Badges... we don't need to stinking badges...

But I want them...

Heller's Script 

Now that the paint is done, it's time to wrap up the exterior because the inside of that pilot house is really calling to me.
Let's start with the "Badges".  Oxford says that a badge (as in car badge) is a distinguishing emblem or mark.  My boat name will be a badge of sorts.  It's not a "Miss Addy" brand or make, but in keeping with the retro look hearkening back to the 50's and 60's era styling, I chose to make the boat name shine like chrome, like the Belair or Thunderbird badges of yesteryear.  I looked around at different options and realized I couldn't afford most of them and true auto badges required a minimum order in the hundreds... I needed two.
The only affordable option for me was aluminum and I would do the polishing and protecting.  Our only real problem with aluminum is corrosion and softness. I will have to accept that anything applied will have to be reapplied and the polished look "renewed" on occasion with rebuffing. More on that later, I'm still deciding what protectant to use.

First, the font.

John Studden

A favorite that seems to really work with this era is a Letterhead's Fonts offering by glass artist and master font creator John Studden called Heller's Script. The fonts are affordable for that next step up in quality over what is typically available for free and I have purchased quite a few over the years for special artwork assignments.

A photo of Pat Burrington off of his website

To accomplish this conversion to 1/4" aluminum plate I enlisted the water jet services of Pat Burrington of Rapid Creek Cutters in Stevensville, MT.  Pat was great to deal with and turned the letters over in a week.  I provided Pat with a vector file generated inside of Adobe Illustrator and general dimensions.  In a weeks time the badges arrived shrink wrapped and ready to sand and polish.
I highly recommend Rapid Creek Cutters for their stellar customer service, top notch product and affordable pricing.  Pat actually beat out a local vinyl shop estimate for the same size product in stacked vinyl including shipping... Amazing!

Sanded to 600 grit

The sanding/polishing procedure sort of followed a YouTube video out there showing a truck fuel tank first being sanded then polished with a spiral sewn buffing wheel and brown tripoli, then a loose wheel with white compound.  The sanding grit was 320, then 600.

Polished and taken with lights on.

Pat left a connector piece on the "Miss" so the "i" and its dot  wouldn't part off from the "M" while cutting and end up in the tank under the water jet table. The edges have a nice bead blasted look and was extremely smooth and accurate. I showed these to Brad and mentioned that I would have to cut these apart and sand the nibs.  He thought that it looked pretty sharp as is and after looking at it again, I agreed. They stayed and definitely maintains registration of the text.

Meanwhile the rubrail and trim...

Shop vac hose screwed down  to the fence close to the bit.  The press table
had a pine 1"x10" screwed down for support of the 1" aluminum stock.

Note the spacing marks for the holes, drawn on the fence edge.
This was indexed by eyeball from the previous drilled hole.

While I'm sucking aluminum dust and cotton wheel fiber, I might as well work on the rubrail that is going to cap the trapezoidal piece attached to the upper edge of the hull.  It is also 1/4" x 1" x 12' aluminum flat stock that will be polished.  There are 6 pieces total - two butted end to end for the rub rail cap on each side and 1 for each side right under the pilot house side window and above the portholes in the cabin. The rubrail will be attached every 6" with oval head screws, dipped in marine caulk to seal the threads.  For this we set up the drill press with a fence to center the holes and using a few marks along the fence we "eyeballed" the spacing which was surprisingly accurate. Once drilled out for the #8 screws, we came back and used a standard wood countersink to chamfer each hole. The press depth was set to keep this consistent.
The two trim pieces that are to break the wide expanse of the pilothouse walls, were not drilled out.  All were sanded individually using the same procedure as the boat name.  All six trim pieces were then arranged next to each other with the un-drilled pieces sandwiched in the middle and using a few strategically place screws, I chucked a 10" grinder wheel in the 7" grinder and buffed in the same manner as the boat name.  A thorough cleaning with lacquer thinner and all was conveyed to the boat for installation.

The Install...

A view of the rub rail and bulleted end of the aluminum cap.

The install was straightforward. Using an ellipse template from my previous life as an Illustrator, I used a belt sander to grind the bullet profile.  The first screw hole was set 1-1/2" from the end when we set the press up.








A few notes before I throw up a pictures of the installed rail. The screws just need a little caulk to seal.  I cut the end of a small squeeze tube of polyurethane caulk and pushed the screw into the end nozzle about a half an inch. Predrill the holes and run them in.  Go one at a time slowly bending the rail to match the flat on the rub rail.  Make sure to bring your bit and countersink along.  The butt ends will need  a screw an 1-1/2" from the ends to properly mate them together.

Boat name, trim and the salvaged bow rail...

For the boat name and trim we used 3M Super Strength Trim Tape and a few strategically placed screws to keep the ends from ever getting started and (if truth be told) to hold the trim tight where the pilot house breaks at the cabin wall. There are inconspicuous and look proper on a boat.  The trick was getting it lined up properly but referencing from the edge trim on the pilot house helped.
The ends were bulleted just the same and buffed to blend.
The boat name was centered on the porthole window and adjusted to allow the trim to strike it in the middle. Tape was put on the name and trimmed within the confines of the letter.  The name was held up on penciled layout lines and a few reference points drawn for proper registration once the tape backing is removed.  The names were then tipped on edge to align and carefully pushed into place.  Once stuck, it is stuck.

The bow rail was a stroke of luck.  My brother Joe pulled this off of a boat he owned and it sat around my Dad's house for a year or two, nearly being cut apart and hauled off more than once. On a whim Dad called and asked if I might be interested in it and almost said no.  I'm glad I didn't and he hauled it up where we did not expect it to come close to matching the Redwing's lines.  Total surprise! Not only did it fit, it looked great, or at least we think so.  You be the judge.  Access holes had to be cut inside the cabin to get at the mounting studs for nuts and washers.  We using Compass Marine Butyl Rubber to mount them... great stuff!