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Stefan(2)

spend big on printer :) now crap printer

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Hi!

Well, after getting tired of endless looking around for nice

decals (and, not finding the one's i need)

i decided i wanted a printer on who i could make my own.

So, some emails & sample's later i picked the Minolta 2300DL.

All the bells & toys, a real nice complete printer setup.

Also sorted / working on a good surply from the decal stuff itself, so that should be sorted soon to.

But, now, my first project is going to make my own 1:10 scale "general lee" decals. To go on the kamtech body.

Being a complete idiot with internet, i did manage to find a good rebel flag, but still looking for good useble files of the "01" and "general lee" lettering.

Is there somewhere on the web a nice database with files i could use? and ofcourse have a good brouwse around to find some other cool stuff i wanne print on decals :) ?

Google only turned up with pictures of the real cars, ofcourse nice, but not really useble for printing (considering the door ain't flat)

Ofcourse i can/try make my own "01" with paintshop pro but why invent something yourself if you can just copy it right!

Ow, to make it clear, it ain't commertial, just for personal use!

Any advice on home making decals is very apriciated!

thanks, stefan

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If all else fails, try finding the font/typeface here;

http://www.1001freefonts.com/

Or, download a couple of thousand, just in case, from here;

http://www.ultimatefontdownload.com/

Also comes with a font viewer, but don't try to put all 2000 into your fonts folder (windows can't handle it apparently), put them in a seperate folder, and install from there as necessary

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quote:
Originally posted by Stefan

Hi!

Well, after getting tired of endless looking around for nice

decals (and, not finding the one's i need)

i decided i wanted a printer on who i could make my own.

So, some emails & sample's later i picked the Minolta 2300DL.

All the bells & toys, a real nice complete printer setup.

Also sorted / working on a good surply from the decal stuff itself, so that should be sorted soon to.

id="quote">id="quote">

I am thinking of making my own decals at some point for a "Cryogenics" company or a dangerous liquids company, for use on my #56303 Tanker trailer for my Merc 1838.

I know a bloke who was a good school friend of mine who works locally at a firm which does this sort of thing for a living (he has been working there for about 10 years now), he does signs and engraving and many things along these lines. He is thinking about setting up in business by himself in a few months time and is apparently going to be buying a "Vinyl Signwriting Machine" which is apparently what these decals are made on when Tamiya and other firms do them, i.e. on PolyVinylChloride, PVC. These machines cost about 1500 GBP. The software that you run on them is made by a firm called "ScanVec" and is called "Casmate", version 6.2. That software is also expensive, about the same cost as the Vinyl Signwriting machine! He is willing to do just about anything for me along these lines, so maybe "watch this space" ?

Regarding something similar, not decals this time but number plates on cars/trucks, on my Merc 1838 truck, I'm up to the bit where you put the license plates on, and Tamiya supplied German(?) number plates, and of course being from England I would like English plates (white at the front of the lorry (truck), yellow plates at the rear of the lorry, and Charles Wright font for the black characters) and since this same friend of mine's company actually makes these real number plates for full sized vehicles, I have got him to have a go at making some UK license plates for my truck on a real car / commercial vehicle / lorry numberplate machine out of the real reflective white and yellow materials that they use on real lorry / commercial vehicle / car plates in the UK, but scaled down to 1/14th scale using the "AutoExpress" Department of Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) software (he is going to use the bit at the bottom of the number plate where the small text goes for the advert of the people who made the plate and put the Charles Wright font on it and the license number here and then he can CNC cut it out or something).

This will have to be made so that the characters have the exact spacing and size as laid down by the DVLA to be authentic, e.g. the height of the letters has to be 79mm divided by 14 to be true to scale for 1/14th scale trucks...

I also want to use the same number plate as we had on our own 17 Tonne rigid Mercedes-Benz truck that was parked outside of our house in 1984, for nostalgia's sake!

I also want him to make up a 1/14 scale vinyl sign to represent the real sign that we had on our own truck, of "Gutcher Bros. Transport, St.Helens, Lancs. Tel. (0744) 27237"

I am currently myself looking into the true photographic quality machines that can do these things on transfers and card and paper, called "Dye Sublimation" printers. They print at 300 d.p.i. and they can do glossy magazine quality. They also use them in those new 'digital photography booths' that I am beginning to see in my local shops where you take your memory card in from your digital camera and it gives you glossy photos in about 2 minutes. The technology uses wax blocks for the ink, so it is waterproof, and I think that when they use them in these 'photo-booths' then a special gloss coat is added by another separate machine?

Also as a side note, if you notice, M$ Word 2000 etc.. cannot give accurate font sizes in millimetres, but only use point sizes, 1 point being 1/72 of an inch. When I tried making a license plate myself at 1/14 scale I had the problem that it would not let me scale the font to an exact height in mm, since it includes some white space at the top of the character and bottom of the character for superscript and subscript use. My friend says that these programs like the one on his pre-PC engraving machine and Casmate allow you to specify the character height exactly in mm. This is something which I have never been able to do in any of the readily available Windows software that people typically have at home. I suppose that that is why his software costs a pile of money.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

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Hi there!

thanks for the reply's, searched all night long (sad ain't it)

i could find some decent pictures from the decals but unfortunatly not the one's who where good for using as a decal re-print.

appears to be some kind of well kept secret in the dukes of hazard scene :)

About the same think "how to make your own parts molds" kind of thing lol.

