diff --git a/core/src/net/sf/openrocket/document/DecalRegistry.java b/core/src/net/sf/openrocket/document/DecalRegistry.java
index 416f2a03c..ab919b81f 100644
--- a/core/src/net/sf/openrocket/document/DecalRegistry.java
+++ b/core/src/net/sf/openrocket/document/DecalRegistry.java
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 package net.sf.openrocket.document;
 
+import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
@@ -27,6 +30,15 @@ public class DecalRegistry {
 		this.isZipFile = isZipFile;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * This function returns an InputStream backed by a byte[] containing the decal pixels.
+	 * If it reads in the bytes from an actual file, the underlying file is closed.
+	 * 
+	 * @param name
+	 * @return
+	 * @throws FileNotFoundException
+	 * @throws IOException
+	 */
 	public InputStream getDecal( String name ) throws FileNotFoundException, IOException {
 		/* FIXME - Caching?
 		byte[] bytes = cache.get(name);
@@ -34,33 +46,69 @@ public class DecalRegistry {
 			return new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes);
 		} 
 		 */
+
+		InputStream rawIs = null;
+
 		if ( isZipFile ) {
 			ZipInputStream zis = new ZipInputStream(fileInfo.fileURL.openStream());
 			ZipEntry entry = zis.getNextEntry();
 			while ( entry != null ) {
 				if ( entry.getName().equals(name) ) {
-					return zis;
+					rawIs = zis;
+					break;
 				}
 				entry = zis.getNextEntry();
 			}
 		}
 
 		// Check absolute file name:
-		{
+		if ( rawIs == null ) {
 			File decal = new File(name);
 			if ( decal.isAbsolute() ) {
-				return new FileInputStream(decal);
+				rawIs = new FileInputStream(decal);
 			}
 		}
-		
+
 		// Try relative to the model file directory.
-		if( fileInfo.getDirectory() != null ) {
-			File decal = new File(fileInfo.getDirectory(), name);
-			// FIXME - update cache
-			return new FileInputStream(decal);
+		if ( rawIs == null ) {
+			if( fileInfo.getDirectory() != null ) {
+				File decal = new File(fileInfo.getDirectory(), name);
+				rawIs = new FileInputStream(decal);
+			}
+		}
+
+		if ( rawIs == null ) {
+			throw new FileNotFoundException( "Unable to locate decal for name " + name );
 		}
 		
-		throw new FileNotFoundException( "Unable to locate decal for name " + name );
+		try {
+			byte[] bytes = readBytes(rawIs);
+			// FIXME - update cache;
+			return new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes);
+		}
+		finally {
+			rawIs.close();
+		}
+		
+	}
+
+	private static byte[] readBytes( InputStream is ) throws IOException {
+
+		ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream(1024);
+
+		byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
+		
+		if ( ! (is instanceof BufferedInputStream ) ) {
+			is = new BufferedInputStream(is);
+		}
+
+		int bytesRead = 0;
+		while( (bytesRead = is.read(buffer)) > 0 ) {
+			bos.write(buffer,0,bytesRead);
+		}
+
+		return bos.toByteArray();
+
 	}
 
 }