Who could tell the story if possible with pics?
Who could supply the retrofit products?
kind regards
Sten
Decals on Seagull tanks 1930's to the 60's
Moderators: John@sos, charlesp, Charles uk, RickUK, Petergalileo
I'm very tempted to suggest a small booklet, but I won't.
The basic decals are:
Early thirties
- text based 'Marston Seagull' made in Sunbeamland:
http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/im ... n_2829.JPG
Mid thirties to mid forties
-'Marston Seagull' then 'British Seagull', in a cartouche, rather an Art Deco style, surrounding a gold and grey (sometimes) seagull facing right:
http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/im ... %20(2).jpg
Late forties:
-British Seagull, the 'British' atop a left facing seagull, the 'Seagull' under it:
http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/im ... rings1.JPG
Early fifties onwards, until the ugly 'Modern' style of the very late seventies is of course the classic 'Sailorman':
http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/im ... 0WSPCL.jpg
- although this last is a replica. I couldn't find an original anywhere at short notice, and I'm currently at my girlfriend's hhouse so I don't have my photo collection on her laptop. But you get the idea.
After the modern stuff came in there's a hotch potch of trendy designs that I am fairly confident don't form part of this discussion.
The exact dates are a bit of a problem. That's because the designs seem to appear in batches, and each batch may have a slight difference. Then you get, for example, a thirties badge on a fifties 102 advert. So that makes it a little difficult. Then you have the zealous repairs department at British Seagull, who would take you at your word if you wanted a refurbished motor. They would respray your tank and put a new decal on it. I'm aware of a forties steel tank on a thirties motor with a finned cylinder head which has a perfect Sailorman decal!
The sailorman decal may be had from John, who has secured a supply of those which I confess I think are about as good as we're ever likely to get. They are, of course, water soluble rather than alcohol/water soluble (which the originals were) as you can't get that type of glue any more. So you'll need good waterproof lacquer to go over them.
There are, to the best of my knowledge, no other designs that even come close. The ones you'll find on the bay ( Seabird ones) are entirely wrong in dimensions (at least the ones I have seen are) and I can't recommend them. Maybe if developed further they would be OK, but a motor with one of these on it screams 'WRONG' at you.
I'm not being prejudiced about these decals, despite the fact that the chap is using my photograph and my artwork to advertise his wares on the bay...
I hope that helps, if you want me to go further in response to a specific motor then I (and the other Charles) will try. It'll be more a question of finding a similar engine from the same year and comparing.
Then of course there are the mixing instructions. The sheer number of variations there could bring a grown man to tears.
I would love to see some of the foreign language mixing instructions decals out there. I would especially love dearly to see the paraffin motor instructions - I'm told they went to Africa and South America...
The basic decals are:
Early thirties
- text based 'Marston Seagull' made in Sunbeamland:
http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/im ... n_2829.JPG
Mid thirties to mid forties
-'Marston Seagull' then 'British Seagull', in a cartouche, rather an Art Deco style, surrounding a gold and grey (sometimes) seagull facing right:
http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/im ... %20(2).jpg
Late forties:
-British Seagull, the 'British' atop a left facing seagull, the 'Seagull' under it:
http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/im ... rings1.JPG
Early fifties onwards, until the ugly 'Modern' style of the very late seventies is of course the classic 'Sailorman':
http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/im ... 0WSPCL.jpg
- although this last is a replica. I couldn't find an original anywhere at short notice, and I'm currently at my girlfriend's hhouse so I don't have my photo collection on her laptop. But you get the idea.
After the modern stuff came in there's a hotch potch of trendy designs that I am fairly confident don't form part of this discussion.
The exact dates are a bit of a problem. That's because the designs seem to appear in batches, and each batch may have a slight difference. Then you get, for example, a thirties badge on a fifties 102 advert. So that makes it a little difficult. Then you have the zealous repairs department at British Seagull, who would take you at your word if you wanted a refurbished motor. They would respray your tank and put a new decal on it. I'm aware of a forties steel tank on a thirties motor with a finned cylinder head which has a perfect Sailorman decal!
The sailorman decal may be had from John, who has secured a supply of those which I confess I think are about as good as we're ever likely to get. They are, of course, water soluble rather than alcohol/water soluble (which the originals were) as you can't get that type of glue any more. So you'll need good waterproof lacquer to go over them.
There are, to the best of my knowledge, no other designs that even come close. The ones you'll find on the bay ( Seabird ones) are entirely wrong in dimensions (at least the ones I have seen are) and I can't recommend them. Maybe if developed further they would be OK, but a motor with one of these on it screams 'WRONG' at you.
I'm not being prejudiced about these decals, despite the fact that the chap is using my photograph and my artwork to advertise his wares on the bay...
I hope that helps, if you want me to go further in response to a specific motor then I (and the other Charles) will try. It'll be more a question of finding a similar engine from the same year and comparing.
Then of course there are the mixing instructions. The sheer number of variations there could bring a grown man to tears.
I would love to see some of the foreign language mixing instructions decals out there. I would especially love dearly to see the paraffin motor instructions - I'm told they went to Africa and South America...