Lettering on glass??

[Ray Dunakin]

Does anyone know of a way to do signs on glass, such as a shop window? Ideally I'd like to have the gold-leaf-with-black-shadow type of lettering that was so common years ago.

[finescalerr]

I'm sure you've thought of the three most common methods: Silk screen artwork, dry transfers, closely trimmed decals. If there is a viable fourth I'd be interested. -- Russ

[Gordon Ferguson]

Ray, for your scale it may be worth looking at some form of stencil, using say a low tack film like Frisket.

Depending on what computer programmes you have you should have some form of shadow font, you may also be able to print the lettering on curve and in mirror form that way you could spray thro stencil on back of glass which http://www.crossley-motors.org.uk/history/1920/20_25/20_25.htmlwould give a good gold finish even with paint and also help protect lettering from the elements.

[NORCALLOGGER]

Ray,

What I did was use water slide decals and let the clear film cover the entire window so there was no issues with film edges.

Not as fancy as what your talking about but I don't think that would make any difference.
I must have a picture of them around somewhere I will try to find them if your interested in seeing what I did
looks like.

Oh, my windows were not see through so there was no issues/problems with the clear sealer clouding the glass

Rick

[marc_reusser]

Mal, at Miracle Masks out of the UK can cut you beautiful adhesive stencils/masks for painting this. Mal can cut the masks so that you could do the Gold with black edging. He cut some custom lettered paint masks for one of my projects, and I could not have been more satisfied. He does a lot of masks for air and armor modelers, so is no shrinking violet when it comes to detail and quality.

I will post his email address as soon as I get back to the office. He also has an FB page.

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks.

I've considered decals but I need good transparency for viewing the interior details. I also have some concerns about how well decals would hold up to direct sunlight over time. (On opaque surfaces I normally coat decals with a fairly thick layer of acrylic. This wouldn't be possible on a window.)

Even in 1/24th scale, the lettering would be quite tiny - much too small I think for vinyl lettering or frisket film stencil.

A photoetched or laser cut stencil of rigid material might work.

I've also considered having a custom rubber stamp made, in reverse, and using it to stamp the lettering onto the inside of the glass. However, I suspect the quality of the print would not be worth the cost and effort.

[marc_reusser]

Mal's email is miraclemasks(at)hotmail.co.uk


Marc

[Alexandre]

Thanks for opening this thread and giving some details and ideas guys.
That's something I want to do too for a while. Miracle Mask sounds like a nice thing to try.

[finescalerr]

Maybe Marc's guy can do what you want. If not, and if you want to take a chance on decals, I would spray them with acrylic and trim the film very close to the lettering or graphic before removing from the backing. I have no idea whether it would work, of course.

There must be somebody out there who does what you need, right? Maybe it's an industrial process. Maybe somebody with a print related business?

Russ

[marc_reusser]

Miracle Masks can do it. It is an extremey thin adhesive film, that has the lettering or design very finely cut into it.
In your case the letters would be cut in two paralell line, the one for the black paint and one for the gold. After the mask sheet is applied to the surface, they letters/sections/portions to be painted are carefully lifted out with the tip of an Xacto.....paint is sprayed/applied....let dry, and the next section is lifted out and the other color is applied. If you need to layer the colors in a different way, you get multiple masks, and you can place a second layer of mask over the first...remove the portions needed and paint with different color The masks all align.

This is far more durable than any decal, as it is real paint. It doesnt require sealing, trimming etc, and it will not fade or dry out like a decal, it also has none of the transparency issues that could occur when applying decals on glass....just remeber that if you are applying it to the inside, your mask will need to be cut backwards, and you will have to paint the colors backwards...IE gold first, then black outline....this painting sequence will also make the mask much easier to use, as you simply peel out the inside letter space first....then the outside trim space second.

Marc

[Edit: some images/models with masks cut by Mal (dont let the suject matter distract you).....and attached below is the mask that Mal cut for me. The small letters are quite tiny. Model scale is 1/24)]

[finescalerr]

Ah, the truck. Now I recall your extremely positive experience with Miracle Masks. -- Russ

[Alexandre]

Very Interesting. Thank you Marc. 

[Ray Dunakin]

Sounds good, I will give it a try!

[5thwheel]

Try laminating onto the back of the glass.  This is in 1/12th scale but should work in most any scale. First i made the drawing in a larger size that I could work with.  Painted in the coloring in the lettering with acrylic paint. Then placed it in my scanner and reduced it to my scale size and scanned it on to a transparency. I mounted the transparency, full size of the inside of the glass, on the back of the beveled glass with foil behind that. This gives the effect of chipped glass.

[Ray Dunakin]

That's one idea I had considered but I'm curious as to how UV-resistant the transparency is?

Did you scratch-build that peanut wagon? It looks great!