3 Amigos, which produces NASCAR decals for modelers and custom diecast makers, spans three countries and three decades. Started by a group who connected across North America in the infancy of the internet, 3 Amigos is a leading decal producer for 1/24 and 1/64 scale NASCAR rides and recently partnered with PrintItDecals.com to increase its reach.

Now a one-man business venture, the company started as a hobby to provide decals for NASCAR schemes that were overlooked by model and diecast producers, and it continues to serve that mission over 30 years later alongside the development of custom and one-of-a-kind designs.

‘Days of Thunder’ and a friendship spanning three countries

Sam Lopez, one of the three founders of 3 Amigos, who now serves as its sole employee and designer, discovered NASCAR in the early 1990s in his home country of Mexico.

“I saw Days of Thunder, and I was hooked,” Lopez said.

Lopez was studying graphic design at the time, and he “loved all those colorful paint schemes” featured in the film. With his newfound interest in NASCAR and established experience as a budding designer, Lopez’s interest in model NASCAR kits was stoked. Though Revell/Monogram were producing plenty of NASCAR kits, Lopez said there were many “great paint schemes” that weren’t being produced.

“So, I bought some decal paper and started doing my own decals,” he said.

Through internet forums — at the time a new outlet which allowed people to, for the first time, connect with groups other hobbyists in real time across the globe — Lopez met Les Smirle from Canada and Alex Kung from the United States. The trio had an affinity for the same scheme and worked together to design and produce a custom model with decals Lopez designed.

“Everything went perfect, and (Smirle) built the model and posted it (on) his website,” Lopez said. “People started asking about the decals, and they asked if we would sell them.”

Thus, the 3 Amigos North-American-spanning partnership was founded.

Lopez designed the decals. Smirle had an ALPS printer capable of printing white, so he handled the printing. Kung packaged and shipped the waterslides while assisting with application tests.

Over time, 3 Amigos transformed into a one-man show with Lopez at the helm, though he said he does keep in touch with Smirle. Lopez now continues to run the company in Mexico — where he says diecasts are expensive and there are less NASCAR model makers, keeping his output mostly to the U.S. — and he is thrilled to now be partnered with PrintItDecals, which prints and sells his designs.  

“[PrintItDecals] are great,” Lopez said. “The quality of the prints is awesome.”

Lopez adds the types of prints his new partner can perform are a world away from when he got his start designing NASCAR decals. So too is the complexity of his work.   

The progression and design of NASCAR schemes

Designing decals to be placed on an actual car or on a 1/24 or 1/64 model or diecast is a similar process, both in the complexity of the designs and the progression of technology. It’s changed a lot in the last 30 years since 3 Amigos was founded.

Today, Lopez said, design technology allows artists to create far more intricate schemes, and vinyl wraps allow these designs to be easily recreated on the car.

“Back in the ‘90s, the teams didn’t have full wraps, so the designs were not too complex,” he said. “But with pre-printed wraps, the teams use lots of effects, fades, reflective surfaces, et cetera.”

Not only are designs more complex, there are far more of them.

“One company, and in some cases just one brand, sponsored a team all year,” Lopez said. “Around the 2000s, we saw ‘special paint schemes’ like the No. 3 Wheaties car or the No. 24 Jurassic Park car, so companies saw the potential of putting out a different scheme. Now you can see a new paint scheme every week with different brands. In present times, when everyone has a phone in their hands, design became more aggressive to get attention.”

Still, all the design tools available to those creating NASCAR schemes are available to Lopez, allowing him to recreate the complex designs. Lopez can now compile a full 3D rendering of a car, which is particularly helpful in replicating a full wrap with an intricate background pattern covering the whole car. One such example is Chase Elliott’s NAPA digital camo scheme that ran in the 2024 Coca-Cola 600, one of the hundreds of schemes 3 Amigos currently sells.

Technology upgrades have also vastly improved the printing process for decals.

“[As designers] we have more options, like laser printers capable of printing white, or advanced silk screening,” Lopez said.

Lopez uses a combination of programs to design decals, including image editing software and effects apps. Which programs are used is based on the complexity of the design. Lopez said more complicated designs can take him a full week to replicate. Still, the first step is finding reference media on all angles of the car. These logos, numbers, designs and more are then drawn on a digital template of a specific model kit or diecast and sized correctly.

Though Lopez enjoys recreating these schemes, his true passion is creating customer-specific custom decals.

‘I love custom work’

Gallery photo credit: Facebook/3AmigosDecals

Lopez says he tries to “mix themes” for his NASCAR decals, evidenced by his catalogue offering schemes that ran in the 1990s to those debuting in 2025 with plenty in-between. He also says he likes to create both popular rides and those from smaller teams.

“Also, when I love a paint scheme, even when it’s not a popular one, I do it as a gift to myself,” he said.

Still, he gets the most satisfaction from creating custom designs or fantasy models. Often this includes company branding, but Lopez said he’s even created decals for birthdays and weddings.

“I love custom work,” he said. “I like recreating existing cars, but custom orders give me great design challenges. For example, recently a customer sent me photos of the car his dad raced (at) local racetracks. I had to figure out all the graphics from old photos, and it was a blast to see the finished, built model. The customer was really thankful to have a great part of his childhood when he went to the races with his dad. I am most proud of doing that kind of work, to help modelers to bring special cars to life.”

It’s that passion that has kept Lopez designing for so long.

“I do this mostly for love, I don’t know any decal maker making a lot of money out of this, and to do what I can to keep modelers building what they want,” he said. “I am a modeler myself — recently I do mostly Le Mans cars — so I know what it is to [want] to build a specific car very badly and not having the decals to do it. 3 Amigos is a way of keeping in touch with current car designs, and I do that because I love drawing and I love to share what I can do with car modelers.”