spacing of letters in ships name on stern

[RMC]

I will soon be putting on the name of the ship (VANGUARD) on the stern of my model. I am concerned to get the correct spacing of the letters and the correct curvature of the name.

 

Can anyone help please?

 

RMC

[Gregor]

Hi RMC,

Maybe you can improve the method I used: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/2288-hmc-sherbourne-by-gregor-–-caldercraft-–-scale-164-1763/?p=156268

Cheers,

Gregor

Edited March 28, 2014 by Gregor

[Stockholm tar]

RMC,

 

When I came to the lettering on my Sherbourne, I opted to use the kit lettering, but attaching them needed a little thought. As opposed to your Vanguard, the space available on the stern was limited, so placing the letters was quite critical – not only centrally, but also leaving a reasonable space between the letters.

 

I originally thought, naturally, to begin on the left, but then I might have too much space left over on the right – which certainly wouldn't look good. After a bit more thought, I decided it was better to start with the middle letters and work outwards, leaving a suitable space between them, and using the position of the rudder as the central point. This would then leave the same amount of space, outside the name, on each side, and it worked well. Sherbourne, like Vanguard, has an even number of letters (although ten as opposed to eight), so the 'b' and the 'o' had to go equidistantly either side of the rudder. You might do the same with the 'g' and the 'u' of Vanguard. The other letters naturally follow, until the first and last letters are reached. I think it will work.

 

There is a big difference in size of course between the two ships, so you should probably have quite a bit of space either side of the name. I had a look at photos of the stern of the Victory, which is nearer to the Vanguard in size and, although the letters are quite large, they don't of course cover the whole stern. She has an odd number of letters (one less than Vanguard) and the 't' is central under the middle of the stern windows. The name follows the curve of the wardroom windows. Btw, the letters are Roman font.

[RMC]

Thank you both for your replies.  It has given me an idea that I will play with over the next day or two.  I will get back to you.

 

In the meantime, if anyone else has suggestions, I would be grateful.

 

RMC

[Keith_W]

 

When I built my Bounty, I had to place letters on the stern. BOUNTY has six letters, so I placed U and N in the middle, then O and T, followed by B and Y. As you can see, the spacing is nice and even.

 

For SHERBOURNE (with ten letters) it divides into SHERB and OURNE.

 

I would place S ... B O ... E first and then place HER and URN once I have established correct spacing.

[druxey]

Get the outline of the counter drawn out using a piece of tracing paper. Then play around on the tracing until the spacing and slope of the lettering looks right. Transfer the design back on to the counter using transfer paper. This is like graphite paper, only comes in different colours, including white. One can find transfer paper at craft stores like Michael's. Then you are ready to paint with confidence.

[Don9of11]

I did something similar to what druxey suggested except that I used my inkjet printer to print the ship name on decal paper. Using my word program I selected a font and letter size that fit exactly.

 

 

[RMC]

Thanks very much to you all.  I will experiment now to find which suits best for my application.  I have been worried about this as a mistake - even a small one -would be really obvious.  I now have something to go on.

 

Kind regards

 

Bob (RMC)