Scott,

TangoPapa says on his website that his papers are for Laser Printers only (which includes the ALPS series). Unless TP has started selling Ink Jet paper recently, his website doesn't mention it.

Craig

Heh, I never read the fine print. I just knew that he sold decal paper.

Bel Decal Follow-Up -- Redux
 

Well, I've got another report about those Bel Decal papers. The decal sheet I printed earlier today, which on the surface looked great out of the printer, craps out when it comes time to apply the decal to the model.

I sprayed three coats of acrylic over this sheet and allowed it to dry in a very warm environment (my carport -- 95 degrees or better) thoroughly between each coat. The ink still bleeds when the decal is dipped, almost as badly as if there were no acrylic layer at all.

Bel Decal has changed the formula on their papers. No doubt about it. This is not the same decal sheet that I first received over a year ago.

On the basis of this test, I firmly do not recommend the use of Bel papers, as their papers do not perform even adaquately, and their quality control is clearly not up to the task.

Craig...

Have you tried the decal paper that Micro Mark sells? The instructions seem to be similar to the Bel's instructions. When you take a look at the picture of their decal sealer, it's Krylon Crystal Clear.

I haven't tried it yet because I'm not finished with the Bels that I have, but may try it when I need more decal paper.

They guarantee the decal paper to be free of defects for 90 days so you have a while to test it.

25 sheets is $25.80 so the price seems reasonable.

Instructions are here:

http://www.micromark.com/html_pages...nstruction.html

Decal paper is here:

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp

Haven't tried them yet. I like the guarantee. That's the first one I've seen yet on decal papers.

I might have to order some. If these are the same as Bel used to be, then it would be OK for HP and Lexmark printers.

Price is on par with Bel and Papilio. I like the booklet / catalog that Papilio sends with your order. They have other items that would be useful for us.

Craig

Papilio Decal Papers & Lexmark Inks
 

This is a follow-up on some previous items...

Saturday, I printed up three sheets of decals for a marathon session of finishing, and wanted to pass along some comments on the results:

FIRST -- The Lexmark inks work reasonably well, and are at least as opaque as the HP inks, if not a bit more so. One drawback is it takes longer for the ink to dry in photo-quality mode, and this creates a new problem: On my printer (Z816), there are some mechanical issues with the guide wheels and the print cartridge shuttle that still cause less-than-perfect prints. The brass star wheels that are supposed to keep the paper down have a bad tendency to lift the still-wet ink from the sheet in tiny dots as it passes. In normal- or treated-paper mode, the sheet is jerked at an angle coming out of the feed area, even though the prints appear to be aligned with the edges. I don't know if this is a problem with the guide system, or just the paper feed area not being aligned itself. In transparency-mode, the sheet is pulled slowly into the print area.

SECOND -- The normal slow-cure Krylon Gloss Acrylic spray tends to dry very glossy, while the quick-dry version tends to form a stiff skin that isn't glossy at all. More frosted-translucent than clear. Also, the VALSPAR "American Traditions" version tends to dry a bit frosted and cloudy, and when the volume in the can reaches the end, the properties tend to change rapidly. I've been wanting to try out the non-aerosol version of spirit-based Minwax Polycrylic in a detail spray gun, to see if the results are more controllable. More on this later.

THIRD -- I'm going to try at least one of these Papilio sheets in my Epson today, to see if the sheets are compatable with the inks. I hope so; the Epson inks are solvent-based instead of water-based, and are waterproof when cured. Plus, they are considerably more opaque than either the HP or Lexmark inks. More later.

Papilio Decal Sheets & Epson DuraBrite Inks
 

Finally printed a test sheet with the old Epson C84... :(

I thought I was going to see a little difference, and to be truthful, there is a difference between the Papilio sheets and the Bel sheets. The Papilio sheets still cause the ink to crack and blister, but not as badly. These may actually be usable. Close examination of the surface shows the cracking to be more-or-less confined to the black ink, while the red seems to be fine. The image is a little sharper than with the Lexmark, too.

More tomorrow when I can get three layers of acrylic sprayed...