The direct ink to vinyl method would work but it won't be like the original waterslide decal. If you can find a good hobby shop in your area that specializes in model kits, chances are that someone in the model club will have an Alps MD series printer. The Alps printer is a dry ink printer that allows you to print white, metalics, CMYK colors and also a clear topcoat. I would do it for you but my pc is down. I reproduce decals for hess trucks, antique trains and pressed steel trucks (tonka,wyandotte,etc...) and have literally made thousands of decals with the Alps MD-1000, without a complaint or problem.
I also used to reproduce water transfer style decals using the Alps printer and I have a total of four of them from the MD-1000 up to the MD-5000 but the last one I had been using for a few years finally broke and finding someone to fix it is not easy. Let me know if you want to buy my printers either for parts or to try and repair them. These printers have not been produced in a number of years. They were a state of the art printer in their day but once the company realized the market for printers for the sign industry they stopped making the Alps line of printers. Printer for the hobby field would sell for $500.00 while printers for the sign trade sell for $10,000 and up so it only made sense to built for the sign trade. I knew someone who tried to purchase all the inventory along with the rights to continue making these great printers that were so unique in that they would print white which no other printer could do. The Alps Company refused to sell the rights to their product line even thought they were no longer going to manufacture the printers. The complete line of Alps printers only produced just over one million dollars a year so the company decided to concentrate their efforts on making printers for the sign industry instead of the hobby market. If you want to purchase any ink brand New in the packages let me know as I have a box full of it with all the different colors. When Alps said they were no longer going to support the printers back around 2005 or 2006 I went in with a friend and we purchase a few thousand dollars worth of ink knowing that at some point it would no longer be available. http://www.nostalgicracingdecals.com I loved the printers but when my last one died I said that's it now I just use my wide format printer for all the vinyl decals. Water transfer really only amounted to about 10% of the business anyway. Jimbo
I would listen to what Ken has to say about vintage decals. He used to sell at one of our area's biggest and best swapmeets and his decals were top notch. Sad to not see him still in the business.
Repro Decals ARE being made so Firefox or Google to see what you can come up with! Has to be somebody in your area that is doing this "Commercially".
I've had several out of print decals reproduced for various racecar restoration projects done by Freelance Grafics in Indianapolis IN. Good quality at a reasonable price for very small runs . Good luck .
The decal show by the OP is a sticker, not a waterside. Village Idiot, I feel rotten I cannot remember yer name (old timers disease) but Thank you very much for the kind words. I still have a TON of stuff here both repro & original if you need anything I'll do my best to help. Don't forget kids... Copyright laws apply to decal art just like everything else so be careful about who's toes you step on. ========================================================
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