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!
Last edited by Converse; 01/06/1902:46 PM.
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
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!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
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!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
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
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!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
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.
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
I'd wipe out the cringey Made in Australia part. Why does that need to be highlighted on an obviously Australian made brand (at the time). They never needed to do that before with Victa products.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Thanks for that Gizmo but i'm looking for a picture of a Commando decal from the early full crank models. It was the first Commando model and I think it ran from 1980 to 1983. It's the same style mower as the one pictured as my avatar.
I think these decals were just destined to wash away as they were placed right next to the petrol filler. Any drips or spills goes straight onto the decal. Probably why not many have survived on these mowers through the years.
It would be great if I could see a picture of an original one up close, but I think I have enough here to work with and should be able to at least make something to put back onto those first full crank Commando's.
Cheers!
Last edited by Converse; 05/06/1901:55 AM.
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
yeah .gday Converse. i was sure i had a pic of your one but i posted those just for reference.I may still find it but i literally have thousands of pics to sort through ðŸ‘
If my collection is complete ( then how come i keep buying stuff ? ) 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Thanks again for all the help with this it's great. Well I have managed to make a full crank Commando decal as close to my original as possible. It took me hours using that Adobe photoshop program just trying to get the lettering and the fonts and colours exactly or as close as you can get to the original decal.
I haven't tried applying it to the mower yet, but now that I have one to use you can just print one out and apply it whenever you need it.
I am not a professional on this program I am only just a beginner and learning. If you want to print it out in the exact size to use on a lawnmower, you need to print this file using the program Adobe photoshop. For some reason I have tried to resize the image and convert it to a JPEG, but it will won't print in the exact size using another program. You can download adobe photoshop easily from the net for free and use it to print this decal.
There is a few options on how to apply this to the mower and the choice is yours. I have read that you can buy sticker backed paper from Officeworks and then place a clear contact onto that and apply it to the mower. But I think for the occasional petrol drip or spill I would probably first print it onto some glossy photo paper then take it down to Officeworks and get them to laminate it for a few dollars. Then carefully trim around the decal with scissors to leave the laminate seal around the edges then apply it to the lawnmower using some thin double sided tape.
Either way I am happy I now actually have a decal that I can put back on my lawnmower! Believe me it actually takes me back to when I was younger and brings back some great memories of using this lawnmower when I see this decal again. It's like stepping back in time!
I have attached the decal file here as a photoshop file, if you download and save the image file to your computer first, then you should be able to open the file using Adobe photoshop then print it out using that program. I tested it out and it printed out the same size as the original using Adobe photoshop.
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
I am pretty fussy when it comes to something like this and I did spend many hours measuring the original lines and spacing to be exact or as close as you can get to the original. I have even placed what was left of my original decal against the new one and the lettering and lines all line up perfectly!
Also if you want it to be exact as the original, the corners of the decal are rounded off, you can carefully trim the corners of the decal with scissors to make the corners round instead of square. Also forgot to mention it's best to trim out the decal after printing it with scissors to just leave the bare decal to be laminated as you want to be able to trim the laminate near the edges of the decal with no white borders from the original printing paper.
Go Commando!
Cheers everyone!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
Haven't had a look at it since I haven't downloaded photoshop, but I am sure it looks great
I see a free 7 day trial, so in july (when I will have some time), I will have a go at doing a correct size corvette decal as well.
Back 10-15 years ago, the full adobe suite (i am told by a tech-savvy friend) had its price inflated so dramatically in australia, that it was more economical to fly to the USA, say in a relatively nice hotel and buy the adobe suite in a US store.
