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Post by Stewart on Oct 19, 2023 5:30:02 GMT -5
Up to now I have got my number plates from allscalediorama on eBay but they are not decals but stickers which don’t work well on bonnets so I’ve been looking into making my own. Jerry was a great help and sent me a word document that he uses. Unfortunately it didn’t work because I didn’t have that font on my computer but that is now sorted as shown below.  In fact I found it better to use Excel as this screenshot shows  The first thing I had to do was install the font on my desktop (haven’t been able to do it on iPad yet). I googled the name of the font that I got from Jerry’s document “Charles Wright 1935”. That took me to this website where I entered the same font name, you might find other suppliers. This was for free. Other Charles Wright fonts are available for more modern eras. en.maisfontes.com/charles-wright-1935.fontThen in Excel I selected the font and set the text height at 8. Don’t select Bold, the font is already configured for stroke width. Row height is 10, column width 7. Width is generous but is easily trimmed to suit, not so easy to trim the height so this is best adjusted in excel for individual cases. I centred the text vertically and horizontally and typed in the Reg number of the Lotus Components van that I’m working on. Select black for the fill colour and white for the text. Adjacent cells can be set up using cut and paste and Paste Format to requirements, a few spares come in handy. Then print off as usual. Any questions please PM me. |
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Post by Stewart on Oct 19, 2023 10:29:42 GMT -5
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Post by Stewart on Oct 25, 2023 6:03:02 GMT -5
Further to the above I have been trying the technique on various models and would update as follows Do use Bold, it is not significantly different but is better. Font size should be 7 not 8 as the screenshot below explains.  An example is shown below. I’m not happy yet with the black surround and need some more fiddling.  |
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Post by Tom on Oct 25, 2023 9:23:25 GMT -5
I'd say it's a little oversized too. I think 75% would be perfect.
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oldirish33
Member
"All Jaguars run on Guinness!"
Posts: 3,435
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Post by oldirish33 on Oct 25, 2023 11:27:19 GMT -5
I try printing a trial size or two on plain paper first, then look to see if it looks okay. Old school perhaps, but it saves me decal paper.  |
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Post by Stewart on Oct 26, 2023 3:53:29 GMT -5
I'd say it's a little oversized too. I think 75% would be perfect. I try printing a trial size or two on plain paper first, then look to see if it looks okay. Old school perhaps, but it saves me decal paper.  Tom, the letters are the right height and compare well with those on proprietary models. The surround is too big and I can’t yet get that perfect. I’m thinking that I’ll have to forget centring the text vertically and align it to the bottom and trim the top down to suit. Jerry, good advice, which I have followed already in my experiments. Thanks chaps. btw still haven’t been able to install the font on iPad |
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Post by Stewart on Oct 26, 2023 5:21:51 GMT -5
An upcoming project is Jim Clark’s Lister Jaguar so I thought I’d print up on paper the Reg number and prit stick it onto the Renaissance model.   In fact the model comes with the correct decals since the model is of the Halford/Naylord 1962 LM car that Border Reivers acquired. The photo below shows that my numbers look ok if perhaps a little thinner despite being printed in bold.  The LH one is in Excel the other in Word to see if there’s any difference. |
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Post by Stewart on Sept 1, 2024 8:35:42 GMT -5
One year on nearly and the model has been built by fellow member Ron. We decided to replicate Jim Clark’s flawless first outing in the Lister Jaguar at Mallory Park early in 1959.  This photo shows up the unusual thickness of the characters as well as the fact that they don’t conform to the Charles Wright font. Unfortunately the front registration decal which was an original from the Renaissance kit, was damaged in the post and needs replacement.  I’ve done a bit of research and found a new font.  The new font, the lower of the two, is Eras Bold ITC. It looks the part but since I only have an inkjet printer the only way I can make my own decals is to print on white decal paper with a dark background, black in the photo above. I don’t really want to use the black background as the car just had white characters stuck onto the dark green body. I will try to sort out an acceptable dark green background and if that doesn’t work maybe Scott at GP Decals can help me out. |
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Post by Tom on Sept 1, 2024 9:18:13 GMT -5
The UK used various styles on their plates, so many in fact that it’s hard to replicate all plates. On very early cars they were hand-painted, so there was no uniform style.
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Post by grandprixdecals on Sept 2, 2024 14:37:42 GMT -5
The UK used various styles on their plates, so many in fact that it’s hard to replicate all plates. On very early cars they were hand-painted, so there was no uniform style. Perfectly summed up. There is no secret Font which will solve everyone's historical number plate issues. There were no digital fonts back then so the variation was huge. There were fonts of course like New Times Roman, but only the Times newspaper had that - in cast metal block form. If you wanted New Times Roman on your van for e.g. it was a guy in a garage using his interpretation of what he remembered it to be. Same with number plates and the guy painting or designing the stamps for the characters. If you want the number plate to be 100% accurate, you find a font which is close then use software like Adobe Illustrator and tweak it. Is it worth the effort / expense? Maybe... if it's front and centre on the bonnet of an expensive model? Cheers Scott |
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Post by Stewart on Sept 4, 2024 5:31:44 GMT -5
First attempt.  Needs a darker green. Or maybe GP Decals to the rescue? |
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Post by Jean B. on Sept 7, 2024 11:32:19 GMT -5
Great idea, "Charles Wright"! I used to take "UK number plate", that seems a slightly more modern version of the first one, but for my models I still find it suitable...  Generally, sometimes it is difficult to find the correct, or at least a suitable font... Especially for old French number plates with a tightly curled "2" I still use a standard font and change the graphic manually.
Generally, I recommend to varnish decal print-outs before cutting them, that avoids "teeth" at the edges. For this reason I use Humbrol Gloss Cote, that doesn't harm laser desk-jet prints, I don't know what's better for inkjet. And if you print on white decal papers: cut out the needed piece, and then paint the edges with a waterproof feltpen in an appropriate colour, especially on dark paint otherwiese the white edge would stay visible.
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Post by reeft1 on Sept 7, 2024 14:05:04 GMT -5
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Generally, sometimes it is difficult to find the correct, or at least a suitable font... Especially for old French number plates with a tightly curled "2" I still use a standard font and change the graphic manually.