Is Your Model Car Registered? - How To Create Your Own License Plates in 1/25th Scale.
Channel: Monster Hobbies Model Car Garage
Date: 06/05/2022

Have you ever wondered how to make a realistic license plate for your model car?

In today's Monster Hobbies Model Car Garage Tips and Tech we will show you how to create your very own  1/25th scale model car licence plate. This is a model car how-to video that I hope will help you learn a new model building skill. 

Video Chapters : 

00:00 - Video introduction and project description
01:02 - What tools will we need for this project?
01:34 - How do you know how big to make the license plates?
02:10 - What is the history of British Columbia licence plates and where do I find out?
06:35 - When the new cars went on sale, would the plate match the year of a new car?
07:21 - Where can I make a licence plate?
08:37 - How to I cut out and save my custom plate to my computer?
09:45 - How do I use my word processor software to scale and print my plate?
12:19 - What if the web site I am using is missing a plate for a year that I want?
13:28 - What should I look for to make a perfect plate from web site images of real plates?
14:53 - What would a real world rusty plate look like reduced to 1/25th scale? 
15:48 - What were some of the more interesting plates of the past? 
16:11 - What type of paper do I print my plates on and how do they look after printing? 
17:11 - How do I cut my plates off of the paper?
17:26 - A brief understanding of the letters and prefix codes on the 1941 BC plates.
18:34 - Back to the cutting! 
19:29 - How does the home made licence plate fit on the model kit frame? 
20:23 - A special treat from the past - perfected for the future!
21:17 - Wrap-up and my final thoughts on model car licence plates
21:44 - Shout out to my supporters from all over the internet!

Here are the links I use for finding and creating your own licence plates : 

History of BC License Plates - https://www.bcpl8s.ca/
License Plates dot TV - https://www.licenseplates.tv/
Acme License Plate Maker - https://www.acme.com/licensemaker/

For this project, you will need the following : 

1.) A working computer with access to the internet
2.) A word processor program like Open Office Writer, MS Works, or MS Word
3.) A printer, ink and paper (Heavy Card Stock, Photo Paper or Sticky Backing)
4.) The Snipping Tool from your computer "Start" button menu
5.) Wooden cutting board or self healing cutting board
6.) Rulers - one for measuring and one for a straight edge cut
7.) Hobby knife with a #11 hobby blade 
8.) License plate frame or full bumpers with license plate space from your model car kit

The main lesson of this video is to show you how to use your computer to search for, create, rescale, print off, cut out and apply your new license plate to the model in simple, easy to understand steps. 

Some things to make a note of : 

1.) Each year of license plate in British Columbia prior to 1970 was a different color for each year. Therefore a plate from 1958 will be a different color from 1957 and 1959. 

2.) New cars for the next year came out in September of the previous year. For example, a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air would come to the Chevorlet dealership and be sold in September 1954. Therefore, it is possible that a 1955 Chevrolet would exist in late 1954 and wear a 1954 licence plate for the remaining 3 months of 1954. This is good to remember if you are making an accurate diorama set in October of 1954 and want to include a 1955 model year car.

3.) Different letter locations and letter/number arrangements can mean different types of registration for that year. For example, in British Columbia, a letter prefix on a passenger car licence plate for 1941 could denote that the car was registered in a certain municipality, like Vancouver island. Different letter prefixes might mean that the plate could belong to a commercial vehicle, doctor's private car, National Defense vehicle, Public Works vehicle, or many other different vehicle designations. A look at history on licence plates will help you determine which type of plate would go on which type of vehicle. This will help you with accuracy in your diorama.

If you have used this technique or something similar to build your model kit, please show us your pictures on our Facebook page here : https://www.facebook.com/Monster-Hobbies-in-High-River-Alberta-Canada-163876670301889

You may ask yourself "Where can I purchase model cars?".

Check out our supply of model car figure kits at this link - https://www.monster-hobbies.ca/Hobby_Products/c375-model-car-garage-and-accessories/

And if you like these videos, please support us on Patreon here : https://www.patreon.com/Monster_Hobbies

Thank you for watching Model Car Garage Tips And Tech - Is Your Model Car Registered? - How To Create Your Own License Plates in 1/25th Scale. We hope it will help you out on your future model car builds.

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