How do you put on decals?

[rhymer]

Can some one tell me how people make there decaled figs look like something LEGO made?

[rhymer]

Please tell me I need lots of help with this topic.

[Jipay]

I don't think waiting impatiently for an instantaneously answer is the good solution... Anyway, I did use some decals on this model :

Jipay's tutorial on how to make legosih decals :

As you can see on the pic, there are some ancient writtings on the stargate.

To do those, I simply opened my photoshop-like program (paint can make it nicely and it's easier). Draw whatever you wish to make as a decal. Then rush to the local shop where you can buy printing paper and ink cardrige. Buy a special transparrent decal paper (or the white version if you want to print with a non transparrent background).

Run back home, put the paper into your printer and then hit the "print" button on your drawin program. Here you go, nice decals done (some printers might have special settings for this kind of things, but it is specific to each brand and model, I recommend Canon).

Now you only have to cut the paper and put your decal on your lego model.

Back on specific figs, the system is exactly the same. You can find blank torso templates on the minifig customization network here.

[rhymer]

I should have been more specific. I meant how to attach the sticker to the minifig do you use glue or what?

[Jipay]

a real sticker already got some glue on it. if yon want to glue something on a minifig, I would recommend you the games workshop PVA glue. Put some on a plate, add a little bit of watter and use it to glue the paper decal to the minfig.

And yes, be more specific

[natelite]

buy sticker paper. if you use glue you will mess up the minifig. it's better to spend a little more and get the right paper for decals than to spend the money replacing the minifig later (unless the minifig part was already destined for the waste bin prior to applying the decal).

[alex54]

That is a question I have always aked to myself!

Jipay, when you speak about decals, it is some sticker paper? Does some sticker paper give the same result than official LEGO stickers? Would you show us some picture of the operation and give us some brand of paper please? Thanks a lot, I have some MOCstickers that I will always wanted to do...

[Jipay]

Yes, I am indeed talking about sticker paper. If properly used, they give the exact same result as the lego ones. This requier quite good photoshop skills though, as you have to play on the contrast/brightness and intensity of the colors before printing.

As for the brand, I'll check at the Fnac this week and let you know !

[Vader]

For all your questions you should head over to hear: http://www.minifigcustomizationnetwork.com/

This forum is run by redbean and hes got most custom fig answers.

[rhymer]

Thanks for the help guys.

[xenologer]

The only thing I would add is....

Heres a tip on how to align your sticker properly when attaching it,

I take the sticker and peel it off the wax paper, then stick it to the very tip of my hobby knife.

then I hold the knife with the sticker on the tip over the brick and line it up just right

and carefully press one edge of the sticker down to the brick, while sliding the knife out from under the other end.

[Brick Miner]

hello, here is a mini-fig i have made custom decals for...

i think my decals have come out pretty nicely lately...

so, maybe i could add some tips for you...

THE DIFFERENCE IS LAMINATION OVER THE DECAL !!!

first of all, i used opaque ink-jet lable (aka sticker) printer paper (i use AVERY brand, very cheap)... and printed the stickers right from a home printer. even a really inexpensive ink-jet can do wonders, mine cost about 30 USD (and look at the details i get) !!! after printing, i applied a laminination sheet over the sticker paper where the decals had printed. then i cut very carfully with an EXACTO knife.

the result is very effective... and it blends seamlessly with lego bricks once applied... the clear laminiation sheet is what makes the difference !!! makes paper blend seamlessly with plastic, in that light reflects in very similar ways because of the gloss !!! also, more to the point of your thread, the lamination sheet makes your decal very sturdy. so if you applied crooked, you can always peel off, and try again. its pretty easy to tell if your decal is going to be straight from the first corner you put down. so, once you have that first corner in place... peel away if it doesn't look right. on the above mini fig, i maybe tried 6-8 times before getting it just right (what you see in the photo above).

however, with all of that said... most importantly, the design is what will make-or-break your custom decal.

see my thread here, if you scroll down you'll see production photos of my MOC. you'll find photos of the stickers before they were cut, and if you look carefully, you'll see the laminiation over the decals. that might give you a good idea of what im describing above.

hope that helps !!! if not i can always provide more info !!!

- BrickMiner

[Darth_Ewok]

As you can see on the pic, there are some ancient writtings on the stargate.

Off topic - That stargate RULES! You should do some jaffa or a goa 'uld ship.

