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Number plate decals


MickE

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You can download the official True Type Font (TTF) from the Internet and load it into your computer's font library. Then you can create any registration you want.

 

'Mandatory' is the font name - it is used for both civilian and military plates in the UK - search for Mandatory TTF.

 

You'll need a printer and some inkjet-friendly decal paper (plus some spray varnish). Create the numberplates in MS Word or some other similar software and then print the results onto the decal paper. Leave the ink to dry for a brief period and then spray the decal paper with the varnish to fix the ink in place. Inkjet printers don't print white (it will be clear on the decal) so you need to make a choice. You either use white decal paper and cut the decals right up tot he edge of the black registration plate - or if you use clear decal paper you place a strip of white decal on the model first and then place the numberplate decal over the top of it so that the white shows through where the numbers and letters are.

 

Regards,

John

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Kingfisher Miniatures have some pre-prepared ERM plates (Equipment Registration Mark) for WMIK, Snatch and Warrior but they unfortunately don't do the alphabets separately.  They do, however, have some other useful UK vehicle markings.

http://www.kingfisherminiatures.co.uk/

 

I've tried home-made decals and they've all been a disaster even with a varnish overspray.  The ink remains water-soluble and it seems that you need a really thick layer of varnish over the top to waterproof them, making a very thick decal.  But when you cut the decal the water bleeds between the decal sheet and varnish layer around the cut edges and causes the ink to run.  A wide margin of clear film might prevent this but won't look good.  My decal softener (Micro Sol) seemed to bleed through the varnish and affect the ink.  Maybe I'm just doing it wrong.............

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the end I found a picture of the rear of a Spartan HVM - the vehicle I wanted the plates for, downloaded the picture and cropped and sized it until I had two plates at the correct size. I then printed them onto a piece of paper, cut them out and then glued them on to the model. With a bit of mud and dust added they look fine.

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The lack of any set of UK 01 AB 34 format plates in alphabet block form plus blank plates, to make your own reggie, is an intensely frustrating gap in the market. I've suggested it to several producers but no luck so far. 

A rare but still partial exception is Echelon's sheet for CR1 Gulf war which has a block of stencil (broken) digits as part of the wider set of markings http://echelonfd.com/firstfrontier/T35002.htm

 

Also, we need pre-computer typefaces of the various actual kinds used (including the 'very carefully handpainted' look). Just using modern computer fonts will not cut it. In fact many manufacturers' transfers take that shortcut and ruin the resulting models as a result. Tamiya were/are much better than some other manufacturers in that respect. 

 

Mandatory is obviously useful but only applicable for a certain period. Possibly even only applicable to softskins like staff cars? 

 

I'd buy a sheet at least of any set in 1/35 that is actually accurate, so I have no idea why nobody produces one. There are very few sheets for British vehicles between the Korean and Gulf Wars anyway so it's not as if we have much choice in ready-compiled number plates from vehicle sets. 

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Archer do dry decals for WD pattern sans-serif font in stencil and non-stencil in black and white. AR35084 and 35085.  They also do US serial and bumper code number sheets in sans serif (AR35001, 35019, 35020, 35065) and in the early "fancy railroad" pattern, the latter in both white and blue drab.  But quite hard to use directly onto the model in my experience.  I have applied them to clear decal sheet, which sort of defeats the object of dry decals.

 

Archer also do more generic lettering in various colours, plus hand-painted lettering with and without drips.  New Pinguin do Arial and Impact wet lettering.

 

But you may have seen these already .............................

 

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22 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

Archer do dry decals for WD pattern sans-serif font in stencil and non-stencil in black and white. AR35084 and 35085.  They also do US serial and bumper code number sheets in sans serif (AR35001, 35019, 35020, 35065) and in the early "fancy railroad" pattern, the latter in both white and blue drab.  But quite hard to use directly onto the model in my experience.  I have applied them to clear decal sheet, which sort of defeats the object of dry decals.

 

Archer also do more generic lettering in various colours, plus hand-painted lettering with and without drips.  New Pinguin do Arial and Impact wet lettering.

 

But you may have seen these already .............................

 

Indeed, but those are for the 1930s-1940s and do not seem quite right for the 1950s onwards registration plates, the white 01AB51 or AA01BB format on black rectangles. Those latter remain the great holy grail of Cold War British modellers (as indeed do vehicle transfer sets). 

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Apologies, I didn't twig that you were only looking at post-war subjects.  Sounds like a job opportunity for an enterprising decal manufacturer and is perhaps a suprising omission.  Unless there is some horrendous licensing fee for commercial use of the font.  But then the UK isn't the only country whose unique serial/ERM fonts are not available as decal font sets.  If I come to think of it, most of them aren't.

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