i was recreating an almondbury plate..here's the design...
and a few of the results...
(note the spacing of the border top right compared to top left as wel las the border near the bottom graphic...the original has angled cutaways and the bodge doesn't, also the line doesn't extend far enough under the phone number)
nice quality eh?
i also found that a lot of number plate makers use the "modern" type of kit which instead of being a thick acrylic front was just a reflective sticker on a plastic backgorund....utter junk! all the efforts got sent back.
i put out an appeal on the zone and a fella got back to me who could do this....he made a set for me and they were excellent.....good news! the bad news was he was retiring and would not make any more
after spending way too much money looking into this, i gave up and decided it was not possible and no one could be bothered or had the skill to make a decent set. i had seen a few reasonable plates made, but the perfectionist in me immediately saw errors such as the worng font, incorrect spacing...etc.
...
since then, i have got the plate bug again as i have had way too many requests to ignore. i invested in some (expensive) equipment and started having a go. i quickly found that the software that came with the kit was too restrictive so dumped it and used my own artwork package. now i could recreate any old dealer livery design and print it out.
a few issues came about where as the printer was printing onto a long strip of transparency, just being a fraction of a degree out at the beginning would mean that any borders would be wonky. as well as that, by the time the printer got to the end of the plate, it was very possible that the border on the left was nearer the edge of the plate than the border on the right. now, if you didn't care about such things, then no problem, but as far as i was concerned, it was not good enough. i can see how companies that knock loads of these out on a daily basis don't bother trying to fix these issues..
i eventually came up with my own techniques for ensuring a straight as possible edge with centred graphics and by altering the settings on the printer to the finest and highest quality, got some great results. it means using more ink but is worth it.
here is my final effort for my replacement plate...
...the original
....my copy
all good so far and actually better print quality and sharper lines than the original!
next step colour!
my printer setup is capable of doing colour, so here goes....a sytners nottingham plate, not exactly an exact reproduction as it is different to the original, but it what the guy wanted and looks good enough for the oem homo in me
...looks ok...
...oh dear! dont adjust your sets, this is what the same graphic looks like on a yellow background. so for a work around, i hand cut some white discs from sticky vinyl and placed them in between the yellow reflective layer and the graphic. this does give a small amount of "lift" at the edge, but is barely noticeable, esp when the numberplates will be viewed at about 1metre usually
...the result...
now we're cooking.....here's another,
the original (thanks to whoevers plate this is ;))
my repro...
...so, that's the progress so far. i'm capable of doing black graphics and basic shaped full colour graphics such as roundels. with other more complicated colour designs such as lettering, it will be fine on the front plate, but on the yellow plate will probably be best in just black.....i can advise on an individual basis.
it must be noted that these are show plates, much the same as german pressed plates are show plates.
costs
heres a rough guide for you, but it really depends on the complexity of the design....
all plates £38 + £5 postage...
for this you will get a front and back, straight, centred, minimum bubbles, best print quality settings possible, made with love and care by someone with a steady hand and an A-Level in art
if you're interested, drop me a pm, and if you read this far, congratulations and thanks.
