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Juggular

How is MCI decals?

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I'm not expecting them to be of same quality as Tamiya decals, but are they like inkjet printed decals?  Or are they better than that? 

 

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I think they are the best and generally the most popular choice for replica decals.  If anyone popped up and said "such & such is better", I'd be very surprised !  

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I can't answer the ink jet question but everyone's standards are different.  You'll either be satisfied or not depending on the individual.  Just buy one set first to sample but I'm willing to bet they see a fair bit of repeat business :D 

 

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They are the best available bar original Tamiya sets, Ive got a few sets and am veryhappy but as said, everyone is different and I have low standards apparently!

 I do notice they are a bit thin and if you’re laying a lighter colour decal (white, yellow etc) over a darker body colour it does show through somewhat... just squint your eyes and it’ll be cushty! ;) 

Thumbs up from me though.

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There printed onto clear vinyl but some are very good and some are ok. 

 

Iv got his dyna storm, Clodbuster and castral Toms supra GT stickers which I helped him re create and are very happy. 

 

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They are printed so on some edges you can see that stepped edge printing effect, but it's very fine steps so it's clearly a good printer. Nathaniel is a great guy and has been really helpful on a couple of custom jobs I have done. As someone said, order a set. If you aren't keen I am sure someone will buy them from you.

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Totally agree with ThunderDragonCy.

I've had a few bits of him and they are very good, not as Sharp edged and colour does allow a bit of darker background through but still great.

I used a few custom decals to finish my Merc CLK GTR and you can't tell the difference 👍.

Got two projects on the go too😀

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I was very pleased with them for my Monster Racer;

large.IMG_1317.JPG.854e5fe803f6a896d95e3

Not so happy with the vintage Hilux 4x4, though the issue seems to be more with the quality of the scanning or digitally tidying up the scans than the decals per se which was a pity.

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Agree, the vintage Hi-Lux ones are very blurry in places - pretty poor really as most of the other decal sets are more than good enough for most folk

95_A7106_E-_EA93-4_FED-_BF8_D-_C63_F3839

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Has anyone been caught out with the import tax etc from Canada (I believe that's where they are based)? I was looking at ordering around 10 decal sets for various projects, but then got caught out bringing in a couple of driver heads from the US which pretty much doubled the price of them (mainly thanks to the Post office charges), don't really fancy getting stung again :(

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I have ordered, Blackfoot, Super Blackfoot, Mondeo, and WRC Escort Cosworth ones from MCI in the past and really can't complain.  They are n ot as good as original Tamiya ones but certainly the best re-pop ones I have seen.  I have yet to be hit by duty and they arrive pretty quickly

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I have a Black Foot, Super Hornet and Clod Buster Decals from them.  They look great but I would recommend ordering them with the high gloss over coat unless you want more of a satin look. 

I add the decals then spray a couple of coats of clear over the body so this isn't an issue for me. 

 

 

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They’re the best replicas available, but as stated before hit or miss. I had to have him resend me a set of super hornet decals due to the overlapping and had a set of monster beetle decals that were pretty bad all around and I have a WW decal set that doesn’t look as good as the last set I bought. I still order from them though as there has been more good than bad for me.

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31 minutes ago, racer1 said:

I have a Black Foot, Super Hornet and Clod Buster Decals from them.  They look great but I would recommend ordering them with the high gloss over coat unless you want more of a satin look. 

I add the decals then spray a couple of coats of clear over the body so this isn't an issue for me. 

 

 

Oh, man... I should've waited 1 day to order stuff.  

I did not know they came in satin finish !   I can't even clear coat because they are for Lexan bodies.  Oh well.  Live and learn...

I've e-mailed them if they could change order to high-gloss, even though they sent me "items shipped" email 2 hours ago.  I ordered very late last night too.  

 

 

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In my experience they have been very good.  I called an added an additional sheet the day after placing my initial order.  They are very nice decals. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Juggular said:

Oh, man... I should've waited 1 day to order stuff.  

I did not know they came in satin finish !   I can't even clear coat because they are for Lexan bodies.  Oh well.  Live and learn...

I've e-mailed them if they could change order to high-gloss, even though they sent me "items shipped" email 2 hours ago.  I ordered very late last night too.  

 

 

They do a mirror image option you can stick inside the lexan before painting too. 

I'm not helping am I? 😉

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3 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

They do a mirror image option you can stick inside the lexan before painting too. 

I'm not helping am I? 😉

Actually, I didn't realize mirror image could be used like that, so that's a very good idea.  Thank you for that idea!  

I emailed MCI, and luckily they weren't out the door yet, so they charged extra $2 each and switched to high-gloss option.  

 

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23 hours ago, Nitomor said:

I was very pleased with them for my Monster Racer;

large.IMG_1317.JPG.854e5fe803f6a896d95e3

Not so happy with the vintage Hilux 4x4, though the issue seems to be more with the quality of the scanning or digitally tidying up the scans than the decals per se which was a pity.

How in the world did you get the decals so flat especially around the bump in the hood?  The truck looks incredible!

MCI decals are OK.  They're certainly not great, but they're better than not having the option at all.

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I have MCI decals on most of my vintage restaurations. Very satisfied with the quailty- exept for the vintage Hilux ones. But apart from these, i can highly recommend. And also agree to opt the high gloss finish. The extra of 2$ is worth it in any case!

Don't forget to order also the window mask if you Need do the painting. The y have almost every masking sheet possibly needed.

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22 minutes ago, JatoTheRipper said:

How in the world did you get the decals so flat especially around the bump in the hood?  The truck looks incredible!

MCI decals are OK.  They're certainly not great, but they're better than not having the option at all.

Thank you, I used soapy water (water with a bit of dishwasher detergent to place the decal, then a hairdryer with light heat to help press it into the grooves. From memory I also opted for the extra coating on the decals. I should add the truck is not actually a Monster Racer, rather a homage to or modern day interpretation of the Monster Racer using a DT-03T base.

large.IMG_1318.JPG.ba5364542b315f6f57b0d

Thanks

Nito

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On 05/01/2018 at 10:55 AM, Percymon said:

Agree, the vintage Hi-Lux ones are very blurry in places - pretty poor really as most of the other decal sets are more than good enough for most folk

95_A7106_E-_EA93-4_FED-_BF8_D-_C63_F3839

Is this a good or bad example? It looks quite pixellated but that could be insufficient source file resolution rather than the printer. Then again it's a relatively small one so you'd probably have to get quite close to it to notice in the flesh.

It would be time consuming but if the decals were retraced as vector files they would essentially have infinite resolution.

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