Hi Rob,

I buy decal paper from somewhere like MicroMark. I print them out with an inkjet printer then shoot something like Krylon Acrylic clear (that you get from the craft store) on them. A light coat (very light) for the first coat then 2 or 3 more medium coats after the first dries. Works pretty well. I'm doing one for a plane right now. Just printed it off and will shoot some acrylic clear on tomorrow.

When you print them, you have to experiment a bit with the print type. I have an HP 5550 inkjet printer and use the settings for photo paper. Works pretty well.

I used Testors inkjet decal paper and the home printer, then shot the sheet with a thin layer of Sig Lite-Coat through the airbrush.  I waited till the first coat had set a bit and followed up with a heavier coat.  Once the decals were on the plane I put several coats of Lite Coat over everything to seal the edges and make everything fuel proof.  I got the idea from Jim Kraft, he used the same decal paper and treated them with dope, however he used a brush.  I'm not very good with a brush and had this airbrush that I never use. 

The Testors paper is just what the local Hobby Lobby stocks, they're 5.5x8.5" sheets and not exactly cheap.  The nearly full time 40% off coupon from the Hobby Lobby website helps a bit.  I skipped the Krylon cause honestly the rest of my finish is dope, and I wanted to apply more dope after the model was done.  The paper came out of the package, fed through the printer, and was shot with clear dope about 10-15 minutes later, however long it took to setup the airbrush.  After that it was like a normal decal sheet with any plastic model, cut out, soak in water, apply to model.  I let the decals sit overnight to dry and then followed up with a few coats of clear to lock them in.  There's probably nothing wrong with Krylon, but if dope works, why buy another product to do the same job?  I also skipped all the special chemicals they sell to seal the decals and so on. 

Thanks Men 

My main concern was the underlying ink bleeding , or running .

Thanks again for the great help .

I've shoot dope, catalyzed polyurethane and lusterkote over the decals finished with Krylon Acrylic Clearcoat without reaction. Seems to work fine.

Weirdly, i've recently had problems with the decals blurring after they are applied. I printed some up recently, let them sit for a day, then shot clear on them (4 coats a couple hours apart - what I usually do).  They sat another couple of days then I cut them out and applied them. Looked great initially. Then a day later I looked at them and the ink had sort of blurred blurred along the edges and the color had run together a little. I waited another day and it was worse. So I peeled them off and tried again. Same thing. Not sure if this is a temperature or humidity thing or something else.

Andrew; Your P-51 looks really really good. Brings back memories of the one I had many years ago, except yours is way cooler than mine.

Geoffrey and Randy; I would guess the trouble you are having is the paper you are using. Try some Testors decal paper if you can find some. Andrew and I get ours at Hobby Lobby. It comes in both clear and white background.