A Ferrari For Emily

1958 Ferrari 246F1 Grand Prix Car.

A customer contacted the shop and was enquiring if a collectors model car could have a Girls name be added.

The email with the enquiry was forwarded to me so I could contact the customer and discuss what he really wants and if I could do this for him.

The Special Gift: A 1958 Ferrari 246 F1 Grand Prix Model

It turned out he had a 1/18 scale 1958 Ferrari 246 F1 Grand Prix car, which I believe he was going to present to a Girlfriend as a special present but with her name somewhere on the model.

I took the job on and discussed with him the various methods of how to get the name on the model, how big it would be, the font style and where on the model it would look good and actually be noticed!

Exploring Customization Methods: Dry Transfers vs Waterslide Decals

Two viable methods of doing this were considered and the pros and cons looked at for each.

Dry transfer decals (like the old Letrasets) could work but have a limited range of fonts and in fact, the customer had emailed me a picture of a piece of jewellery which actually spelled the girls name and wanted the same font or as close as I could get.
Picture 2, Emily jewellery,

Waterslide decals like those you can find in most plastic aircraft kits was the real answer because I could make them in the workshop and control the size and the colour.

Designing the Perfect Decal for Emily

Using the ‘Emily’ picture as a template, I loaded this into the basic paint programme on the PC then played around with some hand drawing until I got a fairly good close match as shown in the template picture.
Picture 3, Emily template.

Water slide decals can only be made on clear or white background A4 size decal sheets which are inkjet printer friendly.

Choosing the Perfect Shade for Ferrari Red

Choice of colour for the decals is down to a contrasting colour such as white, yellow or possibly a light green but the attraction of red would not go away, so red it was, but considering the model is in Ferrari red, any other red on red does not work very well unless…the font can be in a darker red so it acts as a ghost image by printing the artwork on clear decal sheet allowing the original red on the bodywork to show through each letter.
Picture 4, Ghost ‘Emily’.

I was very happy with this and just needed to do it in red but in the right darker red so when on the model, it does actually still show. It took several attempts with getting the darker shade of red correct.

Final Placement and the Customer’s Reaction

The location on the model was discussed and the customer agreed it would look perfect on the side, just above the black exhaust pipes.
I think it works really well and the customer was very happy with the end results.

Emily’s Over-the-Moon Reaction

A couple of weeks later, the customer came back into the shop to tell me how Emily (the real one!) reacted on seeing her name on the model…She was over the moon!