OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers Commando Decal

I was trying to give the mower a bit of a clean up, and the old sticker was peeling off and faded, but I think it would have looked good to have a new one. So I made my own, and if you want you can use it. It should print to the exact size of the old one, and I thin you buy this sticker vinyl paper from the Officwork and print on it then cover it with clear contact and then cut it out and wack it on. I wouldn't get it too wet, it may not like it.
Here it is...

That's pretty darn good will save it for later

Hi Joe,
I was looking closer at the old sticker - its in really bad condition - and I noticed they had some camouflage marks also. I added them in and here it is. I think this is pretty close to original. Go Commando!

Great Job, I might keep that one handy too!

How did you do it, I have a few older ones here I would love to be able to re-create!

Hi Mr Davis, I did it using a program called Adobe Photoshop CS5. I love doing things in that program, its fun.

I have to get myself photoshop, and workout how to do it!

Here is another one, only simple but it may come in 'handy' (sorry about the pun! )

It will print out at the exact size of an original.

I found this one on an old cover so I copied it too. I put some on a mower I did up, and they came up really well.

Here is the latest...What do you think?

So I am able to get my hands on photoshop cs3 (probably similar in function) Would it possible to get a quick rundown on how to use it to remanufacture something like this:

Hi Joe, Photoshop is a very complicated program. There are thousands of tips and tricks on how to use it all over the net. I find the best way is just to practice and play around in it, there is nothing that it cannot do. With the monaro sticker, I would get that photo, and using the cut and paste tools that can select items out like that writing, I would start it from there. If you like I would love to have a go at this one. (I love Holden Monaro's and Victa's!) The ruler gives me the size in width, but can you measure the height of the sticker, I would guess about 75mm, but if I made it 80mm it can be easily trimmed back with scissors.

How does this look Joe?

Hi waynec, mate you are a whizz on photoshop, and that looks fantastic, and well done...however (if you allow me to be critical) if this was to be placed on an original mower, the centre strip needs to be gold or brass coloured and in the text at the bottom, the company name is Narta not Narda. Please don't think I'm being picky...but collectors and restorers are a pernickety bunch!

Thanks Deejay, I now see my spelling error! I will fix it up, and make the background 'gold and brass'.

Wow thats pretty darn good! I will PM you in the morning when I'm off my phone and not trying to type and click on small icons

The latest and hopefully greatest

Now we're talkin'!! How good does that look
Well done mate!

OK, now we are really getting somewhere with this, thanks Wayne, if we can get a few more people up to scratch with this, we should be able to compile a useful lot of label pictures.

Then it's onto part 2, developing a good, thin, hardy and weatherproof way to apply the stickers as close to original as possible.

Hi Mr Davis, it is a coincidence that you mentioned about Part 2. i happened to go to Caribbean Gardens in Rowville (melbourne) today. It is a big market place with hundreds of stalls. There are a few guys there that do stickers. They can produce anything you want. The gent I spoke to charged $150 sq-mtr. An A4 page would cost about $20. I mentioned they were for mowers, and he said they can put a clear coating over the sticker, that will make safe from petrol spills and UV fading. If you were going to do up a full on restoration I think it would be worthwhile. You could get a few stickers onto an A4 size. He didn't have a business card, but he rattled off an email address something about sticker@optusnet or something. Next time I will get a card as he will have more by then. He can do any logo, just as long as it is on a memory stick or emailed to him.

Another one for the plastic carby model Victa's...

Wonderfull, I think It's time I look into getting this program and working out how to make some of these, then I can get in contact with these sticker fellows!

G'day everyone,

I'm glad I stumbled across this old thread and wish I was here a few years ago when it was all happening here. I do know roughly what my original Commando decal looked like on my old 1982 full crank mower. I can actually get the exact same style lettering for the Commando wording from an advertisement article from that era, and the bottom writing which used to say "160cc 2 stroke - electronic ignition" is the same as most others were from that era.

