Ariel W/NG census numbers low-tack-stencils now available from axholmesigns

[Jan.V]

Five years ago I’ve made a CAD drawing of the typical Royal Enfield style census numbers, so that Axholme could produce them as low tack stencils. (https://hmvf.co.uk/topic/41549-royal-en ... olmesigns/). Since then I’ve seen many Royal Enfields with census numbers in the correct style, mission accomplished…

But a couple of weeks ago I was talking to an Ariel W/NG owner who asked me if I could do the same thing with the typical Ariel stencil font (not to be confused with ARIAL.TTF, and also not to be confused with STENCIL.FNT which are both post war American fonts). So that’s exactly what I did. In the attached pictures you can see some war time examples, and a screenshot of all the numbers. Axholme sells them in 1" high or 1 1/4. In my opinion they should be 1”, about the same height as the Ariel logo just below the census number. (https://www.axholmesigns.co.uk/motor-bike).

Some of you will notice that the numbers in the (low resolution) old photographs below are not "100% consistent". Sometimes the numbers don't have "bridges" where in other pictures we can clearly see these. This makes me think that these stencils were applied with a sponge and (thick) whitish paint, and after removal of the stencil the numbers may have been "touched up" a bit with a fine brush. My twopennies...

Hope these stencils will be useful!

[Roger Gwynn]

Good job Jan, makes me wish I had a W/NG even more! I have always assumed that the numbers were applied by the military after delivery from the factory but if the style of numbers varies by manufacturer, perhaps they were applied at the factory. Do you know the truth?

[Jan.V]

Hi Roger, during the late 1930's and the early 1940's the census numbers were applied in the Army depots. From approximately 1941 - 1942 onwards this was done at the factories, who charged an extra cost for this service. Each factory had its own "style". See some examples below.



The Matchless stencils were not the same as the Ariel stencils!

[Roger Gwynn]

I am still learning something everyday and today I learnt something rather interesting.

[Adz.F]

Excellent thank you Jan, I have just ordered a set!