Looks like they make it for my laser printer...

But at $125.... that's more than I want to pay for something that I'd just be experimenting with. 

At least right now. 

Please do keep us notified on your progress with it. 

But at $125.... that's more

I agree, the price is a bit steep but on the other hand you don't need to buy a special printer like the old Alps. In the end this solution sounds better to me.

What about multiple layers? Or other toner colors?

I suppose one question would

According to the company you can print white first and then print on it again with a standard full color image. The alignment would depend on your printer and how good it handles the paper. 

To me this white toner is a solution for lettering steamers and such. Now if I was still modeling the G&AM I would be really happy! It should also work well for shop window lettering.

You could also use

two layers of decals. A white layer overlaid with the black and or color layer.

I can tell you from experiance...

Unless you paid $50K or more for your printer, the alignment on separate passes is not going to be good enough for HO scale decals.

White only toner is a great solution for people who want to print white only decals. It's also great for people who want to make greeting cards and do scrapbooking where you can make your design trap or float on the white field and registration is less of an issue.

This is why I just bought a new printer to replace my ALPS. It's a full color laser that prints white under the color layers on the same pass. It's prices like a small car. Ugh.  But it works great!

These were printed on my new printer:

Don't expect good results from trying to layer colors on multiple passes. Also passing the decal paper through the printer multiple times weakens the lacquer layer and can result in cracking decals.

Layering multiple decals over each other on the model is an option that works.

Early rail

Since the only major producer of pre-WW1 decals had to stop production a couple years ago and 90% of pre WW1 lettering is white on a brown or black car, a single pass white laser printer sounds like a great option to 1900-1905 era modeler.  

Now I just have to convince the wife we need a laser printer.  Hmmmmm

Color issues

As a color laser printer already prints those colors and you are just replacing the black cartridge with a white cartridge you could print in all colors except a dark black.

You can get a black by combining the red, yellow and blue colors, although not sure how you could pull that off easily, I guess you could always try to recreate Brunswick green. Of course this would not be as pure black as black toner would give you.

To print both white and

To print both white and black, you would probably need to go with a 5-cartridge printer that does CYMKW.  While looking around at ALPs equivalents a while back, the only "affordable" ones I found were OKI C711WT and C900 series printers, specifically the C941e and C942.  However, being targeted towards print shops and businesses, both fall into the close-to-the-price-of-a-small-Kia category.  Unless your spouse is into scrapbooking and is itching to print white on her handmade greeting cards, that's probably going to be a hard sell...

I suspect Bill Brillinger can print a whole mess of decals for you for the same price.

http://www.okidata.com/printers/textile-transfer-printers/c711wt

http://www.okidata.com/printers/procolor/c900

Craig

C942

Yup, the C942 is the beast I bought. It weighs in at 245lbs and indeed costs about the same as a small kia!

PDC Decals

I don't know if Bill just uses really good decal paper or it's because I started putting them on within a week of their being printed, but so far the decals I got from him separate from the backing paper with a very short dunk in water and don't shred or crumple when I move them into position. 

It's been a very pleasant experience. I'm actually starting to feel confident about the dinky little numbers I'll have to do soon. 

Bill: I should have had you do some of the logos with the orange included... I'm having fun figuring out how to paint a 37/64th" circle on my Yellowbonnets. I've asked a local laser building manufacturer if they can do that in some material that I can use as a paint mask. 

@Jeff

Thanks for the compliments Jeff, Good decal paper is very important!

Contact me directly and I'll print some orange circles for you!

Mask

Jeff, if you decide to go the mask route (don't do it!) here's what I suggest:

forget the laser cutter - get your local sign shop to cut some circles in 0.3mm vinyl for you. It sticks great, is easy to remove and will give a fairly crisp line. Plus it's super cheap to get and have cut.

Toner

I worked on laser printers for 7 years until I began teaching this year. I must warn you on white toner...The two "Ghost White" printers are both HP printers, not bad ones either, that require a toner that is a one part print cartridge. The toner cartridge and drum/photo conductor are both one unit. Most color lasers utilize the more popular, with manufacturers not users and maintainers, the two piece drum and cartridge.

The problem you have with the two part system is the drum contains a large volume of toner inside as the cartridge dumps it into the drum. What this means for us is a need for all new drums each time we swap black and white toner, This can easily lead to toner spills which lead to all sorts of quality and process issues.

If one goes this route, make sure you try to get a printer that uses one piece toners, most Oki printers do not. Many if not most HP printer are now.

I myself love my Lexmark cs410. I buy white decal sheet from Microscale and  design my white lettering in black and then inverse the image. I then print the field leaving the lettering void and white. It looks great on my black U.S. Pipe & Foundry hopper cars once you weather the car. The black blends great with dull coat applied and disappears in weathering. I have not tried this with other fields such as oxide, but I'd imagine once you matched the color to your printer you'd be set to go.

Jason Greene

Formula for Brunswick Green

Quoted from another group.
Seems you can't make Brunswick Green without a blue black.  A red black wont work of course, ya'd get orange.
TCC:}

Hey Group;
I rarely make myself heard here (as I'm a 2 foot guy) but I know this...
almost 30 years ago I was trying to get a paint chip from Dupont for Aberdeen & Rockfish  blue, I actually got thru to the head VP for RR paint sales (also a model RRer) and he sent me a color chip and the formula for the blue. However I had some Pennsy stuff to paint for a friend and he told me the formula for Brunswick Green.
1: 55 gal drum
2: 45 gal of lamp or carbon black paint
3: 5 gal of chrome yellow
4: stir thoroughly
Having been in the auto collision business for 40yrs and have painted my fair share of cars & trucks I made a pint of lacquer in the mixing room and he was right!
Walter Griffin
Walt's Model Co.

Yellow and black do make

Yellow and black do make green.  If you wand to dye foam to make "green" for ground foam use black and yellow..

-Doug 

vinyl circles

"some circles in 0.3mm vinyl" if you go this route there is one more step I use for masking using vinyl or any mask material.  After sticking on the mask I very LIGHTLY spray a little Dullcoat to seal the edge fo the vinyl (a little).  Let dry completely. That way when you do the COLOR it can't seep under the edge of the vinyl.  You'll end up with a nice clean edge.  My 2 cents, spend wisely!  Russ

a high mileage, used and abused kia?

Would that OKI 942 be the same price as a 20 year old, beat to hell, with 250,000 miles Kia or something even a little more expensive? 

It is hard to buy something that is thousands of dollars for a few sheets of decals... Doesn't make much sense for me, but I would love some white ink on decals

It's more than just the cost

OKI C942

Let's just say over 15K.

I realize this thread is about making your own white decals, but for anyone interested in white or full color decals without investing in your own equipment, feel free to contact me about printing some for you.

I've had the toner cartridge

I've had the toner cartridge sitting on my desk for weeks but had nothing to put a decal on. So for this test I had to go and buy an undecorated engine. Here's the first test:

I took the picture with the decal still wet. To me it looks promising. The G&AM logo is 12 point, the road number is 10 point. Don't forget this is a N scale engine!

Now I have to learn how to work with decals in a professional way but at least we know the toner works fine.

Looks good!

Michael,

I think the white printing looks very good.  it was nice of you to purchase the white cartridge so that I can get you to print white lettering for my structure windows (and other details).

 it was nice of you to

Just email me the artwork and come over for a coffee when you pick it up!

Sounds Good!

 Now I can break out those Word files with all my custom Nicholas & Ashley Creek lettering, get them printed, AND get a cup of Hazelnut!