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More progress on the air cleaner. You may remember that I'm joining Tulsa FabLab and will cut the lettering for the top of the cleaner. Here's what the 5.8L HO's air cleaner lettering looks like according to NPD, although I'd be interested if someone has another shot of the lettering:
I've drawn up the lid on CAD and have two versions of it with the limited fonts I have. Here's Arial:
And here it is in Verdana:
Do y'all think this is close enough? I realize the 4 and the V are too close. And there are other problems. But, the fonts in TurboCAD's curved-text tool are quite limited.
Or, can you think of other ways to generate it? Maybe Powerpoint or Word?
Veranda is a better match, but you need a bold and extended font for sure.
I used to work in commercial art supplies before computers and desktop publishing destroyed Esselte/Letraset/Panatone's stranglehold.
Chris - Thanks. The font looks the same on that label, but the air cleaners I've been around just have the lettering and no border. So that's what I'm going for.
Jim - Kerning. Had to look that one up, but you are right - it isn't right.
Here's the problem I've been having. I drew up the air cleaner lid on TurboCAD and then tried to put the lettering on. But that meant curved text, and that's a bit of a problem with that app. I got it going today and then discovered that the curved text (technically text-on-a-curve) tool doesn't use the same fonts that the rest of TurboCAD uses. And, none of those were correct. But, I've just learned a way to break the text out of that tool and that gives me the other fonts.
The ones I'd found on the shop computer that came close were HP Simplified and DTV Trade Gothic LT. But, do you know of better fonts to match? I'd really like to nail it and am willing to buy the font - within reason.
I wish I had suggestions off the top of my head, but that was well over 30 years ago!
It's definitely a variation of Helvetica
I know you enjoy the challenge and want to do as much as you can yourself.
Consider going to a local sign shop.
They 'own' catalogs of fonts. Their software can "create" a semi-bold, or extended font, and easily set it to any radius.
They will make it with the border just like Chris shows.
"picking" out the negative space on the cut vinyl is something they are adept at.
If you are not happy with what they show you on the screen you are not committed to purchase from them.
Wow! I think you found something that's plenty close enough. And, while the label from NPD doesn't match it as well, who knows if it is true to the font Ford used. But, what you found is really close to the true Ford label Chris posted. I think I'll get it. Thanks!
I did the same thing, but used "5.8" to compare to Chris' label. My wife, the designer, picked out the "r" pretty quickly, but agreed all else is very close.
That 6.6 Liter 4V H.O. looks pretty good, huh?! That stuck on the top of a dual-snorkel air cleaner plumbed with Ford bits right up to the radiator support is gonna look "right". Especially since the way the adapter that goes to the radiator support on the passenger's side snakes past the battery shows it was made for that. And then when it is flipped and put on the driver's side it snakes around the underhood tool box in the same fashion.
I think it looks good enough for most people, if they don't have the original to compare it to.
Chris does have the original, what does HE think?
OTOH, NPD's looks horrible.
You can see the strokes get fat where they have simply stretched the type around a curve.
The 'H' and the 'O' especially.
Their 'r' has no ascender at all!?
*** If you decide to purchase the face make sure it will render large enough for your needs. ***
I see it only goes to 72pt in waterfall.
That is 1" high.
Well, I have the text set to "2 inch" in TurboCAD, but using Verdana the "H" measures 1.21" across. Does the "2 inch" include the distance between characters? If so, that probably comes to 2".
Does that mean I need to go into the graphics shop like you suggested? If so, I'd like to find a lid off of a HO like the ones I'm using so they can work with that as I'm not sure the font was the same as in the one like Chris posted.
You need to decide the border and how it is going to relate to the creases or steps in your air cleaner lid.
Then see what you are left with when you have some spacing inside those lines.
Maybe Chris can scale the width of the line and the height of the letters?
Is his lid the same as yours?
Someone at the graphics shop could probably do all this in a heartbeat, and maybe even fix the r for you...
I'm not planning on a border. The 84-86 HO's didn't have one from what I've seen. They just had the lettering painted on the raised area of the lid, as shown in my 2D drawing above. I'll contact Bruno as he may have one of these air cleaners with the lettering still on it.
01-31-2015, 04:24 PM
That stuck on the top of a dual-snorkel air cleaner plumbed with Ford bits right up to the radiator support is gonna look "right". Especially since the way the adapter that goes to the radiator support on the passenger's side snakes past the battery shows it was made for that. And then when it is flipped and put on the driver's side it snakes around the underhood tool box in the same fashion. 
