Our good friend David (vpro) is known to make really fine nameplates for locomotives, traction engines and even stationary engines. He is also known to have been the machining genius behind the spectacular "Tribute" authorized copy of the Saito V4PR four cylinder steam engine many years ago. A few years ago I asked David if he could perhaps also make Baldwin locomotive number plates, as typically mounted on the front of the smokebox door, in 1:20.3 scale. He studied the problem diligently at that time and determined that he didn't really think that he could. Forward many months, and with more small letter machining under his belt, he has another look at the problem, and decides just maybe he might be able to make something that sort of resembled what I'd been after. So we crunched the numbers and scaled down from my photos of the real thing, and worked it back and forth a few time, what with me giving him some wrong info a time or three and all, and he finally gets back to me saying that "Yes" he thinks he can do it .... maybe. I gave him the go ahead, and he gave me .... THIS:
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... or rather ... THESE:
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These are slightly smaller than a US nickel and the writing is also slightly smaller than what is on a US nickel, which is nothing short of amazing in my book, and they just arrived here within the last hour or so .... OH BOY!!!
Mounted the main one up as seen in the first photo and it fit to perfection even hitting the critical mount screw hole depth perfectly so that it locks up firm without the screw bulging the face of the plate. All this precision from a distance of about 1/3rd of the way around the world!
Needless to say ... I'm ecstatic and really don't know how I could be any happier at this outcome.
I should add that any flaws that you think you might see in my photos, are only shadows and light reflections, artifacts of my photos, not of the pieces themselves!
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