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Armor/AFV: Modern - USA
Modern Armor, AFVs, and Support vehicles.
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Modern US vehicle font, which to use?
nachjager
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Florida, United States
Joined: June 14, 2006
KitMaker: 23 posts
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 01:36 AM UTC
Gents: What font would I need to use to create modern us vehicle lettering and numbers (for example, M1A2 tank barrel nicknames and numerals)? USAF has Amarillo so I presume that the Army would have a specific one for their vehicles. What do you recommend? Thanks!
HeavyArty
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Florida, United States
Joined: May 16, 2002
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 02:08 AM UTC
Not sure what the actual US Army stencil is or if there is a standard. They usually come in a kit of brass cut-out stencils. I have also seen paper stencils made by soldiers used and vinyl letters. The closest computer font I have found is Stencilla-A. I use it for bumper numbers, barrel names, driver/TC names, etc.
18Bravo
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Colorado, United States
Joined: January 20, 2005
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 03:15 AM UTC
There's no one stencil set that the Army uses. First have a look at this photo:



Now compare that with the "4" in this photo...



...and the "2" in this photo:



Compare the "F's" and "A's" as well. One font has serifs, one does not.

Here's yet another style of "F" and "4."



Looking through my own photos I could probably spend the rest of the day with this, but I own a Chihuahua. They're very needy...

The stencils are not even the consistent on the same vehicle. One side looks like BOLD font, the other does not.



In addition, I've seen the use of peel off 4" vinyl letters - the type you can purchase from Michael's or Hobby Lobby.
Ultimately choose a font that fits what your subject has. There are a few commercial dry transfer sets out there that I've used with a modicum of success:

nachjager
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Florida, United States
Joined: June 14, 2006
KitMaker: 23 posts
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 03:19 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Not sure what the actual US Army stencil is as it comes in a kit of brass cut-out stencils. The closest computer font I have found is Stencilla-A. I use it for bumper numbers, barrel names, driver/TC names, etc.


Thanks for your answer Gino! I downloaded the font and it really looks the part.
BootsDMS
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England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: February 08, 2012
KitMaker: 978 posts
Armorama: 965 posts
Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 03:41 AM UTC
Not entirely unconnected perhaps but as a great fan of finishing some of my models in the MASSTER scheme does anyone know of a source who might be able to provide "US ARMY" in black plus serial numbers?

I'm aware that Verlinden produced a dry transfer set many moons ago with "US ARMY" and numbers but they were a bit "off" and the numbers totally wrong for MASSTER purposes; I've scoured Archer who provide numbers (and letters) but I'm loathe to try and produce "US ARMY" from individual dry transfer letters. PSM produce suitable numbers and symbols appropriate for the white bumper codes but I'm at a loss for "US ARMY".

I have the black stars covered with some decent stencils.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Brian

nachjager
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Florida, United States
Joined: June 14, 2006
KitMaker: 23 posts
Armorama: 22 posts
Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 03:47 AM UTC

Quoted Text

There's no one stencil set that the Army uses. First have a look at this photo:



Now compare that with the "4" in this photo...



...and the "2" in this photo:



Compare the "F's" and "A's" as well. One font has serifs, one does not.

Here's yet another style of "F" and "4."



Looking through my own photos I could probably spend the rest of the day with this, but I own a Chihuahua. They're very needy...

The stencils are not even the consistent on the same vehicle. One side looks like BOLD font, the other does not.



In addition, I've seen the use of peel off 4" vinyl letters - the type you can purchase from Michael's or Hobby Lobby.
Ultimately choose a font that fits what your subject has. There are a few commercial dry transfer sets out there that I've used with a modicum of success:



Thanks Robert, really appreciate your effort to explain the differences. I am trying to replicate this:



and Stencilla-A as mentioned by Gino seems like a good match.
nachjager
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Florida, United States
Joined: June 14, 2006
KitMaker: 23 posts
Armorama: 22 posts
Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 04:05 AM UTC
There's no decals for want you (and I) are looking for, unfortunately. Your best best is what I am trying to do, get a suitable font, create the words or code combinations needed in Inkscape or suitable vector graphics program, convert those to vectors, resize and print on decal paper.
skyshark
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: November 16, 2005
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 04:51 AM UTC
If you have paint.net on your pc. You can copy the picture, size it to what you want and print it as a decal.
HeavyArty
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Posted: Monday, September 21, 2020 - 06:10 AM UTC

Quoted Text

If you have paint.net on your pc. You can copy the picture, size it to what you want and print it as a decal.


I do the same using PowerPoint. I do all my decals in .PPT
MontanaHunter
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United States
Joined: May 30, 2019
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Posted: Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 11:33 AM UTC
On the bore extractor I can suggest going to G Loomis's website, they make fly rods and regular fishing rods. That looks awfully close to their logo which is skeletonized cartoonish game fish. I'm betting a guy could cut and paste and resize that logo to fit the BE, Paper stencil, cut it out and spray it on but I'm betting dollars to peso's thats where that logo came from the view and size that I can see on this computer. Hope that helps on that one piece at least.
amoz02t
#192
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Kentucky, United States
Joined: November 25, 2009
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Posted: Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 11:49 AM UTC

Quoted Text

On the bore extractor I can suggest going to G Loomis's website, they make fly rods and regular fishing rods. That looks awfully close to their logo which is skeletonized cartoonish game fish. I'm betting a guy could cut and paste and resize that logo to fit the BE, Paper stencil, cut it out and spray it on but I'm betting dollars to peso's thats where that logo came from the view and size that I can see on this computer. Hope that helps on that one piece at least.


GLoomis logo

nachjager
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Florida, United States
Joined: June 14, 2006
KitMaker: 23 posts
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Posted: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - 12:15 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

On the bore extractor I can suggest going to G Loomis's website, they make fly rods and regular fishing rods. That looks awfully close to their logo which is skeletonized cartoonish game fish. I'm betting a guy could cut and paste and resize that logo to fit the BE, Paper stencil, cut it out and spray it on but I'm betting dollars to peso's thats where that logo came from the view and size that I can see on this computer. Hope that helps on that one piece at least.


GLoomis logo



Hi, I was planning to use this one:



Maybe it has too much detail on it but after it is reduced to the proper scale size it may not matter. The image I posted above was too fuzzy to see the proper details on the fish logo and I have not found any other photo on the web nor on any book I have to have a more conclusive opinion on how it should really look.
nachjager
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Florida, United States
Joined: June 14, 2006
KitMaker: 23 posts
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Posted: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - 12:20 AM UTC
I do that with images and logos but I use Inkscape and Gimp, both are freewares. For lettering and numbers I use text and then convert it to vectors, using Inkscape and then print as decals.
nachjager
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Florida, United States
Joined: June 14, 2006
KitMaker: 23 posts
Armorama: 22 posts
Posted: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - 12:21 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

If you have paint.net on your pc. You can copy the picture, size it to what you want and print it as a decal.


I do the same using PowerPoint. I do all my decals in .PPT


PowerPoint????
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