This thread is a great read and it also gives me some hope of possibly trying to make my own Commando decal to put back onto my mower as it seems there isn't any original one's left to copy from. I can get the dimensions needed from the mower. Yes it won't be exactly the same as original but it will be better than nothing.

Cheers!

Hi Converse

Yeah, it's amazing what shows up on these forums...

The 'Blue Bar' search box does a pretty good job, me thinks.

The 1981 Commando was Victa's first pressed steel deck!

--------------------------
Jack

I'm depressed at how golden the golden years really were when I see stuff like this. Converse why???

Hi CyberJack and Mowerfreak,

I think I found this thread in the recently viewed history by other users. If only I knew this thread was around back in 2011 when I think I was here getting help on the idle speed issue I had with my Commando. I think back then though I still had some sort of decal still on the mower so I probably didn't think of trying to make a new decal.

Yes CyberJack they are a tough old mower as you can see I still have my original Commando from back then and it's still used to this day!

Mowerfreak are you asking me why I bumped this thread? Or why am I interested in reproducing the Commando decal? Dunno mate maybe I am a time traveller a bit like the "Back To The Future" movie? lol

I have been trying to get a replacement decal for my Victa since I returned back to these forums earlier this year. I can't find anyone out there that still has one intact to be able to copy. I have also asked the seller on ebay a while ago that makes decals if there was any chance I could get one made but it seems there is not enough demand or interest for these to be made.

It's not going to be easy but I will try to make one of these decals somehow.

Cheers!

Hi Converse Mowerfreak, and CyberJack,

I'm sure someone will have a Commando decal or a better pic of one.



Max.

G'day everyone,

Thanks Maxwestern I have collected as many images of the decal as I can from this website. I also do remember how it was and I reckon I can make a duplicate very close to the original decal. Of course nothing will be as good as a direct copy of an original decal, but I can only work with what I have available.

I have downloaded that adobe photoshop CS4 portable (it's the only one that will work on my older computer) program similar to the one that the original poster of this thread Waynec used to recreate some decals. I was using it last night and I think I can make a decent looking decal out if it. Even though I am making it from scratch.

The only photo of this decal still on a mower I found the other night was from forum member Blumbly and a photo of some hard rubbish finds he had posted back in 2011. There is a photo of the original Commando decal still on the cowl. There is also a photo of the decal on the front cowl of a Commando lawnmower from an original advertisement posted by CyberJack in the Victa catalogue section.

I am going to also look through the shed here as I may have kept some of the original sticker over the years in a bag full of mower bits and peices from when I worked on the Commando mower. When I try and design the closest version as I can to the original I will try and post it here so it can be printed and then can be applied to a full crank Commando lawnmower.

Cheers!

Converse, unfortunately I cant help at this moment with the Commando decal - I will continue to keep an eye out for one

With regard to that Victa Pace you got a few months ago, are you after the decal for that as well? I have found a mint "Victa Eco Torque VE50' odd half thick boomerang shape gasket that I could scan and post here if you need that.

But I know I have seen a great straight shot of the Commando one somewhere - I will have a look around

Hi Tyler,

Thanks for all the help with this mate. With that Victa Pace that I found it actually has a nice clean decal on it. I think my one is the VE40 version.

I searched through the shed and I found what I have left of my original Commando decal. It might not be much but it's great to have as something to compare with when making a new one. It's good because now I have the exact size and style of the writing and also the colours and lines used on the original. It's a great thing to have handy when trying to make a new one as close to the original as possible.

Cheers!

Judging by that, perhaps you could use the available Corvette decal as a basis, and cut out (with adobe whatever) the Corvette and add commando

Thanks for that Tyler, it's pretty much the same as that decal. I can probably just make a new one from scratch using the photo shop program. I now have my original as a standard to compare with.

I'll see how it goes mate, the bottom wording is the same as that Corvette decal, but I will try to get the font style more to the original style that's on my decal. I will go by the dimensions and sizing on my original as I think the Commando writing which is in stencil format looks to be a larger size than the Corvette writing.