I love the products from this company:
http://www.bare-metal.com/bare-metal-foil.html
Their decal paper is awsome. I also swear by three different products for making and using decals:
Microscale Liquid Decal Film. This product can be used to restore old decals and will keep them from breaking into a bunch of tiny peices when you attempt to slide them off the paper. It can also be used for new decals if you desire a very thin protective film. Product is available from Walthers and from Bare-Metal.com. When I use any decals I have purchased from a supplier (such as Steve Flowers, etc.) I always coat them with the Microscale film before using them. This gives you a much higher success rate. If any older decal you are about to use has yellowed, apply this film first.
Solvaset from Walthers. This product allows decals to snuggle down very flat over rivets, ridges and curves. Directions say to apply on top of the decal, but my best results come from applying solveset under the decal. In some rare cases it can react with the clear sealer on decals and cause the decal to wrinkle. This can be fixed by using a moist cotton bud (moisten with water) and continue to smooth out the decal until the film has dried.
Rust-Oleum Clear Spray Paint. This is an acrylic lacquer and comes in a magnum size spray can. Hands down, the best performing clear overcoat I have ever used for models and decals.
I never insert an entire decal sheet into the printer. I first print the image in black and white on a plain sheet of paper. I cut out the decal film to the size required and tape the top and bottom edge to the paper with Scotch tape. Only about 1MM of the tape is lapped onto the decal paper edges. Now I'm ready to print the decal. I adjust the printer setting to produce the best resolution and I always tell the printer it's doing a photograph on photograph paper as decal paper has the same glossy finish as photo paper.
I've a color HP all-in-one inkjet and I prefer the results of this printer over the HP Color laser, which I also have. (BTW each one takes a dedicated decal paper, a laser printer can be damaged by inkjet decal paper). The all-in-one has plenty of standard and advanced setting options to get the decal to come out nice. The built in photo copy feature is also a huge plus. There might be better printers for this kind of use but I know the HPs well so I stick with them. I have often considered buying a reconditioned ALPs printer so I can print white, gold and silver ... but the overall expense is a little hard to justify for my very low volume needs.
Remember to always print in the highest resolution that your printer will allow and always use the highest possible resolution images as a template. If making labels on anything other than glossy label paper, you might have to adjust the print settings in the opposite direction as the more porous label paper may produce an image too dark. Allow home made decals and labels time for the ink to dry before you apply any kind of clear coat or protective film. Doing so too soon can cause the ink to bleed or streak if the ink in not fully dry. The more glossy the medium (decal paper or label paper), the longer the dry time. About 30 minutes is my minimum wait time for ink to dry.
Once you have printed the decal, leave it taped on the sheet of paper so that you can use the spray clear as a fixative. This keeps the decal from blowing around and possibly flipping over and ruining your work. If you are brushing on a Microscale film, leaving the decal taped to the paper also keeps it from moving around under the brush. Labels need no protective film but need to be fully dry before application and burnishing. It is important to burnish labels if you want them to stay put and not curl up.
In the off chance that you are modeling military vehicles or other flat finished and/or weathered objects, use Testors "Dull Coat" (or similar product) as a protective film and this will kill the shine that the decal paper will have.
Here are three sources (all in USA):
http://www.microscale.com/
https://www.walthers.com/
http://www.micromark.com/
This may or may not be worth mentioning. Decal paper (from the above sources) comes in the standard 8 1/2" x 11" USA paper sizing. Something to remember before inserting an entire sheet into a printer (and it will affect your set-up for full page printing).
