MCI decals

[Kol__ 3377]

Hey guys,

I've been wanting to order from MCI for a good while now. Liking the idea of customisable decal sheets in original designs, I ordered 4 sets in the Black Friday sale. Having heard such good things about the quality from a few sources, including Tamiya Legends, I was a bit disappointed with what I received this week.

Don't get me wrong, I have had a good experience with MCI and there are plenty of good things, the service was great, the website is pretty decent, as mentioned above the customisation is awesome, and I think the general quality of the sticker sheets is good and they cut easily and doesn't seem to thick like other custom decals I've ordered from other places.

The big issue I have with them is the jagged edges on the lines, in particular on diagonals or curved areas.

Having emailed to enquire, I've been told it's down to the thermal printer that is used.

To be fair from about 10 inches away you can't really see any of the jagged edges. This is acceptable to me for bashers, for which all of the custom MCI decal sets I've just ordered are for, but for shelfers there is no way I would fit these. It's all about detail and I'm fully aware that I'm too much of a perfectionist, so maybe it's just me!

[GeeWings 2830]

I think you’re dissatisfaction is totally warranted. If they know there are issues due to the printer limitations they should make that clear pre/sale.

I’m sure there are others here with more experience but I think thermal printers are capable of better output than that, they just need to have a better rasterisation process.

[Frog Jumper 3662]

Oh great!  My MCI decals are supposed to arrive today…

Terry

[No Slack 454]

That doesn't look good. I have ordered from MCI several times and the prints are razor sharp: My set of Kysoho MGB decals was custom made in different colors and no problems. Also a set of scaled down Lancia Delta decals is very nice and the print is sharp. Looking at your pictures it seems the printer resolution setting is fault. 

[rich_f 233]

The thing that I dislike the most is the misalignment of the different colours, which results in the base colour showing through, forming a line around one side of the graphic, as can be seen in your pictures. This has put me off using the Porsche Taisan Starcard stickers I bought from them. 

[JeffSpicoli 1363]

I appreciate what MCI tries to do but I agree with you that the quality isn't the greatest.   I'm not sure what the solution is, but it would be nice if they could print a higher quality, more accurate rendering.

Being able to order custom colors is a really good thing.

[Mad Zero 316]

My Grasshopper decals had a section of one of the red stripes missing - it wasn’t an important car to me & I couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it so I just stuck them on anyway but I was surprised given the praise MCI usually get on here. 

[gregdogghurst 321]

interesting. anyone know of alternatives?

[Bash 356]

I just got some MCI decals and they were pretty good overall, same type of errors on one of the sheets, but the other one was absolutely perfect. Might have something to do with certain prints or color combinations. I'll add some pictures when I get back from work.   

[M 800STD 586]

@Kol__  No it's not you, that's pants.

[InsaneJim69 1584]

First picture is like "yeah not bad a wee bit jagged" , second picture "ok, that's not great at all" and the last picture "ok who let the 3 year old loose with crayons!!" . That's quite bad tbh and totally warrants your disapproval. 👍

James.

[Kol__ 3377]

Cheers guys. Yeah I was a little surprised at the quality as all I have heard is how amazing MCI decals are, so I guess my expectations were high. I was kind of hoping for a close as original Tamiya quality as possible tbh. This seems like a known lack of quality, one that personally I wouldn't be happy putting out a product like this if it were me producing them.

Anyhow, I can still use these to achieve my desired goals with the cars they're destined for, but I won't be ordering any more unless the printing issue is resolved. Still, I'm happy I can live out my designs and vision on the cars I have plans for so hey ho, I can live with the this one!

@gregdogghurst, the only other ones I've bought were from rcdecals.uk, but there are different issues with those. For starters they are printed on an overly thick vinyl and are therefore a bit unwieldy, difficult to apply and hard to mould to the body shape in certain areas. They are also precut which leaves an extra edge around the decal which mostly doesn't work in application and in particular as the vinyl is so thick the additional clear part round the edge really stands out off the body. Cutting off the precut edge is tricky as the vinyl often drags due to two cuts so close together. And they are not quite exact copies of the originals in size and scale. Their colours are also way off in certain tones, like the yellows and when I enquired I was told they are custom sets and the colours are meant to be like that... but it was a replica set!? I said I could send original decal sheet so they could match exactly if they wanted (figured I'd be doing them a favour and get the correct colour match I was after), but the chap was not interested at all and a bit arrogant I felt. Although, that said he did swap them for a mono tone set, which I selected to avoid the colour issues, and he didn't charge me a postage cost for the replacement set. The stickers were 'ok', but I won't be using them again.

