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 👍
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.
Hi Tyler, what does your Corvette decal look like? If it's the same as the one that's available on ebay then it's probably easiest to just grab one from there for a few dollars as it will be exactly the one you are after. I had no choice with my Commando decal as no one has one for sale and also no one was willing to try to even make any. So I thought i'll try to make it myself. If they were available to buy I wouldn't have bothered trying to make my own that's for sure.
With the Adobe photoshop program I can just post the link here to the one that I downloaded and used to create the decal. I think it's not the full on version but a portable version. But I don't think it needs a serial number and it's not a trial version. I think you can use it for free and as long as you want. You can also use this program to load up the decal that I made and view or print it out. Here's the link to the download page:
Hi Mowerfreak, I can add a JPG image of the decal here but it's only for viewing on here. It won't print out in the exact same size if you print it from this JPG image. I have tried to print it from the JPG image again now but it doesn't print at the exact size for the mower, but it's fine for just viewing the picture. If you want to print out the decal to use on a lawnmower you need to use the earlier file I added which is the photoshop PSD file. You can also just use that link to photoshop from this page to download and use it for free.
Cheers!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
Can't wait to see how it looks on the mower. Converse obsessive determination to reproduce an exact replica has paid off. Amazing considering what he had to work with. Shows what can be done.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Hey Tyler guess what mate? I got that Commando from Gumtree! Wasn't all that far from here so I thought why not, can't hurt to add another full crank Commando to the collection! LOL! At least this one comes with an original intact decal! LOL! Big thanks again mate for posting that link to that mower! Awesome stuff!
Haha you know what Mowerfreak, I reckon Arnies face is probably copyrighted otherwise I think I could make a Commando decal with Arnie's face from the movie "Commando" sort of sittting near the decal on the petrol tank! Or I was thinking of adding a picture of Arnie using that minigun from Terminator 2 on the decal! LOL!
Well anyway it's a bit of a Victa Commando full crank party in the shed now. I have gone from just having my original one to 3 in just a few days!
Even the decal on this mower was just hanging on by about a thumb print of adhesive still left keeping it on there. So it's lucky it was still there!
It's a much better example as a base to copy than the bit that I had. Mine is VERY close to this one it's not funny. When I get the chance I can make some final touches to mine to try and make it even more accurate to the original now that I have a complete one here.
I might even try to find out if there is other ways of duplicating a decal.
Cheers and thanks again for all the help it's great!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
Great that you got that one Converse - I had an inkling you might pick it up - it was the right price in the right location. Did it come with a catcher? Hope it is easy to get running mate.
Don't get the trio mixed up haha - that would be quite hard I think
Its amazing that after looking for months (I have seen at least 10 decal-less commandos on ebay and gumtree) it bloody well comes up just after you make a really good one from almost full scratch.
If it was me, seeing that might have resulted in one of those Basil Fawlty with the gnome moments, or maybe the mood shown in the famous car sketch
Don't worry, I would never injure a Victa - it would probably break my foot it I kicked it.
Hi Tyler I was wrapped when I saw that believe me! It's awesome! I really did want to see a complete decal up close just to double check. I am shocked at how good the one I made was considering what I had to work with!
Yes I even got the original catcher with it, it's not too bad only a couple of cracks in the front lip. The mower just looks really dirty and I think it will clean up really well. It just happened to be in the right location and thanks to you posting it I happened to grab it. If you never mentioned it mate I would never have known or even had a chance of getting it.
Cheers and thanks again mate!
I tell ya what though, if another one turns up anytime soon again I think I will turn out like that guy in that video clip you just posted up here! LOL!
Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay, another trash picked Victa, hip hip Hooray!
Is a real testament to their construction that they can still be common over 35 years after they were originally bought. I can't see any of the new masports or victa let alone the cheapies lasting half that
Is a real testament to their construction that they can still be common over 35 years after they were originally bought. I can't see any of the new masports or victa let alone the cheapies lasting half that
They are made of thicker steel than later PT bases, so they don't rust through as easily or get fatigued at weaker points like around the handle mount holes. A full crank engine into the bargain and you have your explanation on their survival rate.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Or how about when you lightly push on a car door and the metal buckles 10mm inwards. I was told 'its part of the crumple zone' once by a salesman whilst our car was in for a service and I was looking at the new models. I said it was just cheaply made Thai crap (yaris)
Nothing wrong with Korean cars MF, Huyandi may be a boring car but the blow the doors off most other makes in the reliability stakes, I would not let a European car near my driveway, in particular the German stuff
hi Norm and Tyler, Hyundai and Kia (basically the same company) are now well established as decent makes. I was talking about the Daewoo sourced buzz boxes being badged as Holden Barinas and a couple of other models in their lineup. Cheap cheap cars not worthy of the Holden badging.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Yes we were a Holden family for many many years but the last 20 years they have come out with a lot of junk. They even produced a lot of junk Toranas when they were using up all the reject stuff they could no longer off load into Europe so dump it in Aus. I didn't mind it because it meant I could pick up cheap Toranas with buggered Opal motors , put a 6 or 8 in them and you had a fantastic car again. All their new junk is just that, junk. My grandson has a WM Caprice, what an overpriced piece of rubbish that is, has cost him an absolute fortune, because when things go wrong you are talking similar repair costs to BMW and Mercedes. Don't get me started on VW and Audi repair costs and sealed autos that can't be repaired, can only be replaced at a cost $8000 for the parts. And then the VW Amarok, $10,000 to replace the clutch