Back on topic - You can actually print decals on regular paper and glue them on but they look really bad. Sticker paper is the way to go...

[STARWARS LEGO!]

use prit stick :-)

[Bonaparte]

use prit stick :-)

I also use a Pritt stick (or something similar - maybe pritt is not sold in all countries?).

This is really very easy to remove (with some water) and does not damage the minifig.

[dillthepill]

Hee hee... that could come in handy. Thanks! ;-)

[sasbury]

THE DIFFERENCE IS LAMINATION OVER THE DECAL !!!

- BrickMiner

You mentioned the brand of sticker paper as Avery (the same kind I use.) But where do you get the lamination?

Is it available at Target or Office Depot?

-Steven

[snefroe]

hello, here is a mini-fig i have made custom decals for...

i think my decals have come out pretty nicely lately...

so, maybe i could add some tips for you...

THE DIFFERENCE IS LAMINATION OVER THE DECAL !!!

first of all, i used opaque ink-jet lable (aka sticker) printer paper (i use AVERY brand, very cheap)... and printed the stickers right from a home printer. even a really inexpensive ink-jet can do wonders, mine cost about 30 USD (and look at the details i get) !!! after printing, i applied a laminination sheet over the sticker paper where the decals had printed. then i cut very carfully with an EXACTO knife.

the result is very effective... and it blends seamlessly with lego bricks once applied... the clear laminiation sheet is what makes the difference !!! makes paper blend seamlessly with plastic, in that light reflects in very similar ways because of the gloss !!! also, more to the point of your thread, the lamination sheet makes your decal very sturdy. so if you applied crooked, you can always peel off, and try again. its pretty easy to tell if your decal is going to be straight from the first corner you put down. so, once you have that first corner in place... peel away if it doesn't look right. on the above mini fig, i maybe tried 6-8 times before getting it just right (what you see in the photo above).

however, with all of that said... most importantly, the design is what will make-or-break your custom decal.

see my thread here, if you scroll down you'll see production photos of my MOC. you'll find photos of the stickers before they were cut, and if you look carefully, you'll see the laminiation over the decals. that might give you a good idea of what im describing above.

hope that helps !!! if not i can always provide more info !!!

- BrickMiner

oh well..; so now that we have a thread on all these things:

1) can you post a pic of this lamination? I know what you're talking about, but I don't seem to find/recognise it in shops; the same with waterbased decals, i'd use those, but I can't find them either... maybe in a shop that sells model kits...

2) i'm wondering about the colours of the stickers. usually i get transparent stickers on coloured bricks and very often that coloured background screws up the colours. had that before?

3) i'm wondering how thick your sticker is. i had to go through quite a lot of trouble to find more or less acceptable stickers in terms of thickness...

[Brick Miner]

sorry for the late reply... don't know if this is information still needed, but...

You mentioned the brand of sticker paper as Avery (the same kind I use.) But where do you get the lamination?

Is it available at Target or Office Depot?

it is available at office depot... i used GBC brand lamination. GBC is the company that makes comb and coil binding supplies. and also home/office laminitaion products. they have a heat application line of lam, and a non-heat. i used the non-heat for these. but i might try the heat versions later, for clarity.

--------------------------------------------------

1) can you post a pic of this lamination? I know what you're talking about, but I don't seem to find/recognise it in shops; the same with waterbased decals, i'd use those, but I can't find them either... maybe in a shop that sells model kits...

ummm... i'll try to find a link on the web... but im sure if you do a search for "GBC lamination" it will come up.

2) i'm wondering about the colours of the stickers. usually i get transparent stickers on coloured bricks and very often that coloured background screws up the colours. had that before?

well, i did a scan of all the different color bricks to get the colors to match. here is a list of the CMYK and RGB colors that LEGO officially uses, but they don't seem to work for me. it all depends on your printer, so i calibrated mine based on the scans i had done. then i print on non-transparent paper... its just easier to match colors that way.

3) i'm wondering how thick your sticker is. i had to go through quite a lot of trouble to find more or less acceptable stickers in terms of thickness...

ah, my stickers are pretty thick... or thicker than i'd like, anyway. if you were building around it, the sticker would definitely get in the way.

currently, im designing some stickers for the minifig horse. i've yet to try it with the lamination, but im fearing it might be too think for the standard saddle... i'll have to keep you posted though.

- BrickMiner