MCI are way, way better, as they just have the one (slightly surprising) printing error.

[Frog Jumper 3662]

13 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

Oh great!  My MCI decals are supposed to arrive today…

Terry

Well, after a cursory inspection, I’m happy with mine. I had some custom work done on two sets and Nate missed one thing. But it’s nbd.  Now to watch some vids of how to apply…

[Willy iine 18806]

I noticed the quality too.. but I have no other source for reprinted decals (white text over clear backing) so can't really complain.  

My eyes aren't what they use to be so it works for me.  Plus there are all sorts of imperfections I created on the bodies so who am I to judge..  

[JeffSpicoli 1363]

If anyone has tips on applying their tire stickers, I'm all ears, gettting ready for a photoshoot at the beach tomorrow

[No Slack 454]

Try screenprint digital in the UK. Send Them a mail with name of the decal sheet you need and maybe they can help. 

[87lc2 2666]

3 hours ago, No Slack said:

Try screenprint digital in the UK. Send Them a mail with name of the decal sheet you need and maybe they can help. 

These guys are awesome.  I've only ordered a few small sheets from them but quality is top notch.   I order a ton from MCI because they have what I need and nobody else makes it, but sometimes I don't even use the sheet when it shows up due to issues mentioned above.  I do love that he added the custom sheets, have ordered a bunch so far to get multiples of decals I need without ordering entire sheets.  Overall I'm happy he does what he does, but for the sheets with grainy graphics or rough edges he should either clean them up or not even offer them.  

[GeeWings 2830]

Agreed, screenprint digital are excellent. I’ve ordered a few sheets from them and they have been faultless. 

[JeffSpicoli 1363]

45 minutes ago, GeeWings said:

Agreed, screenprint digital are excellent. I’ve ordered a few sheets from them and they have been faultless. 

Can they do custom colors?

[JeffSpicoli 1363]

5 hours ago, No Slack said:

Try screenprint digital in the UK. Send Them a mail with name of the decal sheet you need and maybe they can help. 

web address?

[Willy iine 18806]

18 minutes ago, JeffSpicoli said:

web address?

 Not sure.. but maybe this?
 

https://www.screenprintdigitalstickers.com

[SuperChamp82 743]

Is there a school of thought that endorses MCI as the most affordably, accurate repro available ?

Nath’s attention to detail is frankly second to none - and he’s never let me down in over 5 years 

Tamiya stickers are also screen printed - which is undoubtedly better but way more expensive than digital and wholly uneconomic for short runs 

I’ve not tried Screenprint in the UK but will 👍

[Collin 1956]

A bit of end controll. Only a bit. That would be fairly enough. Its like the pop out of the printer directly into the envelope.

 

[GeeWings 2830]

2 hours ago, JeffSpicoli said:

Can they do custom colors?

I’m not sure, I’ve only used them for their mixed decal sheets so far. 

[87lc2 2666]

2 hours ago, SuperChamp82 said:

Is there a school of thought that endorses MCI as the most affordably, accurate repro available ?

Nath’s attention to detail is frankly second to none - and he’s never let me down in over 5 years 

Tamiya stickers are also screen printed - which is undoubtedly better but way more expensive than digital and wholly uneconomic for short runs 

I’ve not tried Screenprint in the UK but will 👍

I would disagree with the attention to detail, but thankful for what he does.  Yes, Tamiya's decals are screen printed as far as I know, but quality compared to MCI is not even close.  Tamiya decals are beautiful.  The last few I received from MCI have faint lines running down each sheet.  Sure, once applied you'd never notice, but not ideal.  

I've purchased from screenprintdigitial on Ebay, here is a link to their store - https://www.ebay.com/str/screenprintdigital?_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2563   As I said, only ordered a few sheets from them but they are way ahead of MCI in quality as far as clarity & color.