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Hi AI, 20 pieces is a bit too many for me when I have only 1 machine in need of the decals. Unless someone is willing to share the quantity. So to apply this decals onto the machines is just simple peel and paste? Tony

Hi Al, The reproduction decal looks good, have you tried fixing it onto your sewing machine? How much will this decal cost? Is that a real gold leaf?

Hi Folker, Do you still have the old vintage decals you sold to Al? Tony

Hi Al, Your decal looks excellent on your restored 45k25, you are amazing! The decals are from Folker? It definitely looks like it’s the original decals for the machine. Pls show us how you transfer the decals onto your machine. I also notice you left the flywheel rim and the front cover unpainted, in raw silver metal finish, is that the original look of 45k25? Tony

Sorry I mean if anyone whose singer machine still have the original decal with the special long "R" in good condition, could you kindly post a pic here? Your help will be greatly appreciated, thank you. Tony

Hi Al, Thanks for the link. Does it mean we have to manually hand painted the gold colour on the decals before sticking it on the machine? Anyone has an original singer decal with the long "R", if yours is in good or visible condition pls post a pic here. Thank you! Tony

I thought so too, that's why I'm trying to find a treadle base. Even with the modern binder I also have to slow down when sewing corners. Tony

Thanks Jimi & Constabulary, seems like the binding attachment is not easy to find and not easy to use. Jimi, did you use your k21 with treadle or servo? Do you think slower speed will help with binding? Tony

Hi Constabulary, I painted almost everything in crinckle finish except the front cover and flywheel in shinny black. Even the bobbin winder and the wax pot is in crinckle finish, you can tell that I really love crinckle finish a lot, just as much as you love shinny silver. I'm sure this crinckle finish flatbed will last longer than a shinny black, it should withstand abrasion much better, that's why I made the decision. Tony

I found a singer 45k25 locally and I'm wondering if this machine can do binding work?

When I bought my 45k, it's working perfectly but the condition was really bad and very dirty, that's why I have to restored it. It's already lucky to be able to find one, this machines are very hard to come by in my country. Beside the decals I'm also looking for the stand, anyone come across one pls let me know.

Constabulary, your 132k seems ok, paint and decals still intact and looking good, are you really going to change the colour?

Thank you everyone for the detail pics and measurements. Jimi, your 45k21 decal is different from the 29k33 decals you posted previously, the alphabet "R" is diffferent and the shading is different too. I guess your 45k21 decals is a later version. Constabulary, your 132k decals seems to be the same as Jimi's 45k21, probably they were manufactured around the time. I think the decals with the special "R" might be longer in length than the decals posted here, could someone with that special "R" decals kindly help by posting the measurement here? By the way, as Dikman said, is the shading grey in colour, or a different shades of gold? Jimi, could you kindly provide the measurements of the " the Singer manufacturing co" from your 45k21? Tony

Hi Al, Judging from the 2 pics posted by Jimi, it seems like the 29k and 45k shared the same kind of decals. The typeface looks pretty similar, but I can't determine the size base on the pic. From the pic I feel that the typeface seems like slimmer than the one I had traced out. If you see carefully on the decals of the 29k, there is depth/shading, but if I'm to print it on decals I will change the colour to gold of course, different shades of gold so that we can see the depth. I doubt I can find anyone locally to input the gold leaf pigment, and I'm not sure if I'm willing to pay the price for it, so I think for now I will just stick to gold ink from the printer. Tony All thanks to your vintage decals and thanks to Al for sharing it with me. This is what makes this forum amazing!!! Tony

I have attached 2 sets of tracing of the decals, the 1st one is a tracing done with the reference from Constabulary's vintage decals, the 2nd one is a modification of Constabulary's decals base on Jimi's post for the 29k33 decals, hope to hear everyone's comment. Tony

By the way I'm living in a tropical country, so the weather here is usually warm and humid, in cold weather it will probably slow down the drying process and affect the crinkle finish. You can might want to consider using the hairdryer. Tony

