garvice Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Ok, at the start of the year I bought an electronic VDO tacho to go with my new computer. I bought it because it looked like the closest font to the original tacho. I then proceeded to pull it apart so that I could add indicators to the face. You can see that thread here. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=143337 This is what it looked like As stated in the previous thread, I was happy with the new tacho, but thought that I could do better with matching the type face. This was the result. If you like what you see then keep reading for the details. Ok, so you like what you see. What I liked about the VDO tacho was that the light shun through the perspex face rather then passing around the edges like the original. So I dismantled the tacho again and found that the VDO tacho face was a thin (about 1mm) plastic sheet that was screen printed and glued to the 3mm perspex tacho. So I decided that I could replicate this. I first started with OHT (Over head Transparency) sheets, but I couldn't get the black, black enough to stop the light. Several sheets helped, but got hard to work with, and using a bubble jet printer wasn't going to last long in the sun. So with the help of a member on here and auszcar "sexual_sushi" (Yeah I know, gay name, but he's cool). He redrew my scanned tacho and got them printed by a professional photo lab. I then put a OHT copy behind a Photo copy and Double sided taped them to the tacho. I also took the hand (made of clear perspex with an orange paint on the bottom) and sanded the orange off the bottom to paint white. OHT PHOTO IN CAR NIGHT PHOTO (See the difference in illumination between original speedo and new tacho, also note the redline lights up) This one shows the lights and hand better (first print) So, am I done? No, not yet. There are a few other things that I am going to work on. First is that the face isn't as matt as I wanted (might try some matt clear coat). Second, have to move the tacho down a little, also got to block out the light coming through the Kanto text down the bottom, move the indicators a little and find my round hand cover with chrome surround. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 Ok, made a few changes. Matt printed paper, indicators moved down and darkened. Didn't take an indicator photo, but it is much more defined now because I put two sheets of transparency behind the photo. Also better night photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 Someone on another forum requested indicator shots. It comes out a little whiter/yellower due to the darkened indicators. One day I might lighten them a touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30TRBO Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Looks great garvice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetride2go Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Vary impressive!!! I was going for a similar look with "as close as I could get autometers" but you took it to a whole different level. kudos! Ryan~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
at-jefft Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 very nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 Thanks for the feedback guys, I was starting to think no one liked what I had done. Little bit of praise goes a long way in motivation. Cheers Brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jyz77 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 wow -garvice , that looks GREAT !! nice skills .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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