How To Make Your Own Decals Book Review
By David L. Veres
| Date of Review | April 2019 | Title | How To Make Your Own Decals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Richard Marmo | Publisher | Scale Publications |
| Published | 2019 | ISBN | n/a |
| Format | 72 pages, PDF | MSRP (USD) | $4.99 |
Review
Need roundels for your Chechen L-39 Albatros? How about black Arabic script for that ISIL BMP? Or a special Romulan insigne for your scratch-built starship?
You can wait for commercially produced sheets. Or you can laboriously hand-paint – or mask and airbrush – all markings.
Or using easily accessible technology, you can actually print your own decals with a PC, desktop printer/scanner, and software.
Now Richard Marmo demystifies the process in his privately produced, illustrated E-Book, How To Make Your Own Decals – fourth in the author's "Marmo Method Modelbuilding Guides".
Available from scalepublications.freeyellow.com, the convenient, printable PDF traverses the total topic in 13 illuminating chapters across 72 fact-packed pages:
- Equipment
- Decal Paper
- Fixatives
- Capturing The Image
- Restoring Old Decals
- What About The Missing White?
- Resizing
- Creating A New Image
- Printing The Decal
- Sealing The Decal
- Applying The Decal
- Alternate Techniques
- Links
Marmo covers the issue with an especially keen eye for economy, practicality, and results.
Which printers work best? He candidly conveys experiences. Confused about inks and fixatives? He outlines options. How about paper and software options? He proffers preferences. On a budget? He talks turkey on product prices, performance, and sources. And more.
Much more.
"There's far more to decals than I can cover here since you can literally do a separate ebook on each subject," Marmo ultimately admits. "Still, whether your passion is aircraft, armor, figures, science fiction, ships, cars, trucks, trains, farm tractors, crafts, toys or any other subject you care to mention that require custom markings, this Guide should help you create those special decals that you can't find anywhere else."
I completely agree.
Marmo really cuts through the confusion and clutter. For less than the price of one commercially produced decal sheet, this handy handbook shows how to print your own – in vast quantities, if desired.
My biggest gripe: Marmo's "Windows-centric" approach. I have Macintosh computers and software!
Recommended!
My sincere thanks to Scale Publications for this review sample!