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Thinking about it, that might be another option - print on something thin/clingy (Or print waterslide material, remove it from the backing & let it dry out), spray clear laquer on the shell & apply the decal before the laquer dries? Don't know if there'd be an issue with trapped air bubbles though.

All you're trying to do is keep the graphic in place until painted over, then the paint forms a "skin" to keep it there

Just had another thought - you can use clear waterslide (Or sticky) but also print the "background" colour as an exact match for the body colour, so it blends in. Only thing to watch with clear is that anything dark behind it will semi-mask or change the graphic's colour.

Just found this pic (One of several I took for Kamtec to blag me a free shell) - The mural elipse is one-piece, printed on clear waterslide. Behind it is a same-size elipse of white, so that the lighter colours of the mural show through nice & bright. The lettering parts are printed yellow text with a body-match-red background, & again the decal is applied to a same-size patch of white. It also shows what I mean about waterslides "clinging" better to awkward shapes

For some of my customers I have printed onto rice paper (this was mainly for surfboards though). The paper is put in place and then lacquered in position. The rice paper goes clear and you don't see the paper, only the graphic, but only really works on a white background. Myself I prefer vinyl stickers, as they are more resistant to scratches, have much richer colours and you can get metallics and other specialty colours.

For complicated images I will print onto vinyl and overlaminate where I think they will get damaged. I'm also vary careful on the vinyls I choose too. It seems to me that a lot of repo stickers are made with cheaper vinyl, where I go for whats called a cast vinyl. This means they are very conformable to bends etc.