Hi
Time to ask for help again.
I’m interested in which methods have been used for painting census numbers on your tanks.
Does anybody do a waterslide or dry rub transfer?
Prior to early / mid 1940, all WD serials were applied at the vehicle depots..Either RAOC Chilwell where they had some pretty good signwriters, or RASC, generally Feltham or Slough where anyone who could hold a paintbrush was used !
After this point, the manufacturers were paid 1/- per machine to apply the numbers and each had their own house style, within broad limits. It has been documented that Enfield used transfers but most other makes were signwritten. The only stencils in use at that time were reusable with 'bridges' to hold the unpainted areas so they have the characteristic broken lines. These are very much in a minority.
It's clear that most machines had hand painted / signwritten numbers but few of us can come anywhere near the neatness required so use of vinyl stencils is the best option. However, they shouldn't really be sprayed and a dryish brush, allowing some brush strokes to be visible is the closest that I've managed to get....If the vinyl is carefully applied and used as a guide rather than a hard boundary to build paint up against then the effect can be quite reasonable.