Corel draw will do pretty much any work required for decals. The main problems however are getting the 'colours' right. You will have to do all the markings in the 'correct colours' and as such, even if you use hexadecimal codes that are avaialble on the net for common military marking colours, there is no simple way to do that - a lot of trial and error will be needed as no two systems are the same. Monitor colours vary, printing inks vary in density and colour. Once you have a match to what you need, set a 'colour profile' for the particular sheet. I have never tried to do decals with anything other than an ALPS printer as they are the only ones that can print whites (obviously a massive advantage on smaller markings) and they can also print 'solid' colours without the 'dots' associated with other printers. But for inkjets and lasers there are ways around this. Printing on white decal paper being one, or printing on clear paper and using a white background on the model being another. However, there will always be the 'dots' even on the finest printers availble. I know some chaps here have had a bash, and will be able to help more with the inkjet/laser route than I can, but anything i can do for you i'll give it my best shot. Rob.