What material is this?

[NickB]

I am unsure if this is the correct place to ask this question. Apologies if it isn't. We've got a 20 year old fire truck in that needs a replaced graphic where a repair job is going to remove it. It appears like a type of gold but the color of it makes me question if its just old or a specific product. See attached pictures, any insight would be appreciate


d.

 

[Johnny Best]

Looks like someone handlayed gold leaf on with quick size. And cut vinyl outlines with drop shade.

 

[weyandsign]

It looks like it's printed on reflective to me.

 

[SightLine]

Either hand laid gold on sizing or possibly Realgold (or Signgold) Florentine would be a good substitute.....

 

[Gino]

Not sure. Looks like a rigid lam over it, which normally you would not use on gold, unless it was cheap stuff, but the way it looks, it does look hand gilded. Regardless, you're not gonna be able to patch a few letters. Have them remove the entire area, re-shoot it and put your own version on. Do it right..... or go home.

 

[White Haus]

I don't know anything about gold leaf etc, but bonus points if you use one of these products....... https://nekoosa.com/products/vinylefx

 

[Notarealsignguy]

What's the red outline? Contour cut laminate that extends past the edges?

 

[Aaron Hunter]

Faux gold leaf pattern fill printed on probably reflective. There's no depth variation between the gold and drop and you can see where the tile repeat lines are. I really don't understand the laminate bleed or why a bleed wasn't added to the black. I can only guess that it's for edge sealing.

 

[Boudica]

What's the red outline? Contour cut laminate that extends past the edges?

I saw that too. Looks thicker than just laminate though.

 

[Mike Paul]

I’m guessing Leo’s Smart Gold if it’s old.
Not sure if it’s around anymore or changed names but It was hand gilded with real Gold Leaf and had a laminate extending over the edges. Sold to a lot of Fire Stations and sign shops.

 

[DL Signs]

What's the red outline? Contour cut laminate that extends past the edges?

A lot of hand laid gold leaf had a lacquer clear coat that had to be reapplied every so many years to protect it from repeated washings, smoke & soot, salt, etc.

 

[Billct2]

Could be any of these guesses. But I also see the lines which could be from a faux gold print pattern being tiles.
We do a lot of repairs on fire trucks that we didn't do originally and sometimes we just have to redo it all becuase there's no way to match it.

 

[jfiscus]

That's Leo's Gold, you can tell by how it turns green. Leo passed a few years ago and no one wanted to adopt his process to continue making the materials.
I recommend using products from RealGold or SignGold companies, they're good quality products and do not need encapsulated around the edges like Leo's did. (the laminate that is larger than the material in your photo)
By the way, the black is printed onto the material by a Gerber Edge printer.

 

[bob]

Regardless of what it is, simply print the entire thing, gold and black outline/drop shadow, on high quality silver metallic vinyl. Use the lightest silver available since that's going to be your white point. Create the gold fill by first choosing the proper color for the gold, most likely some shade of yellow, and then putting a light grunge pattern on it. The gold fill, being printed with translucent ink and a light color, will come out as metallic and the black will be opaque black. The very thing you want.