RAF Lettering Font

[Capt Kremen]

Building a Phoenix Model Products sport scale 'Chipmunk'. Would like to add service serial numbers using inkjet vinyl decals. Can anyone advise what font style is used for these circa 1970s? Also is there a web page with these on I could use to scale to size to fit the model? Many thanks.

[Tbone]

Hi there Capt

Some years ago I had the same problem and found that there wasn't an absolutely standard font in use when the Chipmunk served as a trainer.

For the Chipmunk used by the Fleet Air Arm Museum flight at Yeovilton, to convert pilots to tail draggers, a font called RAF_PW_ATH was a reasonable match.

I used TurboCAD which was able to scale the font to any size.

Hope this helps

Steve

[PeterF]

I have recently downloaded the RAF_PW_ATH font, although I can not remember from where or I would add a link, do a google search and you will find it. I installed it in Windows as it is a True Type font and you can then use it in Word or PowerPoint or other office software and choose whatever font size you need and print out from that as another option to using a CAD program.

[Mark Stevens 1]

Posted by PeterF on 19/04/2020 22:50:43:

I have recently downloaded the RAF_PW_ATH font, although I can not remember from where or I would add a link, do a google search and you will find it. I installed it in Windows as it is a True Type font and you can then use it in Word or PowerPoint or other office software and choose whatever font size you need and print out from that as another option to using a CAD program.

That font and some useful others are still available. I have been using it quite a lot lately on my scale Heli builds as I print my own decals.

You can get it here, Just click where it says download and you'll get a zip file with all the shown fonts in it. Extract that and you can then install them as you see fit. Link

One word of caution, if you do use the RAF_PW_ATH font, make sure your Caps Lock is off or it won't work.

Mark

[PeterF]

Posted by Mark Stevens 1 on 21/04/2020 04:13:46

One word of caution, if you do use the RAF_PW_ATH font, make sure your Caps Lock is off or it won't work.

Yes, that caught me out, you type the text in as lower case letters and it appears as capital letters, the font does not have capital letters. I already had my text set out in a PowerPoint document in Arial using capitals then swapped to the RAF font, took me a while to work out why the numbers were left but the letters had disappeared. My wife has a cutting machine for her crafting hobbies, so I use that after converting the PowerPoint file to a bitmap image.

[Allan Bennett]

I'm having trouble getting the RAF_PW_ATH font to work: My PC uses up-to-date Windows 10, and I've downloaded the font, unzipped the files, right-clicked on the font file, and installed it. I can see it in the list of available fonts in the three programs I use most often -- MS Word, CorelDraw, and Silhouette Studio -- but it doesn't work properly in any of them.

In MS Word if I select the RAF font from the drop-down list, as soon as I start typing it reverts to Ariel. I can type first using the default font and then highlight it and select the RAF font from the list, and it then works, but if I edit or add to the text the new text is in Ariel.

In CorelDraw it shows up in the drop-down list of fonts but, if selected, does nothing when I start typing. In Silhouette Studio it reverts to Ariel font even though RAF_PW_ATH is selected in the drop-down list.

I'm wondering if perhaps I've installed a fake/clone/duff version of the font, so can someone give me a link to the version they used, please?

[PeterF]

Allan,

I have downloaded the font onto a PC that is only 9 months old with Windows 10 and the latest version of MS Office without any problems.

I have had a root around to find where I got my copy from last month and the file I downloaded was on RCGroups, see post with fonts. Download the zip file and extract the contents. The file you want is the one titled "RAF - Royal Air Force Std.ttf". When I load fonts, the best way I have found is to double click on the ttf file to open it to check it is want you want and then press the install button at the top left of the window.

Hope this helps.

Peter.

[Allan Bennett]

Thanks PeterF. That's a different source than the one I used, so I've now downloaded, extracted, and installed the RAF file from there. It's the same one as I had before, as it prompted me that the font is already there, do I want to replace it. So I replaced it. In MS Word I still have to type something first using the default font, then highlight it and change it to the RAF font. But then I can add and/or edit the text and it retains the RAF font style, so that's progress.

It still doesn't work with Silhouette Studio, but at least I can do decals using word, and if I want to cut any vinyl or paint masks I can type what I want in Word, print it and then scan it into Silhouette.

[Mark Stevens 1]

Posted by Allan Bennett on 21/04/2020 13:37:26:

I'm having trouble getting the RAF_PW_ATH font to work: My PC uses up-to-date Windows 10, and I've downloaded the font, unzipped the files, right-clicked on the font file, and installed it. I can see it in the list of available fonts in the three programs I use most often -- MS Word, CorelDraw, and Silhouette Studio -- but it doesn't work properly in any of them.

In MS Word if I select the RAF font from the drop-down list, as soon as I start typing it reverts to Ariel. I can type first using the default font and then highlight it and select the RAF font from the list, and it then works, but if I edit or add to the text the new text is in Ariel.

In CorelDraw it shows up in the drop-down list of fonts but, if selected, does nothing when I start typing. In Silhouette Studio it reverts to Ariel font even though RAF_PW_ATH is selected in the drop-down list.

I'm wondering if perhaps I've installed a fake/clone/duff version of the font, so can someone give me a link to the version they used, please?

                                             ------------------------------------------------------------------------

The one from the link I posted should be fine, I've been using it for quite some time on Windows 7 (32 bit) and am now using it on a new PC (I built it on January 13th, so it's just 3 months old) running Windows 10 Pro 64 bit. You can also install the font from the preview of it (click on the .ttf file of the font you want and you will see the print & install options at top left)

I use it mainly in MS Paint and Open Office and it works fine in both of those. The trick is remembering to leave the caps lock off.

Mark

 

 

 

Edited By Mark Stevens 1 on 22/04/2020 10:55:26