Was thinking about a real decal printer, but was just not prepaired to pay that price, think this was the best (looking at quallty) way to get my own custom decals, without depending on others for the

printing. Just like to do everything in house!

Did figur out how to work out size in mm for lettering, just make a "new" picture in paint shop pro, and fit lettering to that.

That should work for printing a correct size for licence plate's ect.

Anyway that should work, considering i'm not yet owning a printer so can't test it for now. <soon i will, i hope>

The printer i bought hase some kind of new type of inkt/toner, what is water proof to. The distributer explained it to me as printing melted plastic. Waterproof and to some degree of rub-proof.

Tested it with sample's, yep, he is right!

Ok, time to go to work!

Stefan

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thanks!

a delivery guy brings the printer tomorrow to my work :)

give or take... well, with my computer knowing.. should be able to have it work in let say, a month or 2 :)

Stefan

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[:)]Hi!

I had the same trouble looking for a particular decal that being the modern cross for the German army vehicles.

I do have the cross on my 1/16 Leopard 2A6 but I wanted some more to stick on the King Hauler which I am going to use as the transporter for it.

What I did was to take some digi photos of the cross on the tank, load them into adobe photo shop, crop them ,

size them and print out two copies.

I then cut them out as stencils, one the white part of the cross, the other the black part of the cross, and they have turned out quite well ( printed them on stiff card).

Hope this helps anyone else.

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<rant mode on>

<grrrr>

massive logistic masterpiece worked out..

Paper, special paper, sticker stuff... printer.. all

came together today. [:D]

Unpack printer, setup the thing..

O no.. some sort of defect in @#)(*@#)(*#@*)(# don't know,

in the right side of the page spots, like a stamp.

Proberly a Roller defect or something like that,

Just my luck!

400-500 euro's of useless junk on my desk.

now let see what the seller has to say about it.

<****> again...

<rant over>

Stefan

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Bl@@dy 'Eck, I hate to say this Stefan, but what is worse, I think that you just bought the old model ;-

Just found this brief review at www.computershopper.co.uk [all copyrights acknowledged]

Magicolor 2430DL [Computer Shopper LABS review]

COMPANY: Konica Minolta PRICE: 332 GBP inc VAT (17.5 per cent UK sales Tax)

RATING: Best Budget Buy ISSUE: 204 DATE: Feb 2005

"Konica Minolta's laser printers demonstrate how colour technology has become more affordable. When we first reviewed the Magicolor 2300DL in May 2003, it cost £763 and won our Best Buy award. Since then, its price has more than halved, and we've given it our Best Budget Buy award twice."

"This Magicolor 2430DL replaces the 2300DL in January 2005. The most obvious change is a reduction in size and weight over the outgoing model, but Konica Minolta has kept the price low and improved its specification: it's now a 20ppm mono and 5ppm colour device."

"The printer's consumables are shipped in place so it's extremely easy to unpack, but the installation routine could be improved. Both USB and Network options in the setup program present you with the same installer, in which you must again choose either Local or Network. It's fairly misleading nomenclature because, unless you're accessing a third-party print server, you'll use a local TCP/IP port to access the printer across a network."

"For its price the 2430DL is a strong performer and comes very close to the manufacturer's claimed speed figures. Its excellent greyscale printing is as good as any printer here, and text is smooth and solid black. Annoyingly, printing envelopes crumpled them."

"Colour graphics and photographs are also very good, with faithful colours and plenty of fine detail, but a couple of minor niggles left us to wonder how well our review sample was calibrated. We found that colour text had slightly feathery outlines, and in our colour band test the red shades didn't seem to be perfectly in line with their neighbouring colours."

"SPECIFICATIONS:

Colour laser, 600dpi, 20ppm mono/5ppm colour maximum speed, USB Hi-Speed and 10/100 Ethernet interfaces. Part code 5250220-200"

The bit about the envelopes being crumpled might be a clue to what is happening to your print out maybe? If you are using special media that is getting ******ed up by the printer that is, of course it should not happen on plain paper...

Indeed I think that quite a few of us have had some bad luck recently... My Rooster ESC / brake lights was a disaster, and I also lost a 50 GBP parcel in the Post from a TC member (or Royal Mail have stolen it - usual disclaimer).

Better luck next time I hope?

One other thing - I was going to buy one of these colour laser printers at some point, and this was the very model that I was going to buy. Not bl@@dy likely anymore though...!

I still think that a Dye Sublimation printer would be a better bet.

And if you REALLY want to make proper decals a la Tamiya, then you need a Vinyl Signwriting machine... About 2250 Euros...[8)]

While I was reading your lament about the printer I really felt for you mate, it sounded

like a dreadfull experience.. expensive too.

