Vinyl sign lettering

Vinyl sign lettering
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Vinyl sign lettering - 12/25/2002 9:04:31 AM

Tattoo

Posts: 2124
Joined: 2/10/2002
From: Wichita, KS,
Status: offline

For any of you builders not familure with this... (and not just for Spadders!) this has been one of the greatest discoveries of how we get ripped off by hobby companies. Contact any sign supply company or sign materials supplier and ask about vinyl sign lettering material. It comes in rolls that are 15" wide by 30 FEET long. It comes in every color you can imagine including metal flakes and florescants. Our local sign supply company sells it to us for $8.00 to $12.00 a roll depending on color and I think the metal flakes may be a little more. It is made to run through a computer which cuts out the letters, or if you're like me a pair of scissors works fine. If you get in good with the sign shop, they may even run you through some letters or even jpg or gif designs with the vinyl you buy from them. The backing paper is usually graphed out for hand cutting and design guides. But the real kicker is this...it is the EXACT same stuff that you buy in the hobby store under the desguise of trim sheets. I've seen it for as much as $5 for a 5" x 15" letter or number sheet.

Another thing to consider is to ask the sign shop for scraps!!! A buttload of the stuff gets thrown in the trash after the sign letters are removes and used (all the material around the letters) very often this yeilds some nice pieces for great trim stripes!

Another great stragity is to go in with a few buddies and each fork out $10 or so and all get a different color. Go home and divy up the colors evenly between each other! If you go in with two other guys, that would be 10 FEET x 15" of 3 different colors for $10 and man...that will be stickers for a LOT of airplanes!!!

Vinyl sign lettering - 12/25/2002 10:36:33 AM

Posts: 1528
Joined: 4/19/2002
From: Cordova, TN,
Status: offline

You see how Dean uses a template to draw his stuff on with. you can also cut the sign vinyl into 8 1/2 x 11, or 8 1/2x14" sheets, and insert them into your printer, backside up, and print the designs onto the back side, then cut them out. This is how i do all my lettering and designs.

(in reply to Tattoo)

Vinyl sign lettering - 12/25/2002 11:27:02 AM

Posts: 313
Joined: 11/11/2002
From: New Castle, PA, USA
Status: offline

ChriaSPAD

That sounds like a great idea but I'm curious about what software you use to layout your graphics

(in reply to Tattoo)

Vinyl sign lettering - 12/25/2002 5:28:05 PM

Posts: 1528
Joined: 4/19/2002
From: Cordova, TN,
Status: offline

I use autocad, cause its what i have handy, and i can scale it up or down, and it only prints lines, which is all thats needed. I can't see why any of the free cad programs wouldn't work, though.
For that matter, i think Paint would work.

(in reply to Tattoo)

Old Sign Maker Tip - 12/25/2002 5:42:24 PM

Posts: 24
Joined: 12/1/2002
From: Blue Springs, NE
Status: offline

When in a pinch, I have put the drawing on tracing paper, tape it on a sheet of vinyl and cut away with an Xacto. I normall cut on black vinly, scan and then digitize and cut on plotter. But if your good with a knife, what the heck...........

You can use windows "Paint" but you will have trouble scaling it up or down.

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"Ag Pilots Do It Lower And Slower"

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Vinyl sign lettering - 12/25/2002 6:48:18 PM

Posts: 501
Joined: 9/22/2002
From: Garrett Park, Maryland
Status: offline

Paint shop pro is easy to use, and work well for this.

(in reply to Tattoo)

Sign Materials - 12/31/2002 3:13:08 AM

Jcloud

Posts: 2
Joined: 9/4/2002
From: Marianna, Florida
Status: offline

Hello folks,
I just so happen to fly R/C AND own a sign shop. It's true, the trim sheets are a rip-off. It's the same stuff, just more convenient, and easy to find precut, etc. As for software, paint is like crayons to a kid. Look for coreldraw in an older version, like corel 4.0, 5.0 8.0. You can literally buy it on ebay for 20 bucks, legal versions. It's one of the best user friendly programs. You can play around with it and figure out how do do simple things.
Another trick, when you go to print on vinyl. If you have a higher end inkjet printer, and you degloss the vinyl with a scotchbrite pad, or 00 steel wool and then clean with a solvent, you can print right on the vinyl with good results. Always clearcoat the vinyl with something fuelproof, but you can get some neat stuff that way.
Most sign shops have lots of scraps, most would give you some. I throw away lots every year.
Happy New Year
Jeff.

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I got it, I got it, I,.... YOU GET IT!

(in reply to Tattoo)

vinyl signs and letters - 1/8/2003 5:28:35 AM

rchans

Posts: 16
Joined: 5/11/2002
From: Chicago
Status: offline

Hello!

Need any designs or letters for your plane? I will cut them with a vinyl cutter. 5000 grpahics and 200 letter styles available.

e-mail if you have any questions.

Hans

(in reply to Tattoo)

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