Standard Type for Arabic Numerals?

**Gewehr98** · 10-14-2019, 12:58 AM

Hello all,

Here's a bit of a random question but something that's been gnawing at me for a while.

Was there a template of sorts for the official way IJA and IJN personnel applied numbers to things like aircraft tails and boots and such that included arabic numerals? It all seems pretty standardized and I would assume there was a guide or regulation that described "this is how you draw a 7" etc.

Thanks!

**Nick Komiya** · 10-14-2019, 10:42 AM

That varied according to when and what and how items were to be marked. Here's a sample of the navy plane marking regulations, army insignia numerals and boot size marking regs from 1918.

**Gewehr98** · 10-14-2019, 07:15 PM

Interesting! I knew there had to be something out there...I've seen those navy regulations for the planes before, but they never included any sort of stencil or proper way of drawing the numerals, just showing where they should be placed. My main focus is on the navy aircraft, particularly the numerals on this decal sheet (why on earth a Kurogane Type 95 or Isuzu TX 40 needs numerals is beyond me but it's a fairly clear example of what I'm after):

and also on the tail planes:

I know they're not exact across the board, but they look similar enough that I assume that there had to be a common source. I even recall seeing an aircraft training for the Pearl Harbor attack that had it's tail code stenciled on and not fully filled in, so you could see the breaks in the stencil.

**Nick Komiya** · 10-15-2019, 08:08 AM

No, the IJA and IJN had no such templates, as letter size and spacing measurements as shown in the illustrations, were the decisive points in making them legible and defined imaginary frames for field units to fill in with letters and numbers. It was pointless to only specify the font for the arabic numerals, as that would have required all conceivable Japanese characters, used as prefix to the numbers, also to be set up as special fonts, too, as they would vary even more depending on who wrote them.

At unit level, where these numbers had to be applied, they probably did create unified stencils, but there still would have been variances between units.

The only numerals to have a full set of predesigned characters were those that needed to be mass produced and issued for wear on the collars or chest, but there were no unified fonts for numerals and Japanese characters painted on at unit level.