[Boatanchors] BC-9: Showing the Colors, Need Advice.

[David Stinson]

When I originally received this BC-9 transceiver 
(this one was built in 1921), the case was a mess.
It had been painted-over (more like glooped-on)
with a couple of heavy coats of WWII-era 
dark O.D. Green paint.  It looked awful. Got
some auto-body rubbing compound and went 
to work, hoping to find original paint.  Did 
get through the paint-over down to original 
paint and unit markings for the 2nd Battalion,
12th Infantry Regiment.  Here's what I found
under the two slop-coats:
https://goo.gl/photos/DGsWMrSQBK2EvKuC7
Paint on the top did not survive the rubbing
compound well. 
https://goo.gl/photos/sjpZktZWx2AsS2J38

This is where it sat for many years until the rig
got to the bench.  The original paint was dead and
crumbling, so I decided I would completely restore
the rig's service colors and markings as close to
the original-issue scheme as I could recover.

I took the cabinet to a paint expert and he 
determined that over the 96 years of this rig,
it had been painted over 4 times.  From
last to first, there were two sloppy coats of darker
WWII-era OD Green, then the coat and markings
you see in the photos, which had a dark OD and
the white/red markings you see, and lastly the earliest
and original paint, which was a lighter, more yellow
shade of OD and included the white and red markings
and black hardware.
If you look closely at the photo of the front, you can
see a lighter shade of white peaking through the 
later coat.   The paint expert confirmed what I had
suspected: the single coat of paint under the case 
hardware was the original base coat and had not
changed much or oxidized over the years.  
If anyone is interested in this WWI-era shade of
OD, write and I will give you the Sherwin-Williams
oil-base formula to make it.

The paint and markings on the bottom of the rig
that emerged from the rubbing compound were
the second coat: dark OD plus markings- and
were in decent shape, so I decided to preserve 
the bottom of the rig as-is and gave it some 
clear-coat to protected it.
All the other surfaces were stripped and lightly 
sanded for a complete restoration.
The work is slow- allowing things to dry and cure
from one set of markings to another, but it's
starting to take shape.  Rear view:
https://goo.gl/photos/baX1VV7HBk6FmSsv9

Here's where I need some help: the unit marks.
I need to have two custom stencils made that
look like this:
https://goo.gl/photos/s8byAHkL5Qp8YaSR6
https://goo.gl/photos/snyRcfYpW9StDrqVA

Yeah- I hate the crossed-rifles are just enlongated
triangles, too.  But that's what they used and
we got to stick authentic.

Have you used a custom stencil service that's
reasonable and timely?  There are a few on 
Google but I'd rather use a service someone
here can speak for.   Anyone?

TNX OM ES 73 DE Dave AB5S