Help with printing decals

[Monty]

I need a little help with printing decals. I have two special decals to make for a client, one to be printed on white decal paper and one on clear decal paper, that are to be used on 30 caliber cartridges and neither are printing dark enough on the decal paper. The look great on the screen but appear a little light when printed on regular white paper. When I print on the decal paper and transfer them to bullet cartridges, they both look somewhat transparent and washed out. When I try making them darker, the colors don't look correct. Could it be I need to try a different brand of decal paper? I don't know what brand I currently have, it was some I bought off EBay a few years ago.
I don't feel can publicly post the pictures of the the decals because they need to be approved by the end user first. If you feel you can help and need to see them, send me a PM with your email address and I'll send them to you. I'm on a deadline and need to have a prototype of the actual pen by the first of June.

 

[CREID]

If they are printing ok on white paper, the only thing I can think of is the the white decal paper and obviously the clear are letting too much of the brass show through the colors and washing it out. I don't know what you can do about this except trying to find someone with an expensive inkjet printer that prints white and print them with a first down white and your colors on top of that. I worked in the printing industry for years and this is what printers would do when they printed on gold foil. You may be able to get one of the professional decal printers that model makers use to do it, but I don't know the price or the turn around time.

 

[JohnU]

Curt is referring to Alps printers. They are very expensive but unlike most printers, they can print white. I had a model care decal guy making decals for me a several years ago. He would first print white and then print the color on top of the white for a better decal imagerhat wouldn't fade out over dark backgrounds. Google custom replica model police cars. You will find websites that make their own custom Waterslide decals for scaled down replica cars. Maybe someone will be willing to make you what your looking for.

 

[thewishman]

ALL ALPS Printers Sale-ALPS Inks Sale

 

[CREID]

ALL ALPS Printers Sale-ALPS Inks Sale

They really have come down in price since the last time I looked, but still too expensive for me.

 

[jttheclockman]

Can't you paint the section where the decal is going, a plain color so that the decal has a background. Paint an oval or something to match the shape of the decal.

 

[Monty]

I'm wondering then if printing them on white easy peel address labels would work on the brass casings?

 

[wouldentu2?]

I only have a ink-jet printer and have run across the same problem maybe someone with a laser printer can chime in.