Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

It took a little while to shake loose all the cobwebs in my head related to Ratios, but everything started to come together as the week progressed. I now have a set of measurements for all the decals on the front panel of the Supply Unit.

Interestingly enough, when I compared the values obtained to the surviving postwar decals on my Supply Unit, the overall sizes of each decal were identical, so that felt very good, and was a bit of a surprise in the process.

The font size for the lettering on the postwar decals is definitely smaller than the wartime originals, giving a larger black area on each decal which may be making them look smaller than they actually are to the eye. It is still odd, however, that the chosen postwar luminous colour for the remade decals was yellow. When I was researching phosphor luminous paints for the 52-Set Project a few years ago, I learned that yellow and orange coloured phosphors are very expensive, so the corresponding paints are not typically 'off the shelf' items, but more in the realm of custom orders. On that basis, it is very surprising the Canadian Army went with a yellow phosphor luminous paint colour, rather than the wartime, very common and cheap, green. I wonder if the purchasing department was taken to the cleaners by a decal supplier telling them they could save money with a smaller font in yellow?

Now to see what I can do to replicate correct decal sizes on the computer.


David