Author Topic: Looking for font ID on CONX tank cars  (Read 973 times)

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peteski

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Looking for font ID on CONX tank cars
« on: May 05, 2012, 02:17:45 AM »
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Friend of mine wants to model the gas train on MRL (in N scale): http://www.pbase.com/mrmrl/conx_tank_cars

I'll be making decals for him and I need to figure a font that is a match (or at least close) to what is used on those cars.


I tried to identify the font (using websites such as identifont) but no luck.   Any Ideas?
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C855B

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Re: Looking for font ID on CONX tank cars
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2012, 09:05:04 AM »
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...mike

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peteski

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Re: Looking for font ID on CONX tank cars
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2012, 11:18:01 PM »
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Thanks C855!  Since you pointed me to it I have  looked at many variations of that Trade Gothic font and the closest I think is Trade Gothic LT Bold Condensed No. 20 http://fontzone.net/font-details/Trade+Gothic+LT+Bold+Condensed+No.+20/

Close, but letters like M, K, G are different. If I can't find a better match at least I have something reasonably close to work with.  I can convert the letters to curves then edit them as needed.  Or maybe at the small size I'll be using, they might pass without modification (assuming that rivet counters do not look at them under magnification).   :D
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C855B

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Re: Looking for font ID on CONX tank cars
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2012, 01:02:10 AM »
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No sweat. In one of my prior lives I was a typographer, and frequently had to ID fonts on sight. I didn't get the one in your pic immediately, but it was apparent (to me) it was in the News Gothic/Franklin Gothic family, and a couple of clicks later there it was. Or really, really close.

The problem with fonts is everybody has their own "version" so they don't violate somebody else's copyright on the font artwork. So they'll change six or seven characters to skirt the copyright rules, which explains your differences. The "1" is also slightly different. I'll betcha that the fonts were "indigenous" to a specific lettering or sign-making system, and nowhere to be found in general font libraries. That kind of stuff drove me friggin' nuts. I did the same thing, too - change the characters to outlines and re-render the artwork for the differences.
...mike

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