Lettering options (easy)?

[Brewerpaul]

I need a reasonably easy and inexpensive way to letter the stern of my Pride of Baltimore II model. Here's the real thing.

It was pretty simple to do the Lord Baltimore coat of arms plaque by simply printing it to scale,gluing it to the plaque and coating with a couple of coats of spray lacquer.

The name of the ship appears slightly arched, but I could live with it flat. It's gilt and actually carved, but I think the yellow of the wales would look just about as good. Question is, how to do this neatly?  Decal paper? Are there dry transfer letters small enough? I'm open to any ideas apart from hand painting them myself.

[David Lester]

Here's what I did -

I searched for images of wood grain, then printed gold lettering (I didn't worry about the carved aspect of the lettering). For the yellow, instead of painting the wood yellow, I printed yellow on a piece of paper and printed red lettering on it. Then I combined the two and glued them to the stern and coated them with some varnish.

 

 

 

 

I did the same for the star on the bowsprit, this time searching for images of patinated copper and stars. I re-coloured the star and combined the two images

 

 

 

It takes a little bit of trial and error on the computer getting the curve in the lettering, spacing etc. as close as possible to the real thing.

That's one idea at least.

David

 

 

 

[bruce d]

I will try to describe a method I used a long time ago. The idea is simple, it is just a case of whether you like the effect.

 

I couldn’t produce raised lettering but it was easy to produce lightly embossed print and images. So I turned 'embossed' into 'raised' like this:

(1) print what you want;

(2) place it face down on a firm but slightly compressible surface such as a cutting matt;

(3) trace the image/text from behind with a ball point pen or a stylus, pressing as hard as the paper will allow;

(4) turn it over and admire your work.

 

I got the best results by producing the text as a negative (white text on black field) and then printing this onto gold coloured paper. When embossed from behind the slightly raised effect of the text was quite convincing. The black background was then cut to shape and a coat of pale varnish sprayed on and the work of art was then CAREFULLY put in place with tweezers. It took a few attempts to learn how to handle the printed piece without the photocopied solid black area developing small cracks but this was using a toner printer, inkjet is probably more forgiving. Also, since my project was only needed for a particular occasion and it didn’t matter if the materials had a short life, I used gift wrapping paper. I suggest something more light-fast for a ‘keeper’ model.

I see no reason why it would not work on paper with a woodgrain print as the background.

 

Hope this helps.

Bruce

[Brewerpaul]

1 hour ago, David Lester said:

Here's what I did -

I searched for images of wood grain, then printed gold lettering (I didn't worry about the carved aspect of the lettering). For the yellow, instead of painting the wood yellow, I printed yellow on a piece of paper and printed red lettering on it. Then I combined the two and glued them to the stern and coated them with some varnish.

 

I saw yours David (in fact,I bookmarked your build and have used it as a reference) and it worked out well for you. It's a possibility.

I already fabricated the transom with planking at the top, color of the wales painted below, so I'd like to try to  use it. Still, I'll keep it in mind.

1 hour ago, David Lester said:

 

 

 

 

[wefalck]

The lettering was mostly incised into the wood, if I am not mistaken, and the laid out in paint. If you find someone with either a CNC-mill or a laser-engraver, you could have this done for you on suitable material. Seal the material with lacquer, smear the paint into the engraved letters and wipe the rest off.

[Brewerpaul]

13 minutes ago, wefalck said:

The lettering was mostly incised into the wood, if I am not mistaken, and the laid out in paint. If you find someone with either a CNC-mill or a laser-engraver, you could have this done for you on suitable material. Seal the material with lacquer, smear the paint into the engraved letters and wipe the rest off.

The PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II are indeed incised and it looks like they have gold leaf applied. I don't know anyone with the equipment to do that, and in any event the letters will be pretty darned small.

[Brewerpaul]

On 9/5/2020 at 10:41 AM, David Lester said:

Here's what I did -

I searched for images of wood grain, then printed gold lettering (I didn't worry about the carved aspect of the lettering). For the yellow, instead of painting the wood yellow, I printed yellow on a piece of paper and printed red lettering on it. Then I combined the two and glued them to the stern and coated them with some varnish.

 

Your stern came out just fine. If I don't come up with my own solution, would you mind if I stole yours?

Someone from the actual Pride was kind enough to send me two stern photos which I think may work.

[JKC27]

Kitkraft has dry rub lettering that are supposed to be easy to use