Reproduction Ekco Dials

  • 1. Introduction

    Several Ekco models, most notably the AD65, the A22 and the AC76/AD76 models, use large circular or semi-circular backlit dials. The original dials were screen printed on to what appears to be celluloid or, with regards to the A22, a plastic similar to Perspex and because of their size and shape are difficult to reproduce. Undaunted, I decided to.....

  • 2. Creating the artwork

    Despite initially not having an original dial to work with I could still take accurate measurements from the bakelite case of the diameter of the visible area of the dial and by taking further measurements from appropriate dial images I could place the dial legends and details fairly accurately. I achieved this by noting the X,Y co-ordinates using my.....

  • 3. Colour matching

    With the detail of the artwork complete, the legend colours and background shade now require modifying to visually approximate those used in an original dial. This introduces the problem of colour variation. It will be appreciated that the exact colour shades displayed by one computer monitor will vary with respect to another. In the same way, the actual.....

  • 4. "Droitwich" dial - A22 Type 1

    From the station names on the dial, the earlier of the two dials has "Bucharest" at the twelve o'clock position on the green medium wave legend and "Droitwich" at the one o'clock position on the red long wave legend.

  • 5. "BBC Light" dial - A22 Type 2

    This dial has an updated green medium wave legend following the adoption of the then new BBC regional services, with "BBC Light" at the one o'clock position on the red long wave legend replacing "Droitwich".

  • 6. Printing and mounting

    Having accurate artworks is one thing, how to produce actual physical dials from them is another. As mentioned previously the original dials were screen printed on to Perspex or similar. Getting a professional company to do this for me using my artworks was an option but would probably have been prohibitively expensive. Instead.....

  • 7. Conclusion

    I have purposely been non-specific about the graphics software package I used to produce these artworks. By current standards it is rather antiquated and consequently no longer available. I continue to use it simply because I am experienced with its operation and it is still capable of producing what I ask of it. Any graphics software is only.....