Cheers for now,

Alistair G.

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thanks for the support,

did not yet try envelope's or strange media yet, only plain paper.

also checked the counter, the printer was really new & in sealed packing so i did not get a used/revised one (also possible).

Afraid its a real production error [8)]

Luckely maybe, better off then with the factory warrenty.

talk about being "steaming mad" now ! lol

well, the tech-support lads from minolta are ofcourse only

there from monday to friday so have to wait until after

the weekend.

The guy i bought it from, ain't mutch help, told me to

contact minolta for factory warrenty.

Following the papers in the box i should have on site warrenty,

read..

Minolta guy comes to my home and replaces/repairs the printer.

I hope anyway.

Me thinks it all will work out, with the warrenty but it just annoys me that i was really looking forward to make my own decals and stuff like that. "Something to look forward to" in the weekend.

Here are some pic's from the error:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/getuserimage.asp...004063039_3.jpg

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/getuserimage.asp...004063039_4.jpg

I must say, the area it does print out good, its a very , very

good print! Even printed on normal paper it really shows the

picture very good in great detail.

It is a big heavy beast, but personaly i don't mind my hardware

being "solid". Was not planning to carry it around the house

to mutch anyway :)

If the error is out, i think i can make some nice stuff with it!

Just gonne take a while, afraid those "2 months" are more of a real thing then just a joke [:(]

Stefan

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Stefan, are you still looking for the General Lee decals? Bolink made some for their 1/12 "L'il Rebel" that had the correct font and flag. You can try to find one and scale it up to 1/10 or I may have one that I can have scanned. LMK

George

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quote:Hey Stefan

Does this printer print 'white' or do you use white decal paper?

id="quote">id="quote">

Hi monster :)

Nope, does not print white, for a white background there are 2 options:

1) print on white decal paper.

2) print on clear, and -back- the white area's with a same size/fit white decal.

quote:Stefan, are you still looking for the General Lee decals? Bolink made some for their 1/12 "L'il Rebel" that had the correct font and flag. You can try to find one and scale it up to 1/10 or I may have one that I can have scanned. LMK

George

id="quote">id="quote">

Yes please! you have mail!

Stefan

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A bit of a update,

bit more happy now!

Minolta did his job, and sending me a whole new roller unit.

They asked me if that was alright, sending a mecanic to a far outpost where i live, was a bit expencive.

(but, if i wanted, they would)

Well, took it (way quicker to), so at this point waiting for the DHL/FEDEX/postmen dude.

Now hope it stays in one piece and be able to make some nice custom decals!

At the moment i am drawing a full set of "euro" decals for the 1/14 trucks, exact in scale. Lots of work, but only the end result counts. And in this case, for the trucks, i want perfection [8D]

now.. where is that delivery guy! ... come on... what are you waiting for?????? [:P]

Stefan

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quote:
Originally posted by Stefan

now.. where is that delivery guy! ... come on... what are you waiting for?????? [
:P
]

Stefan

id="quote">id="quote">

Any chance of an update regarding your new colour laser printer Stefan?

Has it got banding on photos that you print out?

How much are the toners (I know there are 4 of them) each ?

Thanks,

Alistair G.

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Stefan

I might be able to help, send me a good file of what you need. I'm a graphic designer, I've redone my own decals for my hotshot using Illustrator. Let me know.

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Hi guys, a update :)

Printer is working perfectly now, making bits & bobs!

(licence plates, signs for trucks..) Very pleased with the results.

The only real problem that remains is finding "the good clear stuff" .

What i use now is a bit to "matt" so the decal material stays visible.

Pushing it around corners results in damage of the decal, but i really blame that one on the decal-sticker-stuff.

Printing it on "White" resolves most of that, the color stays on it mutch better.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...=14170&sid=1546

3e picture down, licence plate.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...=25321&sid=1546

"DEKRA & licence plate"

Currently done the decals for a other Volvo to, and in the process of making a small "Euro truck" conversion set for clubmembers.

But, that is a project on the long run.

As all the sizes must be 100% on scale, i sometimes need to stop & go to my 1:1 truck to take up sizes :)

Pricing, wheeeeee expencive!

Euro 80 a "collor"

or 360 Euro for a vallue pack (all colors & polysomething stuff)

Well woth the money, but the prices do keep you from doing a lot

of full color&page prints!

vtecboots, thanks for the offer! but sorted now..

But, if you know by any change a place where i can find better

clear decal stuff!!! :)

Stefan

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Thanks for that one!

As soon Paypal (ehm, i mean my credit card) has recovered

from my current strike on walawala & stella i will do a

test order to see how it works out.

Not to happy with waterslide, but better then the current stuff

i am using for clear i hope!

But, now i know why i spend big on a printer,

check out the bothem picture please from my showroom entery ->

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...=27357&sid=1546

(did not update all the pictures yet)

Imho, think it worked out kind of nice :)

Stefan

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