Henchmen4Hire
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Post by Henchmen4Hire on Mar 9, 2019 2:23:11 GMT -5
A recent commission gave me an excuse to try Curb Stomp City Decals, so I'll post my experience with them. Got some NJPW guys: •Okada •Switchblade •Ospreay  It's a neat presentation, there are also helpful instructions for how to apply them printed on the cards. These are made with white inkjet decal paper, so you'll have to do touch ups on the edges once applied. The print quality is about as good as it gets for an inkjet printer. For comparison, they look waaaay better than Mattel's dotty, grainy face printing tech. I especially like the Switchblade decals, they're not just black but have a mottled almost alligator-skin effect with matte and semi-gloss finishes. It looks really nice as a belt material, maybe even for a headband or wrist wrap. (There's plenty of leftover material to use for a few wrist wraps.) ================= [IMPORTANT NOTE] Several of the decal sets sold by CSCD have inaccuracies. Varying from the wrong size to just plain ugly (Ibushi's legs are an egregious example), make sure you're fine with the product being shown in the store before buying. ================= I cut out a bit from the black Switchblade decals to use as a test. I've used decals before and it was a straightforward process, so I was hoping that would be the case here too. I was doing the most basic possible application onto a flat surface. I followed the instructions, used an earswab to gently apply and remove excess water, everything was fine, and then...  Some of the black started to come off the decals. (The two on the right.) I'm not sure how much more gentle I could possbily have been without using telekinesis. Maybe the damp cotton swabs are too rough? I'll try applying them with a smooth plastic utensil next time. For the far left decal, I tried gingerly brushing on some sealer (Liquitex Satin Sealer) before wetting it, hoping that would protect the ink. Well, the decal repelled the sealer. It just beads up and wipes off. I also somehow managed to remove a few specks of black from the decal, even with that gentle touch. At this point I'm not sure how to proceed. Do you peeps have any tips? |
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garbagemon
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Post by garbagemon on Mar 9, 2019 15:58:11 GMT -5
I'd try spraying some test pieces with some Krylon Matte Finish, hopefully it won't repel that. When I made up decals on my inkjet printer, a few layers of the Krylon sealed them and I didn't have any running of the color.
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therick
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Post by therick on Mar 9, 2019 19:29:31 GMT -5
What I did with mine: I cut them out, then painted the white cut edges of the decals to match the color of whatever I was affixing them to, then sealed them with Tamiya clear coat, all before applying them. Not sold on these decals really, as some of the ink invariably will come off at some point during application, but not sure if there are better decal options out there, whether if you're printing them yourself or buying from another source.
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Henchmen4Hire
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Post by Henchmen4Hire on Mar 9, 2019 20:40:28 GMT -5
Looks like I'll have to make the trip and buy some spray sealer.  There are definitely more forgiving decals out there, I've bought laser printer/clear decals before and they were great, zero damage even if I tugged them a little. |
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bitw
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Bitw
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Post by bitw on Mar 10, 2019 5:28:46 GMT -5
I’ve been buying from Curbstomp for years and I’ve also experienced the paint chipping from him, I’m assuming it’s a sealing problem after printing the decal sheet. I’d recommend leaving enough space on the edge’s to be able to move the decals without ruining the paint. Its. A bit challenging but it’s what I’ve done with mine. As far as inaccuracies, as long as you tell him what you’re looking for exactly he’ll have no problem adjusting the designs. Cheers.
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Henchmen4Hire
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Post by Henchmen4Hire on Mar 12, 2019 15:33:33 GMT -5
Stubborn enough to not want to travel 10 miles for sealer, I tried to make these work lol This decal on the thigh is the best case scenario:  I didn't think these would work for wrinkly areas, but they wrinkle just enough to let them stick. You'll have to cut them in key areas so they can rest flat and not "bridge" across wrinkles.  Here are the tools I used:  •The round blade is for cutting decals in key places by carefully rocking it onto them, slicing tended to make the ink flake off.
•I use the damp brush like a spatula to move the decal around before I tamp it into place.
•You don't need to wet the face of the decal (and damage it), just the backing. After 20 seconds you can slide the backing off with a motion like sliding a stick of gum out of a pack. Place the decal where you need it and add a little bit of water to the figure's surface with the brush so the decal gets suction/grip.
•From the few images I've seen, the belt buckle is inaccurate, it's supposed to be a lace-up.
•The red is nowhere near as vibrant as it appears in the store images.
•I'm beginning to think the mottled black pattern on these is an error because the ones in the store images are solid black.
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Post by thenationaltreasure on Mar 13, 2019 7:18:51 GMT -5
I just purchased some Bobby Lashley decals from curb stomp, yet to apply them yet but if i come across the same problem ill post to the thread to show how theyve come out but looking at yours i have a feeling mine will do the same.
fingers crossed i guess haha
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Henchmen4Hire
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Post by Henchmen4Hire on Mar 13, 2019 15:22:44 GMT -5
thenationaltreasure They aren't totally awful, with practice you can apply them without too much damage.
