Stock Decals Categories

Custom Decals Works For our Clients

FAQ????

Can you print white artwork ?

Yes, we can both our Roland printers fully support opaque White printing

Can you print Bitmap / Raster artwork ?

Yes, we can and certainly DO print BMP, JPG, PNG, PSD, and other such files. There are however some conditions when printing on clear media (waterslide or vinyl):
For white artwork in raster format artwork (eg JPG, PNG, PSD, etc) please code the ‘white’ artwork as CMYK = 0,0,0,0.5 (ie 0.5% Black) or RGB = (250,250,250), as this enables the printer software to detect the white artwork as ‘valid pixels’ for under-printing with white ink.

This is required because every printer on the planet treats CMYK = 0000 as “Don’t Print”.

If you are unable to encode the ‘white’ as 0.5% Black, then we have to create underlying artwork to ensure that the white artwork is printed as white. This is a chargeable service.

Can you print Metallic colour artwork ?

Yes, we can. For Vector format artwork only (eg CDR, AI, SVG) This is because we must recode such colors with metallic color-codes that are only available within CorelDraw and Illustrator for vector artwork.

Can you printer(s) do you use ?

We currently have 2 printers that we use for printing most decals:

Roland VS: 720 x 1440dpi CMYK + Light Cyan, Light Magenta, METALLIC, and WHITE
Roland VG2: 900 x 900dpi CMYK + Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Light Black, and WHITE

We also have a Fuji-Xerox Laser printer that we occasionally use for printing certain specific decals on white waterslide media, such as A5 solid-color decal sheets.

Can you print small and fine details Decals ?

Yes, we commonly printed decals down to 0.1mm in size.

For fine detail, we often print text that you can read only when using a 10x magnification loupe.

We currently have 2 printers that we use for printing most decals:

Roland VS: 720 x 1440dpi CMYK + Light Cyan, Light Magenta, METALLIC, and WHITE
Roland VG2: 900 x 900dpi CMYK + Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Light Black, and WHITE

We also have a Fuji-Xerox Laser printer that we occasionally use for printing certain specific decals, such as A4 solid-color decal sheets on white waterslide media.

Can you print fully opaque decals ?

We can print both translucent and FULLY OPAQUE decals on the clear waterslide and vinyl media. We can print both at the same time on the same sheet.

I'm working in (pick a large scale). Can you print decals that big ?

“I’m sorry … we can only print up to 1,000mm x 1,000mm … would that be large enough for you?”

For clear waterslide or vinyl media, we normally print on 1000mm, 1100mm, or 1360mm wide roll-media. For accuracy, such print-runs are normally restricted to about 1,000mm in length.
This is usually big enough for most decals.

For printing on white or other colored media, we can print up to 1,360mm wide (depending upon the size of the media) and up to 50m in length.

Do you use an ALPS ?

No, we don’t.

The ALPS printer was very good in its day. But that day is long since past.

Issues with the ALPS include:

it only runs on Windows XP. This OS is now very old and not supported;
it prints at a pixillated 600 x 600dpi (ie low / poor quality);
it can print only one color at a time (ie very slow for full-color decals);
fairly expensive to operate;
liable to breakdown at any time / difficult – expensive to repair
(production of the ALPS printer ceased in 2005 for the international market)
(production of the final Japan-only ALPS model ceased in 2010)
(whilst consumables continued to be available for many years)

One good / useful point for the ALPS was that it allowed to print directly from any Windows application, including white (you actually print black artwork, with a white ribbon in the printer).

Do you use an Oki Laser ?

Oki released their CMYW laser printer some years ago.

“Issues” with even the current model of the printer include:
Poor quality Black print (Oki have replaced the K toner cartridge with White
and so use a combination of CMY to create a dark, muddy-brown black)
600 x 600dpi (But the print quality is generally quite reasonable)
Very Translucent rather than Opaque White (Oki do not put down sufficient white toner for full opacity)

Do you use an Uninet Laser ?

When first released, Uninet (USA) used a rebadged Oki CMYW laser. However, as they used their own toner and software, the opacity was much better.

Our current understanding is that the current models now print at up to 1200dpi and can achieve a good level of opacity. However, they still are running a 4-toner printer:
Poor quality Black print (Uninet have replaced the K toner cartridge with White and so use a combination of CMY to create a dark, muddy-brown black)

Do you ship to (my country) ?

We currently ship our products both internally within Australia and internationally to anywhere.

At the present time there we have not restricted sales to any country.

Most international orders are shipped by Australia Post standard international AirMail.

This service is low-cost but does NOT include Tracking or Insurance.

However, due to the COVID Pandemic, there is an ever-changing list of countries that Australia Post either can not ship to or will only ship via a Tracked mail service.

In most such cases, or otherwise, whenever we believe there is a high degree of risk for loss-int-transit or fraud, we will only ship via a Tracked service (if available) or via DHL Express Courier.

COVID Pandemic Delays to shipping

We currently continue to ship most orders within 3 days (stock decals) or 5 days (custom decals) of payment.

Shipments within Australia are now via Express Post only.

Shipments internationally are most often still via Australia Post standard international AirMail, but we have experienced significant variation in delivery times. For example:
-Orders to the USA pre-COVID were normally delivered within 6 – 14 business days;
-Orders to the USA (COVID) are listed at an estimated 10 – 20 business days;
-However, we recently had a case where the order was shipped on 9 June but not delivered until 19 October (ie 3.5 months);
Where shipping time is important, you must pay the extra cost of a Tracked shipping service.