Hi Constabulary, LW trash treasures did mention about a setting solution which helps decal to stick better on an irregular surface, so we can try applying this solution before sticking on the decals on crinkle finish. Below is the link by trash treasure: https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Setting-Solution-Microscale-Industries/dp/B0006O9K5Q The VHT seller told me if I don't have an oven, I can leave the sprayed surface under the sun, it will dry to the touch overnight, but will still take a few days to fully dry. Personally I spray my machine indoor, I tried drying with the hairdryer and I also tried leaving it to dry naturally. With the hairdryer, it will get an even crinkle finish, when I left it to dry, the crinkle finish became uneven and rough, so it depends what kind of effect you want to achieve. You are right, the first coat must be thick, it's recommended to spray at least 7 layers of paint for the first time. I think I sprayed more than 7 layers. After the first spray, wait for the crinkle to form, then you can always respray again on areas you think the crinkle finish is not enough and always remember to spray in different direction unlike normal spray paint where you need to spray in one direction to get the smoothness. When spraying the underside of the machine, you need to tilt it to one side instead of spraying with the spray can nozzle facing upwards, this will help with better crinkle finish. Anyway, have fun experiencing, when it's fully dry its pretty strong and should last a very long time. Hope this help Tony

Hi Constabulary, Your restoration work is excellent! Well done! I'm sure you love silver colour very much, I can imagine there's a set of cast iron warriors dressing in metallic silver in your workshop. Tony

Hi Constabulary, Everyone has their personal preference when it comes to restoration, which you already mentioned in one of the earlier post and I do agree on that. There are people who don't even repaint their machines so long as it can sew, they won't be bother doing anything else. There are also people like Al, he not only repaint, but actually go all out to even find the original stand, customised the table top, and trying to find the original parts, even though he doesn't sew. Why I mentioned Al and not myself, as you already mentioned my paint colour is already not original, and none of our restoration work will come out looking like the day it came out of the factory back in 19xx, that I'm sure everyone here knows, but in my earlier post I already mentioned I like both crinkled and original shinny paint, but I choose crinkled in the end and I'm glad I did that even thought that's not the original colour. I'm not someone who will repaint my machine with fancy colour, like red or blue for example, but I'm very sure someone will like that kind of restoration. This restoration shouldn't be stressful, it should be fun. I never expect I will get so much info and knowledge starting this topic and getting to know all you guys here. Thank you everyone for the info and sharing. Tony

Looking at the decals posted by Jimi for the 29k33, and the original vintage decals from constabulary, both decals are again different, Constabulary's decals typeface has a depth facing upwards, while the decals on the 29k33 has depth facing downwards, moreover the tyeface is slimmer than Constabulary's decals. That means even folker, your decals is not the right one for the 45k, probably is meant for another model, so I might need to modified the one I traced out base on the 29k pic, that's a challenge. Tony

Hi Mikesc, This info is really impressive, and very technical as well, like Jimi, I don't quite understand the layers, I guess it's probably easier for someone like u in the printing industry will know and able to visualise the technical process. Although I'm keen to get as close to the original decals as possible( I think there are a few members here, like Al has the same interest too), but I have never thought of using the gold leaf even though I knew the gold leaf was the original pigment used back then, my main concern was the typeface and the size, but we have come this far in discussing about the "original decals", and with a bit of contribution from everyone here, it makes our goal of reviving the original decals seems closer and positive. You make me curious and thinking about the gold leaf decal now, not sure if there's anyone locally can do that. As you mentioned, the gold foil for hot stamping could be another option, but how to transfer that on the decals? Keeler's decal is using gold ink which he mentioned in his listing on eBay. I have not seen the effect of Keeler's decal apply on a sewing machine, but I think constabulary and some other members here should have already tried it, so could you guys share with us how's the effect of the gold ink compared to the gold leaf? Similar or very different? Tony

Thank you Jimi & Mikesc for the images of the machine and decals, the 29k 33 decals is incredible, it's almost like brand new. Looking at the 45k posted by Mikesc and the 29k posted by Jimi, I spotted a difference between the 2 decals typeface? The 29k decal typeface is with depth, but the 45k typeface is flat, am I right or is it because the 45k decal is worn out? Tony

Hi Jimi, I just check it out, but it's already sold, that's a pretty good price I think, anyone here bought that machine? Those decals are pretty much still intact, a very good reference indeed, will be better if can find out the manufactured date. Thanks Jimi. Tony

Hi Al, Thank you for sharing the link to that video, it's really an amazing video. Not only the japanning and decal, it also showed how they made the wooden table top, without seeing this video you can't imagine how advance is the machinery used in those era for making sewing machine. The factories were huge, it was an empire of sewing machine making. Tony

Hi Jimi, This was the first message you sent to me on this topic, hope I didn't get you wrongly. You said " I do not think they ever sprayed the letters on". Maybe my text was misleading, I mean the decal not the machine itself. Tony