Another tip: •Cut as close to the graphic as you can (remove dead space), leaving a tiny bit of room along the edge for touch-up paint. This way you most likely won't have to cut the decal in certain areas to make it lay flat. It's the difference between applying a pancake or a spider, the spider has more independent parts so it grips better, while the pancake would crease/tear at any stress points.
Here you can see what the decals look like before and after I painted and the edges to blend them in. For larger details like this, I wouldn't say decals look better than hand painting, they're simply a different process and aesthetic. I could have hand painted all these things but want to try the decals.
I'm using Flat Black and Matte Sealer on this stuff.
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cmpunkguy
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Post by cmpunkguy on Mar 13, 2019 15:51:42 GMT -5
I’ve been eying up Curb Stomp City for a while. Mainly because he has many designs (like arm tattoos) that I’ve been having trouble finding online.
I’ve done several of my own on my custom hasbro’s and Mattel retros and they’ve all turned out fine. I had a few redo’s due to the flaking issue but I found a way around that that works great for me.
I print the decals (I don’t have a laser jet so it’s ink jet) let them dry for a while. Then spray them with the decal sealer that I picked up at my local hobby shop. Cut them to size. Apply a small amount of mod podge on the figure where you want the decal to go. Dab gently with paper towel to remove any air bubbles or to fine tune the position.
Then once that has dried I apply another thin layer of mod podge to seal the decal into place.
So far doing it that way has worked great for me.
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Post by Gorilla on Mar 14, 2019 19:28:10 GMT -5
The edges make them look terrible. They should be printing onto some sort of thin transparent plastic
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Henchmen4Hire
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Post by Henchmen4Hire on Mar 14, 2019 20:05:01 GMT -5
Clear decal paper would be great in many cases. I would use it here, even if I had to paint a little white underneath on the figure first to make the reds pop more.
I think the CSCD guy needs to revise some designs.
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Post by GreyHaze:Big Bad Booty Daddy on Mar 16, 2019 1:35:30 GMT -5
I thought I was the only one. I wasted about $40 on some decals. Once I applied water, it wrinkled up and the ink started to crack. I left the decal as is on my hogan’s belt and never bothered to finish it. Not for anything, but I really miss Dean’s decals.
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Henchmen4Hire
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Post by Henchmen4Hire on Mar 19, 2019 21:27:06 GMT -5
For anyone who bought decals from CSCD last month, here's an explanation for why these decals were crap:  |
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Henchmen4Hire
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Post by Henchmen4Hire on Mar 20, 2019 15:52:21 GMT -5
LMAO I think I got blacklisted from buying decals from CSCD. Behold the perils of reviewing stuff.
Srik, the peep who owns the shop, didn't "appreciate some of your smart comments and some others" so he gave me a refund instead of replacing these junky ones.
Anyone know of a better source for decals? Almost every single one I wanted to order was inaccurate anyway.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2019 17:47:52 GMT -5
LMAO I think I got blacklisted from buying decals from CSCD. Behold the perils of reviewing stuff. Srik, the peep who owns the shop, didn't "appreciate some of your smart comments and some others" so he gave me a refund instead of replacing these junky ones. Anyone know of a better source for decals? Almost every single one I wanted to order was inaccurate anyway. basically anything you from the attitude era or if you can provide good quality reference pics I'm happy to help. |
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schmerzdj
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Post by schmerzdj on Mar 21, 2019 4:23:23 GMT -5
i had the same issue, but i only tried on 1 just incase this happened cause i had already read this thread., by the looks of it the clearcoat thats on them is in blobs. so i just sprayed them with a clearcoat before i put them in the water and had no issues.
there are extra parts on the prints tho so it wasnt an issue
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cmpunkguy
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Post by cmpunkguy on Mar 21, 2019 11:00:26 GMT -5
Anyone know of a good site to find some decent templates or such for a do it your selfer?
I’ve already got the decal paper and done a few that turned out pretty good.
I’ve just been having issues finding some of the designs that I want. Usually tattoos and such. My retro CM Punk looks so weird without his proper tattoos
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Henchmen4Hire
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Post by Henchmen4Hire on Mar 21, 2019 22:53:30 GMT -5
i had the same issue, but i only tried on 1 just incase this happened cause i had already read this thread., by the looks of it the clearcoat thats on them is in blobs.
Thanks for the info, that would explain the mottled pattern on the decals.
All I can suggest is learn to use Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop. Illustrator has a "trace" feature so if you load an image into it that's good enough it can automatically create a design, then you can refine it. Photoshop is harder but it works, basically use the Pen Tool to manually trace/create paths for the designs.
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crashholly2002
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Post by crashholly2002 on Mar 22, 2019 22:06:20 GMT -5
I do believe he's on the forum with an account and everything, which sort of explains your supposed banishment
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Post by screech on Mar 23, 2019 5:52:44 GMT -5
Yeah I think they're just not sealed properly. It's been awhile since I've made any decals but I've had similar issues when using good quality paper and my issues were always fixed after more layers of clear coat were added. It can be annoying and time consuming but it does take multiple coats since you can't really lay it on thick from the get go, as you risk damaging the print. The "bad paper" thing seems like BS to me.
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