UK civil registration fonts

[rob Lyttle]

I'm dabbling with self made Decal options...... And not getting very far 😁

Tried cropping and pasting etc, and looking at typing reg lettering. 

For example, the main codes here...... 

Sorry it's a bit small. 

I read that Helvetica is close, and Arial, but their "O" is very circular compared to the example, which is quite square-ish with round corners, so to speak. 

The "G" styling can be different too, which is unfortunate for UK reg planes. 

Has anyone found the perfect capitals font? 

[Orso]

There is no standard civilian font. The one on your picture look much like RAF_WW2_641ATH

[Circloy]

There's a (slim) chance it might match the company's standard font - if they are still in existence try looking on their website.

[rob Lyttle]

1 hour ago, Circloy said:

company's standard font

You mean the airline co.? 

The Isles of Scilly Skybus..... Yes, going strong still. They have started running a helicopter service too, from Lands End. 

But that reg lettering is quite different. 

Although there may not be a standardised civil font, I'm seeing several examples of this "square with round corners" type face. I'll paste on a couple of pictures in a minute.... 

 

Here we are.... 

 

I see 26decals has an item that almost suits, I'll put a link, 

https://flic.kr/p/2mhjynv

But it's the painted tail version, and I was fancying the "25 years" style 

Edited August 18, 2021 by rob Lyttle
Addition

[Dave Swindell]

Design in a vector drawing program

Find a close match font and type the required letters

Convert text to curves

Tweak the letters to match

[Orso]

Bahnschrift is also a similar font but neither the RAF font that I mentioned earlier or this are exact like the one on your picture.

[Ade H]

Two suggestions.

 

One is to try running a sample through a font identifier tool. I usually use What The Font and Matcherator in the day job. Search for "identify a font".

 

The other is to forget about trying to nearly match typefaces and use your vector program to either (a) trace them from a scan if you have a source such as a decal sheet, or (b) draw the curves manually. Both are quite easy and will help you to avoid sizing and dimensional errors which may show on the kit. If you don't adjust a typeface to just the right weight, kerning, etc. any mismatches can easily compound.

[TEXANTOMCAT]

I managed to get hold of some of John Aeroclubs last stock of his British reg decals - he says they never sold particularly well! As a side factoid here at Sywell one of the guys has a 1930s wooden template about three feet long  - a little bit like a french curves set if you remember those - which enables any letter to be masked out on the full size! Genius!

 

TT