[John Smith_]

I've been either making or improving military squadron plaques "by hand" for decades. Now that the old hands are starting to give up and the new mechanized processes are on the scene, I think I am entering the Mothballed Locker.
anyway, I've stumbled upon a project that has a small following. The only photo that I could find was a modern "jacket patch" of which I was able to copy and reproduce into a working model for cast resin reproductions. After a lot more research, I found a person that was able to provide me with an actual photo of the original design and the jacket patch is not accurate to the original detail.
Now, here is the rub: is it possible to reproduce this detail with a 3-D printer or CNC to be at least 75% accurate and I can fine-tune it by hand with an assortment of tools and modeling clays. Wood would not be my first choice of material. It would be preferred to be in some sort of solid material that can be modified by hand. Carving wax, HDPE, 30# HDU, cast resin block, etc. (the plaque is 6" diameter and maybe 1/2" thick).
any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and thank you for your time.

and this is the Jacket Patch that I found but is not very close to the original design.

 

[thtemplejr]

John, If you already have a model you can cast in resin, why not just do that? I'm sure I'm missing something here.

 

[difalkner]

For guys that do 3D carving work on their CNC machines this would not be difficult at all.

 

[John Smith_]

John, If you already have a model you can cast in resin, why not just do that? I'm sure I'm missing something here.

T.H. no, I don't have an actual model for this project - only a photo that was found somewhere in the internet. An actual item does not exist. I made a prototype from the jacket patch design only to find out later it is not close to the original at all. I have cast hundreds and hundreds of military squadron plaques over the years and just now getting back into the craft on a "hobby" level.

 

[Oscar36]

John,

Not horribly difficult. Might be a little time consuming for the artist with a few hours of 3d modeling but I don't see anything very difficult. The detail on the griffin is fairly low which helps a lot.

A consideration, when converting a 2d image to 3d there are a lot of design choices that have to be made on height/depth. Make sure you have a clear envelope the model has to fit in for carving (which I think you have already).

With a good finished wood carving you can create a negative mold for any other material you may want to use as an option. I keep wanting to do this for myself for some pavers my wife want. Too many projects and too much procrastination.

Oscar

 

[John Smith_]

I made this "prototype" with modeling clay a couple of weeks ago from the jacket patch example before I found the photo of the real McCoy. So now, I am anxious to get this into a workable project,
This is my feeble 3rd grade attempt at model making. (the Griffin needs a LOT of work).

 

[Oscar36]

That is way better than I could do with modeling clay.

Lately, I have fallen into a niche market that is keeping me super busy. I am making 3d animated emojis, emotes and animated clips for Twitch users. My latest commission is for an animated emoji of a nipple tassel that's supposed to swing around naturally. I am actually having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to make it swing naturally (cringe). I am playing around with a bunch of different physics engines. So far I can't make it look natural.

Soooo, I may need to do something that will clean my psyche a little. I also have a soft spot for military designs. Gave me about a 2 hour break from the nipple tassel. lol

Does anyone have a guess at the font used. I can not figure it out.

 

[John Smith_]

that looks just plumb AWESOME Oscar !!
I'll look on Font Finder to see if I can get the font used.

 

[Oscar36]

lol. Taking a short break helped me break my mental block.

Figured out the tassel physics.

 

[John Smith_]

My "go to" font finder has dropped off the edge of the earth.
consulting with some of my sign making colleagues, they too can not identify the font style.
I dissected it and edited to a somewhat usable photo - I'm still looking through the online Font Identifier sites. (stay tuned).

 

[thtemplejr]

My "go to" font finder has dropped off the edge of the earth.
consulting with some of my sign making colleagues, they too can not identify the font style.
I dissected it and edited to a somewhat usable photo - I'm still looking through the online Font Identifier sites. (stay tuned).
View attachment 401515

John, I used to be a Graphics Designer and I have a yuuuuuuuge font library. I'll try to match it this evening.

 

[John Smith_]

and I am a retired signmaker and I also have a yuuuuuuuge font library. Unfortunately, they are on DVD by name, not by style. So if a customer specified or agreed upon a font style with a name, it was no problem. BUT - looking at thousands of fonts one-by-one trying to find "that one" drives a person insane.
the new Font Identifier programs are a True Blessing to those that only have a photo for reference. Just put your sample in the box and in 30 seconds you usually have a match.
the program that I used to use has dropped off the internet and now only a few like What is this Font are still around.
from what I see, the letters "E, S, and 6" is what I'm having a problem with matching. Times New Roman "might" be a suitable substitute if I can modify it by hand with some modeling clay.

 

[difalkner]

John, there are free font editor programs available like FontForge that will allow you to take a font that's close and modify the characters as needed. I do this in CorelDraw by converting to curves and dragging nodes where needed.

 

[Oscar36]

As a backup I will just trace the letters. Always better if you have a true type font but tracing can work good enough for a carving.

David, thanks. I have CorelDraw and I keep not using it when it probably is the easiest solution.

 

[John Smith_]

I had CorelDraw 8 when it first came out - then the disks got lost in one of my moves and the desktop tower it was installed on crashed and burned and I never upgraded it.
It is probably about in the Top Ten to get a new-er model. I basically use Paint Shop Pro for my intermediary needs.
thanks to all for your interest in this project.

 

[difalkner]

I had CorelDraw 8 when it first came out

I'm a long-time CorelDraw user; I started with 3, then 4, to 5, to 6, to 8, and rocked on with 10 for about 10 years. I finally upgraded to X8 (18) a few years ago and that's probably where I'll stop. Great software!

 

[thtemplejr]

John, no luck with my library. Online I found this: Pesaro Light font

Everything is pretty close except for the"S." That narrow top is really unusual, unless the original designer modified it.
I don't know what your skill level is with vectors, but I'm very good with Illustrator. I can recreate the characters you need if you would like.

 

[Oscar36]

John,

I outlined the font but I am not digging it.

I also have a ton of fonts but also labeled by name. Let me know what you all decide.

 

[John Smith_]

oh WOW !! Thank You Oscar !!
I can work with that now. Everyone here continues to hold you in the highest regards for your talents. Now I understand. This one has more contrast and detail than the photo and I can see how to carve the detailed feet head. With more research the last couple of days, I found that it is 8" and not a 6" which became the "standard" military squadron plaques since the '70s. The only 8" plaque I've made or refurbished since the '70s is one of my very first ship that was attached to DES-DIV 601 in Key West, FL in the '60s. The rest have been in the 6" range.
Thank You again for such a very helpful and superb project. I am very impressed.
John
(I'll post the project after I get it carved).

 

[Oscar36]

John,

Do you have access to a cnc or 3d printer? If you can message me your email I can try sending the file. It should scale up easily to 8" but you may have to play with the depth. The file is currently around 80 megs so I will have to reduce the size a little (lot) to get it emailed but should be fairly straight forward.