The devil's in the decals ...

Warhammer 40,000 – Continuing my quest to complete this company of marines prior to my various Kickstarters arriving (Relic Knights, Kingdom Death, Chibi Minis to customize Super Dungeon), I've realized that I misplaced my decal sheet. Way back when I ordered some Iron Raven sheets from Griffon Games, at some point the ever benevolent GW sent them a cease and desist letter forcing them to remove the decals from their store. The bummer about this was I needed another sheet to finish my project. I never found a great solution since the army got put on the back burner. 

Fast forward to the second time I tried to finish this army and I began looking into inkjet decals. These worked ok for the marine names on my bases but if you look close you can see a faint red halo around the decal. Even though they were sealed per the manufacturer's specs the ink bleed a little. Something about black inkjet ink having red in it that separates when exposed to water. This just wouldn't do for bright white shoulder pads.

Forge World eventually released a Raven Guard Transfer sheet however for the the cost I'd only get a handful of black ravens. At about $20 a pop this just won't work.

After doing more research it seems that my best option (aside from buying an ALPS printer) is to use Laser Transfer paper. Since this is toner based I shouldn't get the same bleed-through issue and as a bonus I shouldn't have to seal the decal prior to using it which should help the decals to adhere to the curved shoulder pads better.

Next I had to create the art. After a few attempts I created a logo that was close enough to the original decals I used. While I was at it I also drew the tactical and devastator symbols so I have enough of them to complete my company. 

Next up, applying decals.