[chrisb]

I down sized and printed some old advertisements ( coke, texaco, winchester) onto labels, stuck these onto aluminum flashing (0.009) then light spray of dull coat and then clear coated with  rustoleum crystal clear.  Then cut them to final size with scissors.  I think they look pretty good.   What might look better would be printing onto clear lables then sticking onto flashing thats been painted white and clear coating.   Any other methods for doing this?  Any ideas for weathering? 

 

[Richard Weatherby]

I did exactly the same thing. I ran a black marker around the shiney edges. I don't have any outside at the moment, so I don't know if they will last. Some inks for color printers are not waterproof.

 

[farmerted]

Oddly enough, I might have something useful to add to this topic!  LOL

What a wonderful idea.  I would suggest uing something other than a clear-coat over the top, or at least a spray clear-coat.

Having just finished a project for my step-daughter's birthday (skateboard, not trains), I can't recommend using a spray clear-coat over clear label stock.  The clear-coat was fine on the surrounding material, but bubbled up over the label stock.  It didn't adversely affect the label, but the final finish was not at all smooth or "clean".  My Dad always did a test piece for his projects, and I'm glad I followed his lead in this case.

For full disclosure, I used a Rust-Oleum primer, Rust-Oleum base coat, the label, and then the Rust-Oleum clear-coat.  As I said, the finish was very nice over the paint, but not over the label material.

-Jon