When redrawing some kit decals I've had to search online for fonts. A few specific fonts show up again and again in many Estes kits.
I can assume that Estes had a limited number of fonts and reused them many times. My hometown printshop had 35 different fonts to choose from.
For any builder looking to do home print decals,
here's some of the fonts Estes used in their kits:
These few kits listed certainly are not all the fonts Estes used.
Oldest kit decals probably used a generic "Futura" font.
Some logo names were hand drawn, like the Goblin or Citation Patriot.
You can download most fonts for free online - Just look for websites with names like "1001 Free Fonts".
I redraw a lot of logos and kit names for various projects. While many are straightforward typesetting, there are some that I think were hand drawn with a Sharpie — example: see the Maxi Icarus. In those cases, I tend to “fix” them a bit (because I want to) instead of going for absolute authenticity.
ReplyDeleteMicrogramma extended bold was one of the fonts referenced in the Franz Joseph Star Trek related fan book "Star Fleet Technical Manual" from the 1970s. The book seemed to imply that this was the font used in Star Trek (but it was not... yet). Starting with "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", the typeface for the markings on the ship did end up being based on Microgramma.
ReplyDeleteWhen I rebuilt the remains of the Estes USS Enterprise (it fell off the shelf, severely damaging one nacelle and ripped open the secondary hull), I used a similar-looking typeface Eurostile in a LetraSet rub-on letters sheet that I picked up at the local stationery store to do the markings for the rebuilt model (rebuilt as an one of the single-nacelle ships from the FJ book).
I did end up picking up the Star Trek related font sets released by BitStream back in the 1990s. These included many of the typefaces used in the titles and credits, and some additional decorative fonts for alien scripts such as Kligon, Romulan, Borg and Ferengi. What was missing however was a typeface matching what we saw on the ship's markings of the 1960s TV show.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to note that the decal sheet on the Estes kit for the USS Enterprise were closer match to what was on the 1960s TV show than what was on the plastic model from AMT. So as a result, some modelers would end up buying the Estes kit to get the decal sheet to use on the AMT plastic model (since both models were nearly identical in size).
ReplyDeleteSome Websites that have fonts that fit a sci-fi or futuristic theme:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fontfreak.com/
https://aurekfonts.github.io/
https://www.dafont.com/