How much do your products and services cost ?

Ah, price.

* Some people think that we are outrageously expensive.
* Others think we price our services too low.
* Most simply say we provide value for money … and keep coming back to buy more.

Very simply, we are a professional printing business that specializes in waterslide/vinyl decal and stickers for Hobbyists and Wargamers worldwide.

‘Custom Hobby Decals’ is not a small single-person ‘backyard’ operation by any means.
A full-time digital-print operation, we have an increasing number of staff … and some quite expensive equipment … that are dedicated to producing the best quality, high resolution, opaque decals currently available.

That said, we have standards for rates for artwork development, custom decal printing, and PP&H:
Artwork Development
* $15.00 for up to 15-20 min for smaller projects
* $50.00 per hour for up to 3 hours artwork development
* $40.00 per hour thereafter

Custom Printing

Our Custom Print charge is based on the TOTAL PRINT AREA.
NOT the number of decals to be printed.
* $22.00 for very small custom print decals (up to A7 area) (74mm x 15mm)
* $33.00 for small custom print decals (up to A6 area) (105mm x 148mm)
* $48.50 for Medium custom print decals (up to A5 area) (148mm x 210mm)
* $66.00 for Large custom print decals (up to A4 area) (210mm x 297mm)
* Discounted rates for larger than A4 area … or multiple copies totaling more than A4 area

Shipping
*$9.90 - $12.50 Express Post within Australia (inc Tracking) * $16.00 Standard International Parcel Post (inc Tracking) – NZ * $21.00 Standard International Parcel Post (inc Tracking) – USA * $26.50 Standard International Parcel Post (inc Tracking) – UK * $29.90 Standard International Parcel Post (inc Tracking) – Europe / EU and most other countries * Rates on the application for specific countries, particularly the Middle East.

Why do you charges so much for custom decals ?

Custom Vs Stock Decals There are some people that believe custom decals should be similar in price to stock decals.
Stock decals are ‘design-once, print-many, sell many items where the research, artwork design and printing cost is spread across the sale of many decal sets.
Custom decals however are ‘design-once, print-once, sell once … where the full cost of has to be recovered from the single sale.

Do you charge for your time?!?
There are some people that basically expect us to design artwork for free.
I’m sorry but my time has value:

if I am doing something for you, then I’m not doing something for someone else.
And, more to the point, I have to pay our graphic artists for their time. Very simply, there are certainly other people out there that do not charge or charge very little, for their time. Some are not that great; some are fairly reasonable, and some are really very good. If cost is your primary concern, then you should avail yourself of their services.
Printers

Various low-cost custom decal providers use:

ALPS printer
It is now 11 – 16+ years since production of these printers ceased, and they are generally old, tired and expensive to operate (1 x A4 sheet at a time & ~30+ min per colour)
Only 600 x 600dpi (low) resolution is generally quite pixelated, as it prints one colour component at a time.

Standard office inkjet/laser printer
Many prints at only 600 x 600dpi, with the more expensive ones providing 600 x 1200dpi.
No support for printing white.
Inkjet decals are always translucent, suitable only for light-colour backgrounds.
Even the laser printer decals are often translucent.

Oki CMYW Laser printer
The Oki ‘white laser’ printer held significant promise that it has consistently failed to deliver on. The major compromises are:
Prints at only 600 x 600dpi
No actual BLACK toner: Black is ‘simulated’ by combining CM&Y to create what is really a ‘dark muddy brown’ colour
Low-density White underprint (so the decals are only partially opaque)

Uninet CMYW Laser printer
Originally primarily a rebadged Oki CMYW laser printer, depending upon the age and model concerned*, Uninet’s printer offer:
their own firmware
their own higher-density toners
Printing at 600 x 600dpi* or 600 x 1200dpi*
No actual BLACK toner: Black is ‘simulated’ by combining CM&Y to create what is really a ‘dark muddy brown’ colour
Higher density White underprint (so the decals are reasonably opaque)
NONE of these printers offers similar overall quality or capability to ours.

OUR PRINTERS
We currently have two Roland wide-format eco-solvent printers.

The first offers:
CMYK + Light Cyan, Light Magenta + WHITE + METALLIC
720 x 1440dpi very high-resolution print (for sharp, small, fine detail print)
High opacity
Support for 950mmW waterslide and vinyl printing
The second offers:
CMYK + Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Light Black + WHITE
900 x 900dpi high-resolution print (for sharp, small, fine detail print)
High opacity
Support for 1,360mmW vinyl printing (950mmW waterslide)

What clearcoat do you recommend with your decals ? is there any clearcoat solutions that you recommend not using ?

Revell clearcoat
We have had one bad report about this product, which apparently is widely available in Europe.
Solvent-based clearcoat
We know that any solvent-based clearcoat (eg 2-pack automotive) will damage our decals. This is because we print using ecoSolvent inks … which is why they are waterproof and relatively scratchproof once cured. And a strong-enough formula can even ‘eat’ our waterslide media’s urethane decal film.
Other Clearcoats
Basically any other Hobbyist or other clearcoat should work just fine. Particularly as we have had only a handful of reports due to the already mentioned solvent or Revell clearcoats over the past 10 years.
Future floor polish
There have been many reports and recommendations in hobby forums recommending Future (floor polish). With such widespread support, we have no doubt that it has been used with our decals. We have not had any negative reports. But we have not tested it.
Clearcoat in a spraycan?
‘Krystal Kleer’ by White Knight Paints, available at Bunnings (Australia only)