Correct FMTV stencil font?

[Awesomeness]

Does anyone know what the correct font for FMTV stencils is?

Here is a collage of images from my archive, showing various FMTV stenciled lettering. Some key letters to note the shape of...

1. Letter "F" only has one cut, in the top horizontal stick.
2. Letter "E" has cuts in only the top and bottom horizontal sticks.
3. Letter "M" has cuts where the vertical side sticks meet the center "V" portion.

There are some discrepancies, and all these images don't use the exact same font. Some "O" letters are more rounded, and some have squarer corners.

I've spent a few hours looking at fonts, and can't find a really good one.

1. This one is fairly close, but nothing is quite right. It also doesn't seem chunky enough. https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/astype/vtg-stencil-din/
2. This one is chunkier, but many of the cuts in the letters are incorrect. https://www.fonts4free.net/stencilia-font.html

 

[coachgeo]

just a guess but bet some of the "O" used in various places is probably a zero missued. 0=zero O=oh is commonly how the two differ in many fonts. Not sure about military.

 

[Awesomeness]

just a guess but bet some of the "O" used in various places is probably a zero missued. 0=zero O=oh is commonly how the two differ in many fonts. Not sure about military.

Yes, but there are still more than 2 different O/0's, so I think there are more than one font used. They would be fairly similar though (e.g. cuts in the same spot, just slightly different widths and styles, perhaps). This collage is just a sampling... I have a whole folder of pictures that I've kept, of the various markings on the trucks. Aside from these slight differences, the markings are very consistent in the small number of fonts they use.

 

[M813rc]

I'd be interested to know too. I have the same stencils on my shelter trailer, I'd like to use the proper font when I repaint it.

Cheers

 

[Ram1911]

So far, what I have gathered, is it's close to something called MARSH font, 1 1/2 inches for bumper markings, 1 inch for other markings (Tire Pressure, etc.) unless perhaps NOT A STEP may be 1 1/2 inch. I'm deriving this from MIL-STD-129R "MILITARY MARKING FOR SHIPMENT AND STORAGE." That said, the diecutters I find on line only go to 1 inch. On my last deployment, they made stencils for us for our footlockers, and as a joke, they made one for me that said "Herr (Family Name)" owing to my German heritage. I think I still have it somewhere, probably in that footlocker. I'll take a photo, should be in my garage. It's a brown posterboard they use with the rotary stencil diecutter machine just for this. https://markingdevices.americanmark...and-supplies/rotary-stencil-cutting-machines?

 

[M813rc]

Marsh looks close, but the M and N are different. Maybe because of the size of the examples, though

Cheers

 

[Awesomeness]

That MARSH Font does look really close. It's spot on, except for the odd rounded corners on the M/N/V/W.

 

[Awesomeness]

I'd be interested to know too. I have the same stencils on my shelter trailer, I'd like to use the proper font when I repaint it.

Cheers

View attachment 800362View attachment 800363

The N/W/V on your shelter look a little different than my collage pictures.

Even so, these are getting really close. It may not be too much trouble to swap out a couple letters from a different font, perhaps.

I found these other fonts were also fairly close...

1. https://www.dafont.com/stencilia.font
2. https://www.dafont.com/stencilla.font (Link looks the same as #1, but there is an extra "i" in it.)
3. https://www.dafont.com/din-schablonierschr.font
4. https://www.dafont.com/ombudsman-stencil.font

 

[Floridianson]

Need these unit markings for the rear.

 

[M813rc]

Marsh font might actually make sense from another perspective - the old stencil cutting machine I have is made by Marsh.
It has the standard US military Stencil Gothic BE in it though.

Cheers

 

[Awesomeness]

Need these unit markings for the rear.

The round circle with the arrow/harpoon through it? I can't really see what they are... picture is not high-res enough.

 

[Ram1911]

From what I read the Marsh font was correct in WW2. Here's one that is a German DIN stencil called Schablonierschrift (literally "stencil/template script"), but looks pretty close. http://stencilfont.org/military-stencil-font.html as well as http://stencilfont.org/usarmy-stencil-font-outline.html

Also, dug out my footlocker from 2010. The letters are 2 inches tall, 1 inch wide, and it looks similar to Marsh, as the A has a curved disconnect, but the crossbar is connected on the long arm of the A (right) and not the short arm.

 

[Floridianson]

Better.

 

[Awesomeness]

Better.

That's not very tough to make. Most CAD software (illustration software too probably, but I'm an engineer not an artist) can load in a background picture, and you just draw on top of it to approximate it.

 

[Tow4]

I had the same problem matching fonts when I painted my M929. I ended up tracing over the original pictures in Acad and then importing the file into my cutting software.

 

[spankybear]

I think the correct font would be what stencil cutter the unit has. I have seen surplus Marsh cutter come out in auctions. We also have some at work like this.
https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...2c&gclid=CK-3mOjQwukCFZYqfgodBEcI4Q&gclsrc=ds

 

[spankybear]

Marsh Font · 1001 Fonts

Download Marsh Font · Free for commercial use · MARSH STENCIL is a revival of an old stencil typeface produced by the American company MARSH Stencil Machines during WWII. It's FREE

www.1001fonts.com

 

[Awesomeness]

I think the correct font would be what stencil cutter the unit has. I have seen surplus Marsh cutter come out in auctions. We also have some at work like this.
https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/H-259/Stencils-and-Supplies/Stencil-Machine-1?pricode=WB5095&utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=pla&utm_term=H-259&utm_campaign=Markers+/+Stencils&utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=pla&utm_term=H-259&utm_campaign=Markers+/+Stencils&msclkid=4c94996b3a1219fdd10ac7ae01c90e2c&gclid=CK-3mOjQwukCFZYqfgodBEcI4Q&gclsrc=ds

You would think that would be the case, but it doesn't seem like it. Years ago I started a folder on my computer called "Paint & Markings" where I put example pictures of stenciling on FMTVs. The pictures are collected from many sources (e.g. GovPlanet, user posts, military pictures, pictures I've taken, etc.) Almost all the pictures use the fonts shown in my collage I posted previously, and almost none of them use this Marsh font.

I spent a couple of hours last night going through and making a spreadsheet with individual examples of each letter. While the whole set doesn't seem to match any font that I can find available, it is actually fairly consistent, strongly suggesting that it is coming from a single source in almost all cases. For example, I'll have two dozen "N"s that all look exactly alike, then I will have three from Marsh, and one or two other oddball "whatever stencils they picked up off Amazon" kind of things. So do the units get precut sets of stencils, as part of some kind of FMTV repainting kit?

 

[Awesomeness]

After tons of searching, I came to the conclusion that no reasonably close font exists. So I hired a professional font designer to make me the exact font that I wanted, that matches each letter I could find in photos as closely as possible.

Let me introduce "Tactical Vehicle" stencil font...

 

[ramdough]

After tons of searching, I came to the conclusion that no reasonably close font exists. So I hired a professional font designer to make me the exact font that I wanted, that matches each letter I could find in photos as closely as possible.

Let me introduce "Tactical Vehicle" stencil font...
View attachment 800703

Are you going to sell stencils?


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