Serck plates - please share yours?

[Mystery Machine]

First off, I know that making registration plates in the UK is illegal unless you are registered to make them. I am not looking to do this, just to gather as much visual info as I can to build a complete set of letters/numbers. For personal use.

I have read through this thread here: retrorides.proboards.com/thread/80048 and I am aware that they are no longer available nor will be. I am also aware that there is a company that will make 'show plates' with a *similar* font, but this is still not the Serck font. I have a set of these plates on my Escort so I know how they look and I urge anyone wanting to get a set of Serck plates to look at the site and buy some, they are really nice: www.a1showplates.com/creator.html (in the font choice section, you want to select 'Euro Style')

OK, so what I am looking for is someone/anyone to post up photos of their Serck plates please?. I know there are a few people out there who have them and if enough people post up photos, between us all there might be enough to actually make up the complete font?

If possible, taking the photo 'square on' rather than from any kind of angle will really help. The sharper, more focused and clearer the better.

I have an old Serck reg plate down at Area 52 that I'll photograph tomorrow but if anyone else has one they are able to photograph, or old photos they have clearly showing the plate, please let me know?

Many thanks.....

[wagoneer]

www.flickr.com/groups/serck/

I found this just now. Knowing you're handy with a Mac & Illustrator I guess you can re-draw the characters.

[Mystery Machine]

Mar 11, 2014 19:31:51 GMT wagoneer said:

www.flickr.com/groups/serck/

I found this just now. Knowing you're handy with a Mac & Illustrator I guess you can re-draw the characters.

That's brilliant, many thanks. I'll have a closer look when I get chance and I think a few of them might be useable enough to get some decent letters/numbers from.

Thanks again.

If anyone else has any shots of Serck plates, please let me know?

[dave80]

think mine are the serck font,i can take a better snap tomorrow if needed...

[wagoneer]

Also, remember that these plates were created in a time before computers......yes there was one. Each character would have been drawn by hand up to A4 size then reproduced photographically to create a set of masters that the stamp or press would have been made from. It wasn't easy to get perfectly consistent repeatable curves unless the original curve was drawn then copied (by camera again) and pasted onto the artwork (with Spraymount, Cow Gum or hot wax). The whole patch work character would then be photographed again and the final print cleaned up!

In essence, what I'm saying is that the Serck Typeface was hand drawn and almost certainly won't exist as a computerised font. Back then, 'typeface' was the way of referring to a set of characters, a 'font' was the wooden tray that the engraved metal letters lived in when not in use.

[DavidB]

I have a 'ON TOW' plate that is pressed and uses the SERCK font.

[Doyal]

Guys,

this looks identical? www.myfonts.com/fonts/typodermic/zeroes/three/

Cheers,

Stuart

[Mystery Machine]

Thanks for all the help everyone, I have to say a special thanks also to Wagoneer for sending me some very useful info & details! Many thanks Dude.

As for the old process of font and lettering creation, I remember it all too well. The Letraset catalogue was my bible because it was so amazing to have such a huge choice of typefaces at my fingertips, Rotring technical pens my weapon of choice (I kinda miss having to check and top up the moisture cap in the lid), French curves, layout paper, 'loupe' magnifiers, rulers with points & picas ....all the things I used to love using.

Kerning, line spacing, weights, ascenders, descenders. Blimey...taking me back now!

For one of my previous jobs I used to produce lettering on quite a large scale where I'd have to first make the logo by hand (using the tools above) then once approved, produce an acetate B&W print (can't remember the name of the machine, but a photocopier would do the job these days!) then put this onto an OHP in a very large, very dark room where I could project my logo onto a huge wall creating letters up to 25ft tall. Any inaccuracies in the original logo were amplified on the OHP. Ladders and fine waxy chalk were the main tools to create the full sized letters before pulling the template paper from the wall and transfering this to the final material.

My fave tool of all? The spring loaded Chartpak burnisher for making sure those dry transfer letters were placed to perfection. There was nothing worse than part of a letter coming away with the transfer paper!



I miss mine, I don't know where it went?

Also, I used to HATE laying type up for printing. The finished results were great, but all those spacers, shims and drawers full of type....that's something I don't really miss.

Thanks for the nostalgia trip...

[wagoneer]

[sucks on pipe and fingers cardigan button] Ah those old skills, I miss them so. My first job was as the PMT operator (stop sniggering) which stood for Photo Mechanical Transfer and may well be the name you can't remember. It was essentially a giant bellows camera with an exposure plate several feet across.

I never had a proper burnisher for my Letraset (I also made custom rub down lettering!), just a wooden one. Happy days

[jamesv]

Mar 12, 2014 9:40:29 GMT Mystery Machine said:

For one of my previous jobs I used to produce lettering on quite a large scale where I'd have to first make the logo by hand (using the tools above) then once approved, produce an acetate B&W print (can't remember the name of the machine, but a photocopier would do the job these days!)

I believe the beauty you are on about is an omnicrom:



I remember using them back in college...

[wagoneer]

Ooh yes, Omnicrom! We had one in our studio. Did you know that Craftycomputer paper .co.uk sell transfer papers that replicate what this did?

[vonthrash]

Has "serck services" in bottom right corner.