Re: REFRESH RADIO DIALS WITH PHOTO SOFTWARE

[AbbotsfordGerry]

Thanks for the additional information Phil:
I have also tried creating the decals. Here’s a brief rundown on my results. I was trying to create a decal for an RCA radio that had the cabinet redone. The origional decal could not be saved. Found a radio with a nice decal intact, and took a good digital photo of it. Then using the same software as the dial. zoomed up the decal photo and repaired it the best I could. Then put it back to the origional size, and printed it on Inkjet water decal paper. This paper comes either in a clear format or a white background format. The name of the Company that produces the decal paper is "Bare-Metal Foil Co." and nearly all the good hobby shops will carry it.

First I tried the clear decal paper, because the decal was going to be put on the radio cabinet veneir, and you only wanted the decal image to show, not the decal background color. Now the origional decal was a metallic gold color with black outline of the decal image. Metallic colors cannot be duplicated by Injet, and the closest yellow was selected. The decal instruction sheet, states that a clear decal with metallic is hard to produce, and suggested that the decal be printed twice to sharpen the image. I did that, but when applied to the radio, and laquer sprayed over the decal, it was not satisfactory. Then decided to try the decal paper with the white background. This should help in keeping the decal image brighter. However, by doing that, you must trim the decal to the image border, otherwise the white background would show. I have the white decals printed, but have not installed them yet, so this is a works in progress.

In the mean time, I have spoken with a local decal commercial decal maker, and print shop. They have a self adhesive gold metallic paper, and they may be able to print the decal on it. I have emailed them the digital decal, and once again that is a work in progress. Also the Bare-Metal Foil Co. does offer a metallic gold self adhesive paper. So more testing to be done. I think that there will be a solution to the old radio restoration guy, to have the ability to create nice dials and decals very reasonably. Thanks for you input Phil, Anybody else trying this????

Download RCA LOGO And Name Final.jpg. (Caution: This file may not be virus scanned.)