[Verdoro 68]

I can apply the rounding easily - it's just an effect in Illustrator. Drawing letters is a little more tedious. The difference in output quality between the '68 water slide decals and the '71 stickers is pretty dramatic. The fonts on the '68 decals are much more crisp and clear.

The good news is this '71 455 decal provides a good base for a bunch of other emissions decals of similar vintage.

Here's a test print in the finished size of 2.5" x 6.5". It seems tiny compared to how zoomed in I've been working!

[Jason67]

Ken, Excellent work! Any chance on doing a silkscreen for the underside of the chrome pancacke lids and 67 HO lid? I'm interested in a couple of each. Thank you, Jason

[Jason67]

Ken, Here's a pic of the pancake base and an HO lid. HO I think is the same as corvette.

[dataway]

Ken you have started a sh*t storm

Now you are going to have to hire someone to organize your products, list applicable year models, do sales and shipping, administer the website.

[Jeff Hamlin]

Originally Posted by Jason67

Ken, Here's a pic of the pancake base and an HO lid. HO I think is the same as corvette.

FWIW;
That stencil was also applied on the '66 OHC SPRINT Breather
but on the underside of the lid.
Wish I had a clearer image.

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

I can apply the rounding easily - it's just an effect in Illustrator. Drawing letters is a little more tedious. The difference in output quality between the '68 water slide decals and the '71 stickers is pretty dramatic. The fonts on the '68 decals are much more crisp and clear.

The good news is this '71 455 decal provides a good base for a bunch of other emissions decals of similar vintage.

Here's a test print in the finished size of 2.5" x 6.5". It seems tiny compared to how zoomed in I've been working!

Ken, That looks incredible with the rounded fonts. You are a stickler for detail and I think you nailed it! I'm happy to help in a little way...you did all the heavy lifting.

Dennis

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by Jason67

Ken, Here's a pic of the pancake base and an HO lid. HO I think is the same as corvette.

Originally Posted by Jeff Hamlin

FWIW;
That stencil was also applied on the '66 OHC SPRINT Breather
but on the underside of the lid.
Wish I had a clearer image.

I actually got this label from someone else the other day from the underside of the Ram Air lid, so it's used in a number of places. I don't recognize the font on this one off hand, so it's going to take some effort. I'll put this one in my backlog.

Originally Posted by dataway

Ken you have started a sh*t storm

Now you are going to have to hire someone to organize your products, list applicable year models, do sales and shipping, administer the website.

I'm working on something! I bought a domain name, started setting up a Shopify store and have an illustrator friend working on a logo. The trouble is I don't have much inventory yet, just designs. That, hopefully, will change next weeks as the next batch of stickers and waterslides start showing up. I have a bunch of supplies on the way to start packaging up the air cleaner silkscreens. I picked up some bigger silkscreen frames and a new emulsion to try as well so I can make more screens at once.

[Verdoro 68]

Back to the silkscreen effort. I bought a scoop coater and tried a new emulsion last night. Much better output and a way more even coating on the screen. I'm also learning about exposure time which is important to being able to get all the details. Can't go too long or the emulsion under the overlay won't wash off and you lose details, can't be too short or the emulsion isn't hard enough.

Old process on top in the pic. The screen is very spotchy and uneven - it worked, but looks amateur. The bottom has the new emulsion applied with the scoop coater. I also learned I was burning my screen backwards with the image on the top side. Now the biggest challenge seems to be keeping the screens free of lint before applying the emulsion.





Anyway, feeling good about the progress and started prototyping a little kit that would include the screen, a small container of ink, a popsicle stick to apply the paint before spreading and a squeegee to apply it to the screen. Still need to write up the instructions.

[Shiny]

That looks like a huge improvement. Nicely done!

What is a "scoop coater"? Can it provide a repeatable thickness? Do you have a way to measure your emulsion thickness?

And yes, exposure variation will cause line-width variation as I'm sure you are experiencing. Put your exposure lamp on a timer if it's not already. Do you use a fluorescent lamp or a UV-rich LED flood or ??

[Verdoro 68]

A scoop coater is a trough you put the emulsion in and drag up the screen to apply the emulsion. Simple device that works really well! One side has a thin edge for a shallow coat the other has a thick edge for a thicker coat.

https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Emul...dp/B01HSFXCSQ/

I've been using a UV LED with a homemade set up in our laundry room (because it's dark) to expose the screens. I've read anywhere from 1 minute to 15 for exposure. I've gone as long as 10 minutes, but 3-4 minutes seems to work best. Apparently it only takes a minute if you put the screen in the sun.

[Verdoro 68]

I've been working with Dennis on the finer details of the '71 455 decal and I think we've got it pretty dang close - factory ugliness and all. Fonts blurred a little and rounded the appropriate amount.

Would folks prefer these as glossy stickers (like the '68s I did) or flat? Dennis was saying they originals were glossy.




I'm also feeling pretty good about the silkscreen air cleaner labels now. Between the scoop coater to even out the emulsion and nailing down the exposure time I think they're are looking pretty good. They rinse out well and the paint lays down evenly in my test applications. That said, when I do the instructions I will add something about the factory process being imperfect and these stencils being hand made

[Verdoro 68]

Tonight's episode: new '67 & '68 coolant decals arrived! There's a version of the '67 decal out there, but IMO the quality is horrible. To my knowledge, the black '68 decal is not being produced. Water slides are still on the way.





I've got plenty of PP and PR air cleaner screens I'm happy with, so I've moved on to the other varieties. If someone could verify the application for the codes, I would appreciate it.

PH - All 2bbl
PJ - All 2bbl Heavy Duty
PP - 400 4bbl
PR - 400 4bbl Heavy Duty
PK - 350 4bbl
PT - 350HO
PV - 350HO Heavy Duty

[Verdoro 68]

'71 455 HO emissions decals have arrived. These were a little more expensive as I ordered them laminated like the originals. I have to admit, the fuzzy irregular fonts make my eye twitch, but that's the way they were from the factory.

[OG68]

As an FYI, here is a NOS radiator decal. Due to the application method, I had to reverse the image shown through a light

I also have a pair of NOS 68 Timing decals. As soon as I find them, I'll post them.

[CraigGT37]

Here is the original sticker from my 71 Lemans Sport. it does seem to be shiney and a bit blurry like the ones you had made.

[OG68]

I found the NOS 68 emission stickers. The same application method as the radiator sticker.
One small detail I hadn't noticed before is that this sticker is for 'Pontiac'. So I'll be in the market for the Tempest version.

[Verdoro 68]

Right on - that's the one I have on my extra radiator shroud but the code had flaked off. Every time someone brings up an original, I cringe a little expecting to see that I missed some details, but I think the '68 emissions decals I made are pretty dang close.

I'm curious about the "Dry Decal." Looks like these weren't water slides after all!

[OG68]

So it appears that the original 68 radiator and emissions stickers were actually stickers, not water slides.
Peel off the back, apply and smooth over and then peel off the front.

[Verdoro 68]

Interesting. It's almost like old school press type. That makes more sense to me on a production line. Slap it down and on to the next one. The closest thing I've found these days is a dry transfer, but those are really expensive and I'm not sure they can be multicolor. I assume Vitachrome is long gone.

[unruhjonny]

Unless I am mistaken, those NOS emissions stickers are the rarest of the rare;
I found (but declined to purchase) an NOS 1970 full sized(?) sticker last year;
Curiously it was a white background sticker..???

I don’t understand why the ‘70 Firebird RAIV sticker is made, when only 88 cars were built…
I wish the sticker I pulled off my rad support had enough left to compare it against the repop I bought ages ago.