Can anyone help with a link to a source for a set of external placards for a PA23-250 Aztec F model? I have only found one company in the US that can do this model and the placards don’t look very good. Aircraft is currently in annual and it would be good to refresh all the external placards at the same time.
It is the mx shop which has asked if I can source them. I will keep looking and may be able to find someone in the UK to make some up from a template.
JohnR wrote:
It is the mx shop which has asked if I can source them. I will keep looking and may be able to find someone in the UK to make some up from a template.
I find that a bit strange, but hey…. I’d ask a paint shop, they have to do it after a re-spray.
Good idea thanks I will try that.
When my plane was painted, the paint shop have quite a few standard placards as silk screens. They silk screened the words right onto the new while paint with the colour of paint I requested, they did, and still do (29 years later) look great. Silk screens can be custom made, though that’s not my expertise, I just say that the end result is superb!
Do you have the existing labels as a data source? If so, take a picture. If not, take the original “picture” of the decal from the OEM parts catalog. You can then make up your own with a word processing program (Word, OpenOffice, etc) as a label and then print off onto a sheet with self-adhesive labels? Most of these decals in the OEM parts catalog are legible, at least they are for my C172. If not, the next best would be to try to find an aircraft with a legible original that can be photographed. Once pasted onto the target location, it can be protected with clear nail polish or something similar. I just replaced my ELT cover and the old one had a label on it. I’ve created a new label with OpenOffice, including the original label p/n which was on the label itself. Looks as good as or better than the original.
I got external placards from my local sign shop. Cheap. Quick.
Went in, went to Tesco, went back and picked them up.
But I’m Permit (Experimental).
On certified types that have them, the text for each placard is described in the approved Maintenance Manual or Parts Catalog (on my type they are one and the same). I’ve made my own decals using Zazzle.com, making them look like the originals for esthetics when a weathered original was available, but there’s nothing I know about that requires the placards to look esthetically like the originals. I generally cover decals on the exterior of the plane with 3M clear film – the thin, expensive stuff used on cars for stone chip and environmental protection.
I am pretty sure one can do 100% legal placards with any labelling machine.
For appearance it is better to get a good one. I have one of these
which is quite old now, and have recently got this one
Both from Brother.
An airworthiness inspector who has had a bad night can get quite unpleasant over placards, because the aircraft is not airworthy unless every placard in the POH is present. There are stories of US ramp checks where somebody got grounded.
