Ok, so the DecalPro stuff really looks good. I must be done looking for a good way to do instrument panel labels, right? Well, there are a few other technologies, so I thought I would give them a look. Actually, I was pretty committed to the DecalPro process, but I did not quite have it perfected when someone suggested water-slide decals. Sounded interesting, so I ordered a mixed package of white and clear water-slide decals from BelDecal. Why didn't I put a link to their website on this page? Click here for the rant.
If you are interested in water-slide decals, then go to www.papilio.com. I placed an order for 10 clear decals from them, and got the correct order without any problems.
So, what is wrong with the white decals? If you want white letters, then you need to use white decal paper, but then you have to print some sort of background so the white letters show-up. I found it virtually impossible to print a background on the decal that would closely match the color of my test panels. I tested with Rustoleum hammered gray paint on the test panels, but I doubt that I would have much success with any other color, either. YMMV.
As to the clear labels that I got from Papilio, they worked pretty good, also, but they were not perfect. They were very clear, but you could still see that a label was on the panel. They were very thin, and they did a lot better job than the Avery clear labels that I tried, but not as good as the DecalPro labels.
One interesting thing about both the white and the clear water-slide decals was that they seemed to work pretty good on textured painted surfaces. The decal seemed to suck into the textured surface, unlike the clear avery labels.